Bishop Bruce R. Ough (left) receives the gavel as incoming president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops from outgoing president Warner H. Brown, Jr. during the 2016 General Conference in Portland, Ore.
10:24 Bishop Ough addresses the plenary session. He shares a personal story of broken heartedness with regard to his brother, who died several years ago of heart disease. He tells the body that the Council of Bishops have been in conversation with “leading voices from various groups, our conference delegations, and General Conference officials.” He also shares his personal broken-heartedness and that of his COB colleagues for “our beloved United Methodist Church,” over disagreements regarding human sexuality.
“We have risked exploring what many would consider radical new ideas to organize the United Methodist Church according to deeply held and differing values and convictions.” Complete audio of Bishop Ough’s statement from the floor:
9:42 a.m. From Bishop Marcus Matthews, Baltimore-Washington Area:
“Many of you have been hearing rumors that the bishops of our church are discussing a split in our denomination. That is not true. We, the Council of Bishops, are committed to unity in the church.”
9:18 a.m. – UMR receives Good News Statement, see below:
STATEMENT REGARDING A POSSIBLE PLAN OF SEPARATION
Some of you may have read or heard last night that “the Council of Bishops is working with a broad base of United Methodists to develop a proposal for a plan of separation for the denomination to come before a special GC in 2018.” On the night before General Conference convened and over the last week, we have been invited by Bishop Warner Brown, outgoing president of the Council of Bishops, to participate in conversations seeking a way to be able to live together within our church, despite what we see as irreconcilable differences. The conversations reached the point that the Council of Bishops was considering their role in moving the process forward. While we were waiting for the response of the Council, some in the progressive movement last night broke the agreement of confidentiality by publicizing something that had not been formally proposed. We are still waiting for the response of the Council of Bishops. We will attend another meeting today to see if the bishops are willing to propose anything. However, this breach of promise makes us extremely cautious about moving forward. We will keep you apprised in the days to come.
8:00 a.m.
UMR has confirmed that Bishop Bruce Ough will ask delegates for a moment to address them from the floor of the General Conference plenary session this morning. Delegates will have to grant the bishop’s request by voting to allow his statement. We expect Ough to speak around 10:2o a.m. pacific time. The statement will most likely be a response to rumors of a plan of separation of the church that began last night on social media. The Washington Post also ran this story about a church split this morning.
Bishop Ough is the incoming president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops. UMR will continue to follow this story.
