News from Bishop Roller

Message from Bishop David Roller

Following is a message from Bishop David Roller regarding decisions made at General Conference 2011 relating to changes in FMWM.

Greetings in the name of our risen Lord! We've celebrated a wonderful general conference where God clearly led the hundreds of participants in envisioning the future of the Free Methodist Church. Dozens of initiatives and recommendations were generated that we believe will evolve into specific, actionable plans for the future. There was a palpable excitement at General Conference over the growing expectation that God is leading us toward an amazing future.

The General Conference was given resolution #7 about FMWM changes. I was able to personally participate in that Ministry Group (the "Every Place" group) and am happy to report that we had a thoughtful and constructive discussion. I think it's fair to say that there was almost unanimous support for the Board of Bishops' intention and desires in the proposed changes, but at the same time widespread concern that this not, inadvertently, turn out to hurt FMWM. An amendment was offered that proposed a slow-down to the implementation to give us time to make sure we have the very best thinking and organizational planning before we implement. The BOB embraced this resolution and the amended resolution #7 was approved by the Ministry Group and then subsequently by the General Conference on Saturday afternoon.

Following is the text of the approved resolution, which changes paragraph 4530 of the Book of Discipline. The part in italics is the amendment that was added. The italizied part will not be part of the Book of Discipline; it will just guide us in the implementation process:

¶4530

A. Area Directors and the board of bishops will together and seamlessly assume responsibilities for all missions work under FMCNA oversight, regardless of the developmental stage of the church in each country.

B. Free Methodist World Missions personnel shall be employed under the leadership of the board of bishops.

C. The board of bishops, in consultation with the area directors and the executive director of administration and finance, will oversee the annual submission of a balanced budget for Free Methodist World Missions to the board of administration.

IMPLEMENTATION: In order to implement the new structure, an ad-hoc committee appointed by bishops in consultation with area directors comprised of organizational consultants and church and mission leaders will bring a transition plan to the BOA by October 2011, to be implemented by the beginning of 2012. This transition plan will address: 1) Clarification of the relationship of bishops to area directors. 2) Defining ecclesiastical and missional transition. 3) How best to implement integration of the local and global vision (mobilization, missionary care, fundraising, and FMWM operations).

This italicized paragraph will allow us to have a more thoughtful process to ensure that all of the critical functions of the executive director are cared for as the Area Directors transition to working directly with the Board of Bishops.

I'm also pleased to share with you that Dr. Brown has agreed to a request by the Board of Bishops that he continue with FMWM through the end of November. We felt that his knowledge and relationships would be invaluable in advising the ad-hoc committee and he also will provide office continuity for these months of transition.