Author: Frank Holbrook

GC 2020 – The Indianapolis Plan

Frank Holbrook GC 2020

  The United Methodist News Service has released a story that summarizes the “Indianapolis Plan.” The story may be found here.   One of my former partners used to caution younger lawyers against jumping to conclusions by using the phrase “Don’t intuit the facts.” He’s a lot smarter and more concise in his language than…

GC 2020 – Waiting on Tables

Frank Holbrook GC 2020 , Life in General

  If one assumes that some plan will emerge at GC 2020 that will result in providing for new expressions, one of the challenges will be the administrative work of sorting out assets and liabilities. Yesterday’s post concerning the Plain Grace Plan suggested several contexts where delegating authority to a working group is necessary; for…

GC 2020: The Plain Grace Plan

Frank Holbrook GC 2020

My last two posts considered the Gracious Exit provision adopted by GC 2019. On August 10 the General Conference Commission issued a press release concluding that the adopted provision is void. The press release also noted a suggested plan of action:   In accordance with the policy of the General Conference that votes are to…

GC 2020 – More on the Common Core

Frank Holbrook GC 2020

In several posts concerning GC 2020, I have suggested that new expressions should commit to a shared common core. The main posts are An Alternate Approach to Unity – An Effort to Avoid Ruling from the Grave  and 1784 – The Christmas Gift that Keeps on Giving .  I also have identified the Common Core identified in…

GC 2020 – More on Provisional Affiliation

Frank Holbrook GC 2020

Yesterday’s post proposed creating a new status for Annual Conferences and Local Churches called “Provisional Affiliation”. The relevant portion of the post read as follows “the General Conference should consider creating a status called Provisional Affiliation. This status would only exist for a given period of time. Provisional affiliation would allow an Annual Conference or…

How do we define ourselves?

Frank Holbrook GC 2020 , Life in General

  Yesterday’s post considered labels. Labels are a way we define not only others, but ourself. This post is a short variation on that topic. It doesn’t specifically relate to GC 2020, but to the extent it applies to the Category “Life in General” it could be read that way. Thinking back to long ago…

GC 2020: Labels Matter – Avoiding the Bard Jones “Name Game”

Frank Holbrook GC 2020

Labels matter.   In How Should We Then Live?, Francis Schaeffer begins his work with the following observation: “People have presuppositions, and they will live more consistently on the basis of these presuppositions than even they themselves may realize. By presuppositions we mean the basic way an individual looks at life, his basic world-view, the…

GC 2020: Heeding Gamaliel’s advice but skipping the floggings

Frank Holbrook GC 2020

I’ve been reading Kevin Watson’s book Old or New School Methodism? It’s a well written history of a difficult period in the life of the Methodist Episcopal Church (“MEC”). The Book of Discipline recognizes the MEC as a theological ancestor to the United Methodist Church: “In December 1784, the famous Christmas Conference of preachers was…

GC 2020 – Paul, Barnabas and a “both and” moment

Frank Holbrook GC 2020

As GC 2020 approaches, many are in the process of discerning the future of the Wesleyan expression called the United Methodist Church. There are many competing visions and opinions. For some, the vision is about denominational unity. For others the vision is about creating space, either by new expressions or by providing space within the…

GC 2020: Can we avoid a shotgun wedding?

Frank Holbrook GC 2020

The Bard Jones Plan (“Bard Jones”) recognized a number of possibilities for “moving into the future to address our division and the animosity which often accompanies it”. The possibilities listed by Bard Jones are summarized as follows:   Move into the future as we have lived in the recent past, relying on the legislative processes…

Virtual Holy Conferencing and the Bard Jones Plan

Frank Holbrook GC 2020

This is another post thinking about GC 2020 using the context provided by the Bard Jones Plan.   Why the seemingly obsessive critique of the Bard Jones plan? Does it really merit such ongoing fascination? The Bard Jones Plan is the starting point for discussion because it is the most widely circulated, if not the…

Going Live

Frank Holbrook Life in General

I am a new, self-taught blogger that has spent the last week or so trying to get a site up and running.  I’m jumping into the deep end of the pool today.  If you see something that needs fixing or improvement let me know.  I hope you enjoy.  

The GC2020 Puzzle: Finding a Starting Point

Frank Holbrook GC 2020

Frank Holbrook July 25, 2019 Originally posted at peopleneedjesus.net “If you don’t know where you are going any road can take you there”. Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland As a first time delegate to General Conference, I’ve turned serious attention to the Book of Discipline (“BOD”) and the polity it creates. I’ve always been a…