Recent News:

• United Methodist News — Diverse Leaders Group Offers Separation Plan
• Christianity Today — Methodists Agree on Compromise to Split Denomination
• Reconciling Ministries Network — Press Release: RMN Announces Support…
• Wesleyan Covenant — Key Bishops and Advocacy Group Leaders Propose Plan of Separation (traditionalist)

Text of Agreement: Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation (pdf)

Frequently Asked Questions about the United Methodist Mediation Team

A message from Bishop Minerva G. Caracaño:

1/3/2020

Friends,

Grace and peace to you in this New Year. May Christ our Lord bless you and keep you
throughout the days to come.

Early this morning the work of a group of faithful leaders of our United Methodist Church
pertaining to the division that we continue to experience over whether LGBTQ+ persons will be
fully included in the life and ministry of The UMC was released. While it is not solely the work of
the Council of Bishops, it is work that has had the full support and engagement of the Council.
Just yesterday the Council of Bishops held a conference call at which time we received an
updated report on what is being called the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through
Separation. While a conference call of 90 bishops connecting from places around the world can
be difficult, the response was hopeful and thankful to God for a process that has been done
carefully, respectfully and lovingly.

The Protocol is the work of a diverse group of United Methodist bishops and other leaders from
across the connection which allows for traditionalist churches to form a new denomination while
preserving The United Methodist Church. It also calls for holding in abeyance all administrative
or judicial processes addressing restrictions in the Book of Discipline related to self-avowed
practicing homosexuals or same-sex weddings beginning January 1, 2020. The authors of the
Protocol referred to this abeyance as “…one expression of reconciliation and grace through
separation…”.

Approval of the Protocol would also initiate the process of organizing the US jurisdictions into a
region alongside regional bodies in Africa, Europe, Eurasia, and the Philippines with flexibility to
adapt the Book of Discipline to enable each region to better serve in their social contexts.
Provisions for continued funding to eliminate racism within the UMC and support for racial-ethnic
ministries is another integral and critical piece of the Protocol. You can find the full press
release by journalist Sam Hodges at UMNews.org .

I want to ask that all of us take time to prayerfully consider the Protocol document and pray for
our General Conference delegation and all the delegates who will gather in Minneapolis in May
for the 2020 General Conference of The United Methodist Church. May they too be Spirit-led as
they consider the work before our beloved Church. I strongly believe that this Protocol
document deepens our work of Christian conferencing on the matter of the full inclusion of ALL
God’s Children. May it bring us healing as we work together in God’s mission for the
transformation of the world.

Your Sister in Christ,

Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño