The recent General Conference decision to reject the proposal of the Connectional Process Team (CPT) for a global restructuring of The United Methodist Church will provide considerable impetus to the autonomy movement in the Philippines. Bishop Daniel C. Arichea, Jr., who heads the Baguio Episcopal Area of the Philippines Central Conference, made this assessment in a recent interview.

The implication for the Philippines of the General Conference decision is that all the talk about the church's global structure is dead, according to Bishop Arichea. This, in turn, will significantly strengthen the autonomy movement. No one can now say that the official position of the church is globalization, said Bishop Arichea, adding, "This will encourage us to look for ways in which the local structures are relevant to us."

While affirming the conference decision to continue studying the global nature of the church, Bishop Arichea said he understood that such researches will be separate from discussions about structure. Referring to the vote on the CPT report, he declared, "The bulk of United Methodism is not interested in a global structure."

By a vote of 784 to 144, the General Conference rebuffed the 53-page CPT report and recommendations, basically agreeing to maintain the denomination's current structure, according to a UMNS release on May 10. However, the General Conference affirmed the CPT's proposal for transformational directions, which are as follows: a. to center on Christian formation; b. to call forth covenant leadership; c. to empower the connection for ministry; d. to strengthen global and ecumenical dialogue and relationships; and e., to encourage dialogue concerning church doctrine and theological understanding.

Chita Millan, president of the Women's Society for Christian Service (the Philippine counterpart of United Methodist Women), and a lay delegate to the General Conference, agreed with her bishop's analysis: "Our eyes were opened. All the more we need autonomy," she said. Millan's first-time participation at this top decision-making body for the denomination convinced her that the church in the Philippines faces very different issues from the church in the United States. She cited as an example the question of homosexuality, which, she said, is not a "hot issue" in the Philippines but was a dominant part of the 2000 General Conference agenda.

The Philippines Central Conference has a long history of struggle for church autonomy. Through an enabling act of the 1976 General Conference, it voted that same year to establish an affiliated autonomous relationship with The United Methodist Church. However, this decision was scuttled after several annual conference ballots ratifying this action were nullified. Currently, the push for autonomy is strongest in the episcopal area served by Bishop Arichea.

Last year United Methodist missionaries who make up the United Methodist Missionary Association (UMMA), expressed their disagreement with the direction proposed by the CPT's preliminary report of February 1999. At their gathering on August 11, 1999, the association stated that restructuring would discourage efforts toward autonomy, and would inevitably move the United Methodist Church away from its historical commitment to involvement in the ecumenical movement. The organization of what would appear to the rest of the world to be a Super United Methodist Church would place all of these relationships in serious jeopardy, they said.

May 21, 2000

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