The twenty-third quinquennial session meeting of the Lake Union constituency was held Sunday, May 15, 2022.
The Lake Union includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin Conferences, along with the Lake Union Regional Conference. Most of the meeting was devoted to receiving reports. The current Union leadership team was reelected.
Although few of the agenda items were potentially friction-inducing, one matter was the subject of lively debate. This was a proposed change in who would appoint the organizing committee for Union constituency meetings.
A change was recommended to the Constitution and Bylaws (C&B), article V, section 1. The current C&B follows the required wording of the General Conference model constitution, which states that, "The organizing committee shall nominate and the constituency meeting shall elect" a nominating committee" (Bold print is required wording.) However, the recommended change would add the following:
B. The members of the organizing committee shall be appointed by their respective conference's executive committee not less than sixty (60) days prior to the constituency session. The organizing committee shall meet not less than thirty (30) days prior to the constituency session.
C. The organizing committee shall nominate select and the constituency meeting shall elect or ratify.
Wording continues, specifying the work of the organizing committee to be to nominate a nominating committee, a Standing Constitution and Bylaws Committee, and other committees as may be necessary.
Hasty
When these C&B changes came up, several delegates immediately headed for the microphones. But the fastest legs belonged to Lake Union executive committee member Nicholas Miller. He favored the proposed changes, stating we are no longer in horse-and-buggy days and that young people preferred the change.
(Please note that the scornful term “horse & buggy days” is often used by liberals in the church to shame us into being more progressive. We saw it extensively in Ohio during the horrible regime of 2002-2013.)
Open Debate
But almost all other delegates speaking to the motion (younger and older) objected. Their concerns were variations on a single theme: the proposed change would further reduce the significance of delegates to a constituency meeting by moving the appointment of the organizing committee more directly into the hands of conference executive committees.
One delegate pointed out that the proposed changes to section C effectively reversed the intent of the bold print required wording; directly electing is not the same as the indirect process of merely ratifying.
Nor was this a new proposal, but it dated back several years to the previous constituency session. It had appeared the proposed change would not survive then, but to keep it alive then it was tabled and returned to the C&B committee for further refinement.
Wise Counsel
Michigan delegate Kameron Devasher pointed out that in other unions where this change had been made, it not only shifted power from laypeople to conference administrators, but had also led to a politicization within the church in relation to the viewpoints of committee members. In the current arrangement, the organizing committee is elected the day of the constituency meeting, and prepares a slate of persons nominated to become the nominating committee. They are elected the same day and do their work in the same day. This procedure minimizes the politicization of the process. Devasher stated his opposition to the change.
It Failed
When several delegates had spoken against the proposed change and it began to look like it might fail in a direct vote, a new attempt arose to table the motion or to refer it back—yet again—to C&B committee! That would have kept the possibility of this change already implemented in several other NAD Unions, alive for a future vote. That motion was voted down, the proposed change brought to a vote, and defeated by a very healthy margin.
Delegates need to remain alert. There are, it seems, always agents among the delegates seeking to centralize decision-making into fewer rather than more hands. The church is healthier with more power dispersed among members and delegates.
As a side note of interest, Nicholas Miller, mentioned above, also the leader of the Lake Union Religious Liberty department, was not voted to continue in that position. Indications are that he is moving to Maryland to work with the NAD.
Pray that the religious liberty slot at the Lake Union will be filled with someone who truly understands and values religious liberty and freedom of conscience.
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“But Jesus called them aside and said, ‘“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their superiors exercise authority over them. It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant”’ (Matthew 20:25-26).