Three UCC Conferences and one Association have submitted resolutions to the General Synod to be held in Grand Rapids this summer requesting a continuation of the process that would lead to a single governing board for the UCC's covenanted ministries.

By approval of their respective bodies, the UCC's Penn Central, Connecticut and Michigan Conferences and the Catoctin Association of the Central Atlantic Conference each submitted separate resolutions asking for debate on governance issues and an affirmation by the Synod that a single governing board would be in the best interest of the entire church.

UCNews previously reported an "abrupt halt" to the process March 23. The board structure proposed by the second incarnation of the Governance Formation Team (GFT-II) was thwarted when Justice and Witness Ministries (JWM) board members voted 17 to 14, with three abstentions, not to move the process forward.

"No matter what the outcome of our vote had been, I would have to stand before you and report there is considerable ambivalence on the Justice and Witness Ministries board," the Rev. John Gregory-Davis, pastor of Meriden (N.H.) UCC and chair of the JWM board, told a joint gathering of the boards at their March meetings. "We are not of one mind on this."

The Rev. John H. Thomas, general minister and president, said the delay was difficult and unwelcome news for many members of the boards, who have been engaged in the process for more than three years and at a cost greater than $250,000 in legal and meeting expenses for two differently constituted task-force groups.

"The inability to move at this time to a more coherent and effective governance structure is unfortunate at best," Thomas told United Church News after the JWM board vote. "The need for change remains and those who will lead our national ministries beyond General Synod will have to find ways to affect that change even as the pressing questions about our governance are delayed."

The Rev. Linda Jaramillo, Justice and Witness Ministries executive minister, sees these resolutions as an opportunity to continue the governance dialog. "These four resolutions represent the intent of at least part of the church to continue the discussion," she said. "Our job as the Body of Christ is to listen to one another. Our leadership role is to discern our future together – and our delegates to General Synod are our leaders."

The Standing Rules of the 27th General Synod allow for the possibility of receiving resolutions that could not have been anticipated prior to the Jan. 1, 2009, deadline. The actions of the JWM board that halted the single governance proposal fell after this deadline.

UCC Penn Central Conference Minister, the Rev. Marja Coons-Torn, worked with her Conference board in submitting the first resolution calling for the General Synod to revisit single governance. "The delegates attending General Synod deserve the opportunity to hear the discussion on single governance and help make the decisions that will guide the church into the future," she said.

Hopeful for unity in the mission objectives of the church she feels a single governance model will provide, Coons-Torn said, "We need to find ways to build trust with one another that allow us to be more missional in addition to being more efficient – for the good of the whole church."

Jaramillo agrees that more participants will enhance the process. "The more people who are involved, the better it will allow for our collective wisdom to come forward," she said.

Resolutions of similar nature are often combined into a single document for the General Synod to consider. "In all likelihood the Committee of Reference, who decides on the disposition of resolutions, will act to send these resolutions to one committee and may even recommend that they be combined," said Lee Foley, the UCC's minister for governing body relations. "It is probable that the General Synod will be dealing with one governance resolution, not four."

Foley explained that no action is possible by the General Synod regarding the tabled combined board proposal. Rather, he said the submitted resolutions merely encourage the Covenanted Ministry Boards and Executive Council to again take up their deliberations on continuing the process of defining the constitution and bylaw changes that would lead to the unified board structure.

These resolutions, along with those previously submitted, can be found on the GS27 resolutions page.