Bishops tackle problems with cherished prayer

Key points:

• During their fall meeting, United Methodist bishops discussed artificial intelligence, immigration and the recent Leadership Gathering. 
• They also took lessons from the Lord’s Prayer.
• Council of Bishops President Rubén Saenz Jr. encouraged the bishops to be good ancestors, like the people who first taught them to pray the words Jesus taught. 

At a meeting centered on the Lord’s Prayer, the Council of Bishops discussed how to ensure God’s will be done in how United Methodists handle the challenges and opportunities before them.

The bishops discussed how the church should deal with artificial intelligence and welcome immigrants at a time of mounting threats around the globe. 

The episcopal leaders also began their next steps after the Leadership Gathering in Calgary, Alberta, that they initiated to discern where the Holy Spirit is calling The United Methodist Church.

Throughout the meeting, the bishops kept returning to the words of the Lord’s Prayer. 

Council of Bishops President Rubén Saenz Jr. began the bishops Nov. 2-6 online meeting by asking his colleagues to remember who first taught them the Lord’s Prayer.  

“That person was a good ancestor, and they planted something in us that they could not see grow. But they saw it with eyes of faith,” said Saenz, who also leads the Horizon Texas Conference.

“They simply handed over a prayer and trusted God with the rest, that we would use it and find strength and wisdom in it for our time.”

Similarly, he described the bishops’ efforts of the past few weeks as planting seeds for The United Methodist Church of 2050 — a church they may not live to see.

Leadership Gathering

That was especially true for the work of the recently completed Leadership Gathering, which the bishops called to dream of a different future for the denomination after a season of church disaffiliations and decades of U.S. membership decline.

For the unprecedented gathering, the bishops called together lay and clergy members from Africa, Europe, the Philippines and the U.S. More than a third of the bishops’ chosen participants were under age 35. 

Over five days, the participants worshipped, engaged with TED Talk-style presentations and joined in small groups both in person and online. At the gathering’s conclusion, the small groups brought forward 16 recommendations to strengthen the denomination by 2050 in the areas of discipleship, leadership, impact, stewardship and accountability. 

During the Council of Bishops meeting, the bishops reflected on the Leadership Gathering and began to prepare a report on the event’s developments that they plan to present to the whole denomination in January next year. 

The Connectional Table, which coordinates ministry across the denomination, also has committed to carrying forward the gathering’s recommendations as they are developed.

Saenz said the Council of Bishops plans to use the report to determine what the bishops and the denomination’s 13 general agencies can do so that the Leadership Gathering’s work can be realized in the denomination’s conferences and local churches around the globe. 

“These recommendations are not coming from the top down. They come from the people of God, from the young voices in our church,” said Saenz, who also served as co-convener of the gathering’s design team.

“Many of them spoke and had a platform to share their hopes for the church. They trusted us with their hopes, and so now we intend to honor that trust. So please keep this work in your prayers.”

Artificial intelligence

Part of becoming the church yet to be is determining how the denomination should best approach artificial intelligence, which continues to have huge ramifications for people’s work and the world’s resources. 

The United Methodist Church’s general agencies are exploring the use of artificial intelligence from practical, legal, ethical and theological perspectives. In September, Discipleship Ministries and United Methodist Communications helped host a summit on AI and the church that emphasized human agency in managing the technology. Other organizers of the summit included The Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Bishops Tom Berlin and Lanette L. Plambeck presented a motion that the bishops approved to build on this work.

The bishops, through the council’s executive committee, now plan to:

• Form a task force that includes lay experts, ethicists, theologians, young people and others to develop a statement and related resources on AI grounded in the Christian faith and the denomination’s Wesleyan heritage.
• Develop a toolkit for using AI responsibly. 
• Convene the denomination’s agencies to coordinate any legislation and social teachings they plan to submit to General Conference, the denomination’s top policymaking body, when it is next scheduled to meet in 2028.

“Artificial intelligence is the most disruptive technology of our time. It’s already advancing medicine, science and other fields,” said Berlin, who leads the Florida Conference. “It may help solve problems that have long burdened humanity. But it’s equally possible that it will displace workers, accelerate war and be misused in ways that deeply harm human life.”

Plambeck, who leads the Dakotas and Minnesota conferences, also pointed to the deep concern United Methodists and others have about the data centers being built to support artificial intelligence. 

“Many are being built in rural communities, including communities across our regions, where they draw on aquifers and water tables that farms and future generations depend upon,” said Plambeck, who is also the Council of Bishops secretary. “The impact on the poor and the most marginalized — and those who tend to creation care for our neighbors — require that we name these costs plainly.”

Saenz also reminded the bishops that John Wesley, Methodism’s founder, was not afraid of the new technology of his day. In fact, like his contemporary Benjamin Franklin, Wesley experimented with electricity. He also wrote a book on medicine.

“Our tradition does not ask us to fear new tools or worship them,” Saenz said. “But it does ask us how they serve the Lord and help us love our neighbor.” 

Immigration

The bishops also explored how they can continue to demonstrate love of neighbor by following Jesus’ command to welcome the stranger. The denomination maintains its strong stance for the dignity of all people, even as the U.S. federal government continues its crackdown on immigrants and South Africa is forcing out many migrants from neighboring countries. 

Retired Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño, chair of the United Methodist Immigration Task Force, celebrated that United Methodist ministries and interfaith partners recently saw their suit revived to block federal immigration enforcement inside houses of worship. 

Carcaño also described the launch of the Acompañamiento Congregations Initiative, which aims to equip teams from U.S. conferences to help churches serve as trusted allies and companions of immigrant communities. The initiative launched Oct. 12-14 in Atlanta with 124 United Methodists, representing 27 of the denomination’s 50 U.S. annual conferences.

The initiative will have three phases:

• Organizing conference teams through the end of the year.
• Training and recruitment from January to June 2027.
• Activating congregational networks through the end of 2027.

The Immigration Task Force also has received funding from the Connectional Table and United Methodist Committee on Relief to provide immigration advocacy training for United Methodist leaders in Africa and Europe. The training in Africa will especially focus on advocating for alternatives to the increasing detention of migrants, particularly children, in overcrowded prisons. 

In partnership with the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, the task force also plans to offer advocacy assistance for Filipino migrants around the globe.

“We give God thanks for what, by God’s grace, we can do as a connectional church,” Carcaño said. “May God continue to bless our efforts for immigrant justice. Above all, may God be with our immigrant siblings.”

Saenz concluded the Council of Bishops meeting with the charge for all bishops to be both good neighbors and good ancestors, like the people who first taught them the Lord’s prayer. 

“Let’s lead like planters — planting churches in different contexts so that people can experience the abundant life that Christ has come to offer,” he said, “because the church isn’t ours to keep. It’s ours to tend and then to hand on.”

Hahn is assistant news editor for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.