Link to the revised Social Principles.
Social Principles 2020: Background on the Revision of the Social Principles
“The Social Principles are a call to all members of The United Methodist Church to a prayerful, studied dialogue of faith and practice.” Social Principles Preface
The 2016 Book of Discipline says the Social Principles, “Are a prayerful and thoughtful effort on the part of the General Conference to speak to the human issues in the contemporary world from a sound biblical and theological foundation.”
Why revised the Social Principles?
The Social Principles were first adopted in 1970 and there has not been a revision of the document for close to fifty years. There is a need to revise the Social Principles to reflect the Church and its challenges today.
The 2012 General Conference approved legislation to carry out consultations to update The United Methodist Social Principles. Petition 20986-CA-Non-Dis titled "Revise the Social Principles “to engage in a process for considering and revising the Social Principles, to determine convene hearings and other appropriate measures in Jurisdictions and Central Conferences on the future of the Social Principles, and to appoint a committee of adequate size to provide assistance for further work on the revision of the Social Principles with the goal of making them more succinct and theologically relevant.”
The General Conference referred the petition on the revision of the Social Principles to the coordinating body of the denomination (at that time named the General Council for Strategy and Oversight.) This defaulted back to the Connectional Table. The Connectional Table partnered with the Secretary of General Conference and the General Board of Church and Society to begin this work by funding the initial hearings through the World Service Contingency Fund.
The Executive Committee of the General Board of Church and Society reviewed this request from the Secretary of General Conference and established a Task Force that included board members, the Secretary of the General Conference and staff.
A two-part process to update the Social Principles was approved: Phase 1 June 2014-February 2015 to convene listening sessions on the Social Principles by region and Phase 2 to consider a process for the revision of the Social Principles 2016-2020 based on the findings from Phase 1.
What was accomplished in Phase 1?
Four Listening Consultations were held in the Central Conferences of Africa, Philippines, and Europe. Two Listening Consultations were held in Washington, DC for the Jurisdictional Conferences of the United States.
The purpose of the Listening Consultation process was to review how the Social Principles are implemented in various contexts and to document if there is a need for revision of the Social Principles in light of the increasing worldwide nature of The United Methodist Church.
Groups of diverse participants were recruited based on nominations by their resident bishops, recommendations by conference church and society leadership, and through an open application process.
A final list of participants were selected from each region based on their context and experience. Criterion for participation included lay and clergy persons with competencies in theology and ethics and those practices that shape the mission and ministry of the Social Principles in a geographical region of The United Methodist Church.
A total of 193 persons participated in the 7 Listening Consultations.
September 26-27, 2014 Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. 24 participants from Central Congo Episcopal Area, Eastern Congo Episcopal Area, North Katanga Episcopal Area, Southern Congo Episcopal Area, and the Ivory Coast Episcopal Area.
October 17-18, 2014 Maputo, Mozambique. 27 participants from the Africa Central Conference including the Angola East Episcopal Area, Angola West Episcopal Area, East Africa Episcopal Area, Mozambique Episcopal Area, Zimbabwe Episcopal Area.
November 14-15, 2014 Pan Sol, Philippines. 25 participants from Baguio Episcopal Area, Davao Episcopal Area, and the Manila Episcopal Area.
December 14-15, 2014 Prague, Czech Republic. 28 participants from the Nordic-Baltic Episcopal Area, Moscow Episcopal Area, Central and Southern Europe Episcopal Area, and Germany Episcopal Area.
January 16-17, 2015 Washington, D.C., U.S.A. 25 participants from the North Central Jurisdiction, Northeastern Jurisdiction, South Central Jurisdiction, Southeastern Jurisdiction and Western Jurisdiction.
January 23-24, 2015 Washington, D.C., U.S.A. 29 participants from the North Central Jurisdiction, Northeastern Jurisdiction, South Central Jurisdiction, Southeastern Jurisdiction and Western Jurisdiction.
March 24-26, 2015 Abuja, Nigeria. 35 participants from the Nigeria Episcopal Area.
Nine (9) board members served as listening partners within the Listening Consultations with three of these board members representing Conferences in the Central Conferences: Switzerland, Angola, and the Philippines. Representatives from the Division on Ministries with Young People and from the Connectional Table attended each consultation.
What did we learn from the Listening Consultations during the 2012-2016 quadrennium?
Each Listening Consultation lasted two days and focused on the following questions:
What role do the current Social Principles play in enhancing the mission and ministry of The United Methodist Church?
How much and/or how well have the current Social Principles served to empower mission and ministry in your geographical area (conference)?
What might globally relevant Social Principles look like?
Each Listening Consultation included a brief plenary overview of the General Conference legislation and resulting actions taken by the General Board of Church and Society. This was followed by an introduction to each of the six sections of the Social Principles led by a consultation participant. Participants were then divided into small groups to create space for authentic and honest conversation guided by the three focus questions. Each small group made a report of their findings to the plenary. Informal conversations and evening activities encouraged further reflection on the three questions.
Board member observations, plenary presentations, and small group reports are available for archival purposes and for reference as next steps are taken in the process to revise the Social Principles.
What did we hear from the Listening Consultations?
Reception of Social Principles: We heard a deep appreciation for the Social Principles as a resource for mission and ministry. Participants illustrated specific ways the Social Principles empower United Methodists to bear witness to the Gospel in their communities.
Language, Current Practices and Social Realities: We heard described a tension between acknowledging the practices of United Methodists in specific geographic areas and the application of the language in the Social Principles in those areas.
Local and Global Relevance: We heard a desire for further work and reflection to further clarify and reaffirm both the contextual and world-wide relevance of the Social Principles.
Theological and Ethical Foundations: We heard a strong desire for a more precise and concise articulation of the Social Principles that speaks across cultural distinctions and historical particularities. We heard a desire for more explicit theological and ethical foundations to ground each social principle.
What was the action of the 2016 General Conference?
The 2016 General Conference mandated that, “The General Board of Church and Society will continue to give priority to developing Social Principles for a worldwide church and will refer this work to the General Conference 2020” (cf. Worldwide Social Principles CA23-NonDis-A-G; calendar item 242).
The rational for this action was to builds on a series of seven Jurisdictional and Central Conference Listening consultations facilitated by the General Board of Church and Society at the request of the 2012 General Conference and the Connectional Table calling for a more succinct, theologically founded, and globally relevant set of Social Principles (cf. Revise Social Principles 20986-CA-Non-Dis).
Who oversaw the revision process?
In September 2016 the General Board of Church and Society’s board of directors established a Task Force for the Revision of the Social Principles.
How was a first draft written?
From January to February 2016 Dean Mary Elizabeth Moore, Dean and Professor of Education at the Boston University School of Theology, agreed to serve as the lead facilitator who would meet with and equip 6 writing team conveners.
The 6 Conveners were each responsible for one section of the Social Principles and for leading a team of scholars and practitioners to write a first draft of the revised Social Principles.
From May 2017 to November 2017 each of the six teams met for four days of writing at The United Methodist Building in Washington, D.C. Each writing team consists of between 8 and 10 persons. Their focus is to consider the biblical, theological, historical and ethical language in the Social Principles and to propose revised language that is both succinct and relevant to a worldwide church and a global society.
Each writing team continued to meet online up to four times in order to complete drafts of their sections by December 15, 2017.
There were 52 writing team participants who wrote the first draft: 6 Southeast Jurisdiction 6 North Central Jurisdiction 11 South Central Jurisdiction 6 Western Jurisdiction 10 Northeast Jurisdiction 3 Philippines Central Conference 2 Africa Central Conference 2 Congo Central Conference 4 West Africa Central Conference 1 Central and Southern Europe Central Conference 1 North Europe and Eurasia Central Conference 5 Young Adults selected by the Division on Ministries with Young People board 6 Representatives from the racial and ethnic caucuses 6 Church and Society Social Principles Task Force board members 21 lay persons 31 clergy
The first draft was reviewed by the Social Principles Task Force during the March 2018 General Board of Church and Society meeting in Berlin, Germany. Following action by the Task Force the draft document was made available for Open Online Public Comment as well for Public Conversations in the Jurisdictional and Central Conference.
Were public comments received from United Methodists on the first draft of the revised Social Principles?
Yes. Significant comments were received on the first draft of the revised Social Principles.
The Online Public Comment period was held from April 11 to August 31, 2018. 2,507 written responses were received from persons in 35 Conferences in the U.S. and persons in 20 Conferences in Africa, Philippines, Europe and Eurasia (please see addendum).
The Public Conversations were held in Conferences across the connection from April 18 to August 18, 2018. 3,768 persons participated in these Public Conversations in 30 Conferences in the U.S. and 35 Conferences in Africa, Philippines, Europe and Eurasia (Please see addendum). The comments shared by these groups taken with the online comments informed the shape and direction of the second draft of the document.
An Editorial Review Team with the leadership of Dean Moore assessed the Online Public comments and the Public Conversation comments and proposed a second draft for the Task Force to review.
What were some of the major learnings from the public comment period?
There was interest and support for a reorganization of the Social Principles into four sections:
The Community of All Creation
The Social Community (combining Nurturing and Social Community, and adding parts from the former World Community)
The Economic Community
The Political Community (including parts from former Social Community and World Community)
There was a desire to organize each principle and state sub-principles by defining key problems and key terms, offering clear, careful and balanced biblical and theological grounding with reference to both the Hebrew and Christian texts; add specific calls to action as appropriate to the sub-section and with attention to the world-wide nature of the Church; acknowledge how scripture and theology has been used to utilized to historically subjugate and colonize peoples; include references to narratives and parables and distinguish them imperatives or injunctions; acknowledge interpretive challenges for each principle; further make the text succinct by avoiding lengthy interpretations of a principle once defined; provide gender balance in biblical images and language; practice consistency in biblical citations.
There was a desire for strong theological foundations in every section and subsection, engage biblical texts when appropriate, and offer brief interpretations that connect referenced scripture with a principle, while avoiding superficial proof texting.
There was encouragement to draft the Social Principles to be more succinct, aiming for brevity without repetition, combining sections to avoid duplication of principles.
There was a desire make the Social Principles globally meaningful in so far as possible by naming principles in language that crosses culture, identifying issues that are not in the present principles but are prevalent in some parts of the world, nuancing language on principles that reflect different histories in different geographical contexts, and accent issues that are central in some parts of the world.
Were additional drafts written?
Yes. The members of the Social Principles Task Force at the October 24-26, 2018 meeting of the board received, reviewed and revised the second draft. They provided their comments to the Editorial Review Team led by Dean Moore for consideration in the next draft.
A third draft was completed between November 2018 and January 2019 that included new Social Principles on polygamy and child marriage with the input of comments from 15 lay and clergy, scholars and practitioners from Conferences and theological schools in Africa.
All members of the General Board of Church and Society were requested to offer their written comments through an Online Portal February 2018. These comments were considered by the Editorial Review Team in March 2019.
Following the February 2019 Special Called General Conference new revised language was included on human sexuality, the rights of persons regardless of sexuality orientation, and marriage.
A revised Preface and Preamble to the Social Principles was also included in the third draft.
A fourth draft was considered for review and final action at the meeting of the Social Principles Task Force on April 24, 2019.
What was the result?
The General Board of Church and Society approved the revised Social Principles and will submit them to the 2020 General Conference for their action with the hope that this new document will substitute the current Social Principles.
The Social Principles Consultations represent a significant amount of time, passion, and thoughtful deliberation within a growing diversity of social and geographical contexts. Our hope is that this document will continue to demonstrate our best theological and ethical thinking as a Church on those position, values, interests, and needs that are true to our prophet witness to the share the gospel of Jesus Christ with all for the transformation of the world.
Read the revised Social Principles.