Ministry of monitoring Goal: To advocate gender,
racial, age-level inclusiveness in the UMC
“We want to think the best of ourselves. So we do not even recognize when we are excluding people by not listening to their voices,” said Raquel Mull, clergywoman from New Mexico Conference. Mull monitored gender and racial inclusiveness during proceedings of the 2004 General Conference and the South Central Jurisdictional Conference on behalf of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women.
“In fact, when I observe a meeting for a short time, I can now identify where the power resides. I can demonstrate it with statistics. Often participants cannot see it for themselves,” Mull adds.
“We want to think the best of ourselves. So we do not even recognize when we are excluding people by not listening to their voices,” said Raquel Mull, clergywoman from New Mexico Conference. Mull monitored gender and racial inclusiveness during proceedings of the 2004 General Conference and the South Central Jurisdictional Conference on behalf of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women.
“In fact, when I observe a meeting for a short time, I can now identify where the power resides. I can demonstrate it with statistics. Often participants cannot see it for themselves,” Mull adds.
Pat Callbeck Harper of the Yellowstone Conference, a long-time consultant for GCSRW, trained Mull and past and current Commission members last spring. The team monitored the participation of people of color, women, youth and young adults during legislative sessions at General Conference. Harper also provided tools and training for those who monitored the five U.S. jurisdictional conferences last summer, as voting delegates elected bishops and regional representatives to United Methodist churchwide agencies.
The Commission has done the ministry of monitoring inclusiveness at General Conference since 1996.
The goal of the monitoring ministry is to advocate gender, racial and age-level inclusiveness in the denomination’s decision-making process at all levels. “We hold up a mirror for the church so that we can see who is included and who is marginalized,” Harper explained during orientation for new Commission members last fall. “By showing the sheer numbers—who gets to speak and who doesn’t, who gets elected and who doesn’t and which category of persons is most likely to interrupt a person from another group—we can see the strides we’ve made in being truly just and inclusive. And we can show the church how far we have yet to go."
Eva Thai, Commission member from California-Pacific Conference, and Mull each monitored their 2004 annual conference proceedings. Thai said that a team of twelve monitors in her conference were trained two months in advance and worked with the bishop to educate conference members on the purpose of their work. During the gathering, monitors offered daily reports in the conference newsletter, similar to reports the Commission offered in the General Conference Daily Christian Advocate.
Here are the keys for successful monitoring:
Train volunteers in advance of the meeting, and include opportunities to practice monitoring.
Use monitoring tools that include room for tallying numbers and the monitors’ observations. These comments may include such things as summaries of a technique a chairperson used to encourage more participation by women and people of color, or quoting examples of a biased remark or actions that event leaders should address. (See Program Resources for monitoring forms and more details.)
Introduce yourself and present your monitoring ministry to all leaders for annual conference sessions, including all group facilitators/chairpersons, the bishop and presiding team.
Report your results to the larger group.