Statement by the United Methodist Church

[Tron]

On 6/27/2022 at 11:27 AM, RememberSchiff said:

The North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church has agreed to pay $448,216 (within a year) to help pay sexual abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America as part of the scouting organization’s federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy settlement.

Starting June 30, new agreements will be in place with the Boy Scouts, she said. Churches will have affiliation agreements with Boy Scout troops instead of charters with local councils, to “decrease risk of legal exposure,” Lynn Hare, chancellor for the North Alabama Conference, said.

Through the end of October, new agreements will be signed, with equipment such as tents and trailers to be owned by the Boy Scouts, not by individual churches that had sponsored them.

“We are making a separation between the church and the Boy Scout unit,” Hare said.

The agreement provides for safe sanctuary and youth protection plans.

More at source:

https://www.al.com/news/2022/06/north-alabama-methodists-agree-to-pay-448216-in-boy-scout-abuse-settlement.html

When I read this my gut tells me that the UMC doesn't want to get called quitters/abandoners/etc ... and they are creating a bureaucratic mess that any sane troop committee would prefer to find a new CO over instead of dealing with it.

[yknot]

1 hour ago, Tron said:

When I read this my gut tells me that the UMC doesn't want to get called quitters/abandoners/etc ... and they are creating a bureaucratic mess that any sane troop committee would prefer to find a new CO over instead of dealing with it.

That's not so crazy. The Methodist Church has been undergoing its own schisms and upheavals and has also had decades of membership and financial losses that it has to weigh and consider. There is very strong support for scouting in certain sectors of the UMC and the UMC can't afford to alienate them and lose more membership. On the other hand, the financial risks and potential costs of continuing a relationship with scouting is real.  Negotiating something that doesn't have the UMC itself ending the relationship with scouting but instead causes that by default or significantly reduces the level of involvement could be one possible strategy to solve a difficult dilemma. 

[5thGenTexan]

We are going to find a new CO.  Not going to be Council "owned" unit.  However, we are planning on a side deal with the Methodist Church for those 4 or 5 times a year we use the sanctuary or gym.  

[yknot]

It's June 30th and the UMC agreement that was supposed to be finalized a few weeks ago, and then the week after the June 16th webinar, and then again more than two weeks later, is still not out despite assurances it would be done by today. I wonder if, when the June 30th date was originally set, the participants assumed the lawsuit would be over by now? 

[5thGenTexan]

4 hours ago, yknot said:

It's June 30th and the UMC agreement that was supposed to be finalized a few weeks ago, and then the week after the June 16th webinar, and then again more than two weeks later, is still not out despite assurances it would be done by today. I wonder if, when the June 30th date was originally set, the participants assumed the lawsuit would be over by now? 

This was posted 10 days ago.   https://www.ngumc.org/newsdetail/letter-from-bishop-and-scouting-coordinator-new-united-methodist-bsa-affiliation-agreement-16533299

Part of it includes this statement, so it seems they are tired of waiting on the lawsuit to be final,.

• The BSA Bankruptcy plan hasn’t yet been ruled on by the court, but is expected to be later this summer.  The Ad Hoc Committee and BSA believe that waiting for a court decision brings no additional benefit and that registering with the new agreement sooner gets us back to administering and growing the program sooner.

[ProductOtheProgram]

This "just" posted - https://methodistscouter.org/a-new-agreement/

[RememberSchiff]

@ProductOtheProgram welcome to scouter.com

[yknot]

 

3 hours ago, ProductOtheProgram said:

This "just" posted - https://methodistscouter.org/a-new-agreement/

Thanks. That's what I was looking for. 

[BPUMC]

Was the flowchart designed to convey the message that if a CO decides to not recharter they 1) don't "care for youth in the community" and 2) doesn't "love scouts"?  Words, and in this case the absence of words, have meaning.

[5thGenTexan]

This chart really stood out to me.  Kind of weird language for the discussion.

 

[5thGenTexan]

Is there a Facilities Use Agreement form that is used by all units sponsored by a Methodist Church or is it something unique to the dioceses within the states or even individual churches.  

We are gonna need that.

[5thGenTexan]

July 5th and I still have heard ANYTHING from Council or the local church.  I know what's going on, but that doesn't help Units that haven't been monitoring this.  Especially with a hard deadline to make the changes.

[BPUMC]

On 7/2/2022 at 12:37 AM, 5thGenTexan said:

Is there a Facilities Use Agreement form that is used by all units sponsored by a Methodist Church or is it something unique to the dioceses within the states or even individual churches.  

We are gonna need that.

Attaching the original facilities usage agreement they wanted us to sign along with the modified (page 3) we agreed to sign.

Proposed FUA vs Approved.pdf

[ProductOtheProgram]

Facilities Use Agreement is now posted as well.
https://methodistscouter.org/a-new-agreement/ 

[mrjohns2]

32 minutes ago, ProductOtheProgram said:

Facilities Use Agreement

What a bureaucratic nightmare. This is a UMC specific Facilities Use Agreement and not the standard BSA one. Too bad they could negotiate updating the standard one that came out a couple of years ago.