WELCOME!

Associates in Advocacy now has two sites on the internet. Our primary help site is at http://www.aiateam.org/. There AIA seeks to offer aid to troubled pastors, mainly those who face complaints and whose careers are on the line.

Help is also available to their advocates, their caregivers, Cabinets, and others trying to work in that context.

This site will be a blog. On it we will address issues and events that come up.

We have a point of view about ministry, personnel work, and authority. We intend to take the following very seriously:

THE GOLDEN RULE
THE GENERAL RULES
GOING ONTO PERFECTION

Some of our denomination's personnel practices have real merit. Some are deeply flawed. To tell the difference, we go to these criteria to help us know the difference.

We also have a vision of what constitutes healthy leadership and authority. We believe it is in line with Scripture, up-to-date managerial practice, and law.

To our great sadness, some pastors who become part of the hierarchy of the church, particularly the Cabinet, have a vision based on their being in control as "kings of the hill," not accountable to anyone and not responsible to follow the Discipline or our faith and practice. They do not see that THE GOLDEN RULE applies to what they do.

If you are reading this, the chances are you are not that way. We hope what we say and do exemplify our own best vision and will help you fulfill yours. But we cannot just leave arrogance, incompetence, and ignorance to flourish. All of us have the responsibility to minimize those in our system.

We join you in fulfilling our individual vow of expecting to be perfect in love in this life and applying that vow to our corporate life in the United Methodist Church.

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If you have any questions or suggestions, direct them to Rev. Jerry Eckert. His e-mail address is aj_eckert@hotmail.com. His phone number is 941 743 0518. His address is 20487 Albury Drive, Port Charlotte, FL 33952.

Thank you.

(9/26/07)


Saturday, May 14, 2011

JCD 1170

http://archives.umc.org/interior_judicial.asp?mid=263&JDID=1290&JDMOD=VWD&SN=1100&EN=1189

Questions of law from another conference in the Philippines relate to re-election of trustees. The people raising the questions also asked for a declaratory decision by the Council on the same matter. The Council accepted the questions of law but not the request that had been voted on.

I always thought the higher the vote count, the more it impacted the attention of the Council. I guess that rule of thumb may still be operative except in the unusual situation where the same concerns are raised using both channels to the Council.

The Discipline does not disallow Trustees from succeeding themselves. That seems so obvious that one wonders why the question was raised, especially in a conference whose culture is different. I wish someone would have given the back-story in a concurring opinion as has sometimes been done in the past. Or maybe not….

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