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PETITION to the ALABAMA-WEST FLORIDA CONFERENCE

WHEREAS, The Confessing Movement within the United Methodist Church is a witness by United Methodist laymen and women, clergy, and congregations who pledge unequivocal and confident allegiance to the Lord, Jesus Christ and,

WHEREAS, the purpose of The Confessing Movement within the United Methodist Church is to contend for the apostolic faith and,

WHEREAS, The Confessing Movement is not asking for a new definition of faith, but for a new level of integrity in upholding our historic doctrinal standards in a thoughtful, serious and principled way and,

WHEREAS, the Confessing Movement opposes treating theology as a matter of personal experimentation, and

WHEREAS, there is a grave danger in using the umbrella of pluralism and inclusiveness to support an agenda of theological relativism,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference become a Confessing Conference by confirming our commitment to Biblical and doctrinal standards set forth in the 1996 Discipline, paragraph #62, which includes (1) the Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church, (2) the Standard Sermons of Wesley, (3) the Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament, and (4) the General Rules of the Methodist Church.

The Alabama-West Florida Conference voted to become a Confessing Conference May 27, 1997. This is the first Confessing Conference in the United Methodist Church. John Ed Mathison, Chair of the Board of Directors of the CM led the petition. It is the prayer of the Confessing Movement that the Alabama-West Florida Conference will continue to be instrumental in increasing the power and speed of this trend.