So it has been a couple of days since I last posted, but it has been an extremely mentally challenging past few days. GYPC is now over, but I want to take the time to write a post about what we did during the final two days at GYPC.
This year we no longer followed the legislative assembly model, and instead opted for a small group forum model. Since this model is brand new for GYPC, I would be lying if I said it was without its challenges. The process for this was that all legislation was created and voted on at GYPC. This was done by spending the first couple of days in pre-selected groups talking about a list of topics and identifying which ones we wanted legislation on. After this, six of the three hundred delegates were selected to take an afternoon to compile the reports from the voting delegates small groups (which was about half of those present at GYPC) and then write the legislation to be voted on the last two days of GYPC. Then a legislative forum was formed for these final two days where the items were presented to the assemblage and then discussed, amended, and voted on. But something that was different was we were not following Robert’s rules of order, which is pretty normal practice for a large gathering.
Because of the unfamiliar nature of the entire process, most were left floundering (including myself!), and the limited time to craft legislation left lots of the proposed pieces fairly sloppy. I guess in two years we will see how the ones we approved will stand up at General Conference 2020.
My time at GYPC may be at a close, but I have traveled into the bush for an extra week in South Africa. I plan on continuing my blog posts here until I return home next Tuesday, so please stay tuned!!