Contents
May/June2005
FEATURES
The life and faith of Jackie Robinson George Mitrovich chronicles the courageous faith of a pioneer.
The tranformative power of forgivenessJohn Gordon tells the story of a father who forgave the killer of his son.
Frogs, lizards, and the mission of ChristStephen Seamands encourages the church to evangelize.
Speaking truth to the modern worldPaul Stallsworth remembers the towering strength of Pope John Paul II.
Pope embodied courage and love Linda Bloom reports on United Methodist reactions to Pope John Paul II.
Pope John Paul II and Evangelicals Michael Cromartie interviews George Weigel, the pope's official biographer.
African churches model evangelism and growth Lesley Crosson reports on the vibrancy of African Christianity.
COLUMNS
EditorialThe cure for what ails us
Renew Women’s NetworkResponding to Jan Love's letter to RENEW
The Great CommissionWhen "Christian" does not translate
From the HeartQuestions
DEPARTMENTS
News UM theologians stress need for doctrine
“Joan of Arcadia” helps families discuss touchy topics
Bishop Earl G. Hunt Jr., church "giant," dies at age 86
Film Focus: Kingdom of Heaven
Hotel Rwanda
At the fall board of directors meeting of the Women's Division, incoming Deputy General Secretary Dr. Janice Love consented to answer six questions submitted to her by the Renew press representative, Katy Kiser. Renew received the answers to these questions on Thursday, March 31 in the form of an "Open Letter."
The questions from Renew that Dr. Love responded to dealt with issues such as the Women's Division's:
. views about the supremacy of Jesus Christ over other world religions;
. failure to give high priority to fulfilling the Great Commission;
. left-leaning political and social agenda;
. strong support of the United Nations, despite its failures and scandals;
. long-held support for pro-choice views rather than "culture of life";
. consistent pattern of affirming homosexual practice.
The documentation which accompanied Renew's questions were not covered in Dr. Love's answers.
The first three pages of the 12-page open letter provides commentary on several items. In this section Dr. Love reports the acceptance of an invitation extended by Renew to the Women's Division for a face-to-face Christian conversation in the near future. We are pleased and will be working with the Women's Division to determine guidelines for this meeting.
In this prelude to the questions, Dr. Love takes the opportunity to claim that, from the Women's Division's point of view, Renew's criticisms distort the work of the Women's Division, giving two "recent" examples. Of all the documented concerns Renew network members have raised over our 15-year history, which the Women's Division, in our opinion, has failed to answer substantively, it was surprising to read the two non-substantive examples that were given.
The first charge was that a program by Dawn Marks on the Renew website "invokes images of Satanism, witchcraft and blasphemy in her critique of our Reading Program." In fact, these references to the program were in relation to hypothetical "Book Club Reading Circles" and had no direct reference to the UMW Reading Program. This program (not a critique) did question the inclusion of Bishop Joseph Sprague's Affirmations of a Dissenter on the 2005 UMW Reading Program list.
Dr. Love failed to address this very real concern. Dawn, a local United Methodist Woman, wrote this program out of her surprise and deep disappointment that this book was included on the UMW reading program. We did not edit out her passion.
The second example referenced a brief overview of the Fall 2005 Women's Division board meeting which we included in our February 2005 Renew Newsletter. Dr. Love stated that, in covering her inaugural speech, this article "took it as a sign of the Women's Division being exclusively committed to social holiness at the expense of personal holiness." She also felt this article did not give clarity to her statements pertaining to change and reconciliation.
In actuality, even in this brief overview promoting the full board report, we shared, "She [Dr. Love] presented a more balanced view of Wesley's scriptural holiness, pointing out that love of neighbor-social holiness-was born out of personal holiness, which is the experience of God's Love."
Regarding her openness to healing, we stated, "She [Dr. Love] made it clear that she embraces the Women's Division's allegiance to social justice, while acknowledging that there are profound differences among the women in the United Methodist Church and that there is a need to promote healing and wholeness." The full report devoted two full pages to Dr. Love's inaugural speech.
It was precisely because of her statements at the fall board meeting, and because of our sense of Dr. Love's open spirit, that we proposed Christian conversation between the Renew Network and the Women's Division.
Renew appreciates Dr. Love's willingness to respond to our questions. She did not have to do that. We regret that she felt it necessary to put her response into a public forum without prior notice, but we accept this opportunity for both of our groups to air their differing views to a wider audience within the United Methodist Church.
We shall look forward to a future meeting for Christian conversation around the issues that divide us.
Because of space limitations in this issue, I am not able to respond to the answers Dr. Love provided to our six questions. You will want to send for our expanded response, or read it online at www.renewnetwork.org. You may read Jan Love's "Open Letter" at: http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/full_article.cfm?articleid=3110.
Click here to send your response plus the title of this article to us at Good News.