Archive: Theological crisis decried at 1994 Good News celebration

Displeasure with a November ecumenical women’s conference was expressed repeatedly during the three-day “Summer Celebration” sponsored by Good News, the denomination’s evangelical caucus. The event was held July 21-23 in Dallas.

In opening remarks, Good News board Chairman Don Shell of Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, bemoaned the “church’s loss of a vital Christology, particularly as reflected in the recent ‘Re-Imagining’ Conference.” Soliciting comments and suggestions from the nearly 500 participants, Shell said board members are “disappointed in the lack of response by our institutional leadership to the agony our people are feeling about that conference.”

Most plenary speakers here referred to the controversy; and several leaders publicly and privately declared that the “issue isn’t going to go away.” A large number of United Methodists attended the conference, and the Women’s Division of the Board of Global Ministries paid expenses for 56 staff, directors, and other women.

In his report as editor and executive secretary of the unofficial caucus, the Rev. James V. Heidinger II said “Re-Imagining” may prove to be a “gift from God.”

“For the first time the church is talking about theology,” he said. “We are being forced to think doctrine again.” Heidinger made clear that the issue is not the church’s support of ecumenical events, or the Women’s Division’s mission history, or women’s theology, but “a frontal assault on foundational Christian doctrine at a gathering that was supposed to have been sympathetic and supportive of the Christian faith.”

He called the event a “coming-out of radical feminist theology … a poignant example of the near-fatal collapse in mainline Protestantism of authority, doctrine, memory, and tradition.” To stop a “theological and ethical free fall,” he said, “it’s time we pull the rip cord on the emergency chute.”

In his keynote address, the Rev. William H. Hinson, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Houston, the largest congregation in the denomination, chastised the Council of Bishops for failing to criticize the Minneapolis event. At its meeting in early May, the council agreed to conduct a study of wisdom literature in the Bible but did not comment collectively on the event.

Hinson described as “intellectual tyranny” and “intimidation” efforts to silence critics of the “Re-Imagining” Conference, which, he said, “reconstituted the Godhead” and in which participants “prayed to something other than Jesus Christ.” The church is in a struggle with doubts that damage its effectiveness, Hinson said, including “preachers … who wonder whether or not Jesus Christ is even necessary [for salvation].”

A major challenge during the conference came on the closing night when the Rev. Edmund W. Robb Jr. of Marshall, Texas, spoke on “The Biblical Faith and Radical Feminism: An Evangelical Response.” (See page 34.)

“Some have accused us of trying to suppress freedom of expression in our criticism of the ‘Re-Imagining’ Conference,” Robb said, ” … but if they do not uphold the basic doctrines of the church they ought to have the integrity to get out.” Evangelicals are not antiwomen, Robb said, but are concerned about the “radical feminist movement as represented in the ‘Re-Imagining’ Conference.” On the eve of the convocation, more than 200 persons gathered to honor Robb for his 30 years in evangelistic ministry.

One Bible study leader, the Rev. Joe Harris of Ardmore, Oklahoma, called on United Methodists to build their relationships on covenant, not conditions. He said people had the right to attend the Minneapolis conference, but not to ask for the church’s support. “Worshipping Sophia does not further the kingdom of God,” he declared. Harris, superintendent of the church’s Ardmore District and a member of the Good News governing board’s executive committee, said the 1996 General Conference should “renew our covenant and life together on the basis of what God wants us to do.”

Before an evening plenary session, the Rev. William Hines of Findlay, Ohio, prayed for “some leaders who refused to defend what we believe is non-negotiable .” Hines is vice chairman of the Good News board.

During a free afternoon, participants were invited to a previously unscheduled meeting to discuss the Minneapolis conference with Dottie Chase, a long-time Good News leader from Willard, Ohio. Chase, who attended the event, said the central issue it raised is “Who do you say Jesus is? He’s either the Christ and the Lord of the Church or he’s not.”

Also leading the two-hour informal session was Faye Short, director of the Evangelical Coalition for United Methodist Women (ECUMW /RENEW). More than 80 people attended.

Other plenary speakers during the “Summer Celebration” included the Rev. William J. Abraham, a faculty member at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University in Dallas; Elizabeth B. Brown, author and speaker from Chattanooga, Tennessee; the Rev. Joseph Harding, cofounder of the church-wide “Vision 2000” program; and the Rev. Cornelius Henderson, president of Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta.

Eleven seminars dealt with topics ranging from abortion and prayer to ways of increasing the evangelical witness in United Methodist schools of theology. This year’s event, geared to all ages, was attended by people from 30 states and Canada.

Next year’s Good News event will be held in Cincinnati July 13-16 . Keynote speaker will be the Rev. Maxie Dunnam, recently elected president of Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. Seminar topics will include “Organizing Annual Conferences for General Conference” and “Ministry to Homosexuals.”

Adapted from United Methodist News Service.