by Steve | Aug 10, 2020 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter
By Steve Beard –
Michael pointed out the front windshield at the blue sky and said: “Pastor, there’s a lot of pain in this world, a lot of people suffering right now, but no one suffers from bearing the weight of it all like God.” Photo: Pexels.
There are good reasons to avoid watching the evening news these days. It is a rough slog, even for those with sunny dispositions.
The pandemic has severally thrown us off the normal rhythm of life. Piped-in crowd cheers at baseball games, shuttered businesses on Main Street, empty classrooms, drive-up eucharist at church, Zoom meetings for work.
Once only thought to be the essential accessory of surgeons, fumigators, and bank robbers, face masks are now used to stoke our political divide. No more hugs, nor kisses on the cheeks. Forget the handshake. The entire elbow bump looks ridiculous and feels even more absurd.
Sadly, we cannot even have proper funerals for our dearly departed — and there are so many of them. We have much to mourn and now we must do it in isolation.
It seems as though one traumatic event leapfrogs another. There is a good chance that you have someone in your circle of friends who has either radically withdrawn because of depression or grown numb emotionally because of crisis fatigue.
“The sense of groundlessness has set off a spike in anxiety,” writes Joe Robinson in an article about stress management in the Los Angeles Times. “What’s going to happen to my health, my job, my family? Is takeout food safe? Will there be a depression? How long will it be before we can return to normal? Coping with existential threats in the fog of so many unknowns is a major challenge for folks programmed to make life predictable and, therefore, more safe.”
For entertainment, we thrive on cliffhangers in movies and sports because we know there will be a finale. “It’s a different story when it comes to personal uncertainty, and it’s worse when the unknown is open-ended, as with the coronavirus,” writes Robinson.
In other words, there is nothing normal about the new normal.
The Rev. Kenneth Tanner is a treasured friend of mine and pastor of the Church of the Holy Redeemer, a congregation in Michigan. He recently told me about one of his parishioners, Michael, who had been missing for almost four weeks. “Like millions, he exists at the margins” and all of this pandemic craziness proved to be “too much.” Michael “just couldn’t handle his unbearable existence anymore. He walked out the door of his apartment one night without telling a soul and just drifted away.”
When he first arrived at his parish many years ago, Ken pledged that he would help all those in need that God sent across his path. After Michael missed a couple of services, my friend Ken went looking for him. Discovering that no one in Michael’s apartment complex had seen him in three weeks, Ken’s heart sank.
“With help from the homeless community in Pontiac, some good shop owners, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, and a member of the congregation,” Michael was found and Ken was overjoyed. “He matters to me and to our church.”
Ken took Michael to talk to his landlord and try to work out any issues related to the lengthy absence. “A lot remains to be done to restore some semblance of togetherness for his life — logistics and resourcing — but he is resting well” at the church facility in the meantime as they tend to his needs. After all, Michael had spent nearly the last four weeks under a concrete staircase without showering or eating a proper meal.
My friend Ken was there for Michael — looking for him high and low. These are tough days and God bless those who are on the lookout for the souls who are struggling to cope — Heaven’s bloodhounds of compassion.
As the two of them were driving back from the meeting with the landlord, Michael pointed out the front windshield at the blue sky and said: “Pastor, there’s a lot of pain in this world, a lot of people suffering right now, but no one suffers from bearing the weight of it all like God.”
Michael spoke the truth about a God who refuses to cast a blind eye toward suffering and injustice. “But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted. You consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless” (Psalm 10:14). He spoke truth about the God who knows the number of hairs on our head and the fluttering migration of the sparrow.
While there will be a time when there will be no more sickness or death, that time has not yet arrived. In the midst of our storms and delayed mourning, God bears the gravity of it all.
Before Jesus bore the weight of the cross, he first served with basin and towel to show his undying love. “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal … and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet” (John 13:3).
This moment of selfless love was brought to memory when I learned about a couple — Steve and Mary in Jacksonville, Florida — who were separated by a pane of glass for 114 days because of COVID-19.
Facebook photos of Mary Daniel and her husband, Steve Daniel.
Steve is in a retirement facility for those with early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Mary is the top executive for a successful company. Since last March, she has faithfully visited her husband in the evenings and tucked him into bed until he fell asleep. When the pandemic struck, a state order barred visitors from assisted-living facilities. Steve was confused; Mary was heartbroken. She loved him so much but could not touch him.
“It didn’t matter what I had to do to get there,” Mary told the Washington Post. “I was willing to do whatever it took to fulfill my promise that I was going to be there for him every step of the way.”
March 10 was the last night she was able to spend with her husband. “I got a call on the 11th, and they told me I couldn’t come back,” she recalled. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”
Her mind raced for ways to get around the restrictions. “I reached out to the governor, talked to local reporters and called the parent company of the facility asking if there was anything I could do to get inside,” she said. “I even offered to bring my puppy as a therapy dog.”
In desperation, she went to his window at the facility. That turned out to be an especially cruel barrier. “I did that twice, and he just cried,” she recalled. “I decided not to do that anymore, since he’s better when he’s not crying at the window. That wasn’t doing him any good.”
But love often finds a way. Or, as a popular U2 song reminds us, “Love is bigger than anything in its way.”
Mary discovered a job opening for a dishwasher at the facility. In order to get her foot in the door as a cleared employee, she had to do a drug test, a background screening, a Covid-19 test, and video training — all so she could have a part-time job that she does not need.
Nevertheless, with joy, she works hard scrubbing plates and pots twice a week as a dishwasher so that she can walk down the hall and knock on Steve’s door.
“Mary” he exclaimed when he opened the door for the first time. They hugged for a very long time. And they both cried — this time with gratitude.
“I wanted him to know that he is deeply loved and he will never be alone,” she said on the Today show. “That’s the best gift I can give for the rest of his life.”
During these Alice in Wonderland days of strangeness and chaotic rhythms, we are asked to socially distance, wear a mask, and wash our hands.
And, if you walk the path of love, look for those who are having difficulty coping and be prepared to wash a few dishes.
Steve Beard is the editor of Good News.
by Steve | Aug 3, 2020 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter
By Thomas Lambrecht –
Robert P. George and Cornel West speaking at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. Photo by Gage Skidmore.
Religion writer Terry Mattingly recently reported that 50 percent of “strong liberals” say they would fire business executives who donate money to reelect President Donald Trump. At the same time, 36 percent of “strong conservatives” would fire executives who donate to Democrat Joe Biden’s campaign.
The result of such extreme polarization, Mattingly points out, is that “62 percent of Americans say they fear discussing their political beliefs with others, according to a national poll by the Cato Institute and the global research firm YouGov. A third of those polled thought their convictions could cost them [their] jobs.”
Brothers and sisters, this should not be! Even if (worst case) we consider members of the other political party our “enemies,” Jesus commands us to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us. Paul’s warning aptly describes what our society threatens to become. “If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other” (Galatians 5:15).
This spirit of animosity and even hatred between people of various political persuasions prompted two prominent Christian thinkers to issue a statement calling for humility, honesty, and courage — the subject of Mattingly’s column.
Robert P. George is a professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University and a committed Christian who is politically conservative. Cornel West is a professor of the practice of public philosophy at Harvard University and a committed Christian who is politically progressive. As friends and brothers in Christ, they issued a joint statement calling upon all of us to adopt a different mindset in engaging with one another on the political front.
“We need the honesty and courage to honor the contributions of the great men and women who have come before us — those who articulated and defended true principles of justice and the common good, built or helped to preserve worthy institutions, and modeled important virtues,” they write. At the same time, “We need the honesty and courage to recognize the faults, flaws, and failings of even the greatest of our heroes — and to acknowledge our own faults, flaws, and failings.”
None of us is perfect. We all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard — some of us spectacularly so. We need the honesty to honor with gratitude those things our “heroes” have done well and the ways they helped to build this country, while recognizing and decrying the ways those “heroes” fell short of the ideals that perhaps even they espoused.
“We need the honesty and courage to recognize the blights on our history, the grave wrongs that have been done, reflecting the failure of our leaders and institutions — and our own failures — to honor our principles of liberty and justice for all.” Yes, we have made tremendous progress in many ways toward achieving greater liberty and justice. At the same time, it is with the spirit of American idealism that we recognize we still have a long way to go. Acknowledging we have more work to do is not unpatriotic. It is humble and sober realism. We cannot make progress unless we identify our shortcomings in making a more perfect union. But we do so with gratitude and acknowledgement of the miracle that is our country.
“We need the honesty and courage to think first of the weak, the poor, the vulnerable, and the impact on them, for good or for ill, of our own actions; the actions of institutions — be they economic, social, educational, or philanthropic — in which we play a role; and the actions of government at all levels,” West and George rightfully remind Christian citizens. “This will not generate unanimity as to what policies are best. Reasonable people of goodwill will often disagree. But this can — and we believe must — be a starting point on which there is common ground.”
Too much of the infighting in our country is due to pursuing selfish interests at the expense of others, particularly those who are less powerful or less advantaged. Paul urges us, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus … Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-5).
As articulate public intellectuals, West and George have attempted to contend for their opposing viewpoints without holding one another in contempt. “We need the honesty and courage not to compromise our beliefs or go silent on them out of a desire to be accepted, or out of fear of being ostracized, excluded, or canceled. We [also] need the honesty and courage to consider with an open mind and heart points of view that challenge our beliefs — even our deepest, most cherished identity-forming beliefs. We need the intellectual humility to recognize our own fallibility — and that, too, requires honesty and courage.”
While not compromising our own beliefs, we have sought to respectfully engage with persons holding other perspectives. Rather than resorting to personal attacks or demonizing others, we must seek to understand each other’s point of view and where possible work toward an agreed way forward. Within United Methodism, it is just such honest dialog and willingness to compromise for the sake of a positive solution that led the mediation group to propose the “Protocol for Reconciliation and Grace through Separation” that can help move our church past its impasse.
In our own nation, “We need the honesty and courage to treat decent and honest people with whom we disagree — even on the most consequential questions — as partners in truth-seeking and fellow citizens of our republican order, not as enemies to be destroyed. And we must always respect and protect their human rights and civil liberties.” Regardless of perspective or the perceived importance of the issues at stake, there is no room for violent words or actions in attempting to forcefully get our way.
Ultimately, what West and George are calling us to is love. “We need the honesty and courage to love, in the highest and best sense: to will the good of the other for the sake of the other, to treat even our adversaries as precious members of the human family. We need the honesty and courage to resist the hatred — the spirit of hatred — that the zeal even for good causes can induce in [us] frail, fallen, fallible human beings, and that corrupts the human soul and leads inexorably to spiritual emptiness and to tyranny, even among those who began as sincere advocates of freedom and justice.”
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (I John 3:18). As Christians, we profess to love our neighbor as ourselves. Do we put that love into practice, or are they just words?
We are amazingly less than 100 days from an election here in the U.S. while in the midst of a pandemic. This is a test. A test of our ability to function as a coherent, democratic society or to splinter into discord. A test of our ability as Christians to engage one another in love, even when we disagree. A test of our capacity to put the needs of others — the common good — ahead of our own needs.
A majority of our country’s citizens are looking to Christians and the Church to lead us onto a better path. What will history and eternity say about how we have risen to that challenge?
Thomas Lambrecht is a United Methodist clergyperson and the vice president of Good News.
by Steve | Jul 27, 2020 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter
By Tom Lambrecht –
Family of Kasongo Kabange Kaba
Last week’s Perspective reported some troubling actions taken by the Board of Ordained Ministry in the West Congo Annual Conference, Central Congo Episcopal Area. Today’s post reports on similar actions taken in the North Katanga Annual Conference.
There are 3 million United Methodists in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — the largest contingent of Methodism outside the United States. The North Katanga Annual Conference is the largest annual conference in United Methodism, with over 900,000 members. It is two and a half times the size of North Georgia, which is the largest membership conference in the U.S.
At last count, there were roughly 6.6 million United Methodists in North America, 5.9 million in Africa, and 200,000 in the Philippines and Europe.
As in West Congo, the North Katanga Board of Ordained Ministry has taken action to penalize pastors and lay leaders who are working to promote faithfulness to traditional doctrines and moral teachings. These penalizing actions were taken contrary to the processes required by our Book of Discipline and violated the rights of the persons penalized. Complaints have been filed against the church authorities for these improper actions, but so far, the complaints have been either ignored or no remedy has been provided.
The Rev. Ilunga Banza Ben
The Rev. Ilunga Banza Ben is a clergy member of the North Katanga Conference. He was a General Conference delegate in 2012, 2016, and 2019, and was also elected for 2020. (His suspension less than three months before the scheduled meeting of the General Conference removed him from the delegation.) He had been serving as the liaison officer in Kinshasa (capitol city of the DRC), but had not been paid for over a year. When he asked to be paid, the conference paid him for 15 months’ service, and then the bishop closed the liaison office in September 2019, leaving Banza Ben still appointed to Kinshasa but without salary.
The Board of Ordained Ministry accused Banza Ben of “slander” and “defamation” because he made critical statements on social media (WhatsApp). His criticisms apparently included alleging that some leaders in North Katanga support the practice of homosexuality, that some pastors and leaders who came from other denominations into the UM Church were not adhering to United Methodist methods of decision-making, and that the election of bishops in 2017 in Congo was corrupt because some delegates allegedly received payments for their votes. Banza Ben also criticized the irregular convening of the special Central Conference meeting in December 2018, which retroactively granted life terms to the Bishops elected in March 2017.
In February, based on these accusations, the Board suspended Banza Ben “from all ecclesiastical functions and activities, of representativeness in delegations, until he could come and explain himself to the Board of Ordained Ministry of the Annual Conference at the July 2020 session.” Due to the pandemic, that session has been postponed, and Banza Ben remains on suspension without pay.
Banza Ben was not informed of any complaints against him, he was not informed about the meeting of the Board of Ordained Ministry at which he was suspended, and therefore, he was not present to answer these accusations. The Board of Ordained Ministry has no authority to suspend a clergyperson. Only the bishop can suspend a clergyperson with pay while a complaint is being processed. The suspension can only last 90 days, with the possibility of a 30-day extension (¶ 362.1d). Such suspension is not a punishment, but a way to protect both the pastor and the church.
In this case, the Board suspended Banza Ben without pay as a punishment for his WhatsApp posts without a complaint or supervisory process and without a trial. Most importantly, Banza Ben was never notified about the accusations against him, nor did he have the opportunity to answer those accusations.
In fact, Banza Ben found out about his suspension (and the accusations) by reading the unsigned minutes of the Board meeting posted by a person who is not United Methodist and not a member of the Board at an internet café.
Not only is Banza Ben without salary, but he has been excluded from receiving any relief money from UMCOR through the annual conference for the Covid-19 pandemic. He supports a family of seven and has no other steady source of income.
The Rev. Bishimba Kasongo
The Rev. Louis Bishimba Kasongo is an evangelist and pastor in the North Katanga Annual Conference. He was a delegate to General Conference in 2012, 2016, and 2019, but was not elected to serve for 2020.
Bishimba was accused of many of the same “offenses” as Banza Ben. He had leveled criticisms on social media (WhatsApp) against the bishop and other leaders of the North Katanga Conference. He alleged that there is confusion in the conference, with disagreement between the leaders and the rank-and-file pastors and members, that there are deficiencies in administration, that some leaders would tolerate the sin of homosexuality, and that some leaders were leading out of a selfish interest based on money. He further criticized the Board of Ordained Ministry for punitively suspending pastors when they have no right to do so.
In response, the Board of Ordained Ministry stated its philosophy: “It is not for nothing that the Board of Ordained Ministry was established. [It] watches over the smooth running and functioning of the Church. When [it] notices a slippage, a failure, an indiscipline … [it] intervenes to rectify the situation. Otherwise, [it] punishes and even suspends the person or persons concerned.” This philosophy is contrary to the Book of Discipline, which does not give the Board of Ordained Ministry the authority to punish or suspend clergy members.
The Board listed the accusations against Bishimba as follows:
– “Writing on social networks is a serious breach,
– Write comments that are discourteous, false, and defamatory,
– Inciting members to hatred and contempt, slander, shows a lack of a sense of responsibility towards his Church.”
Whether or not there is any merit to the foregoing accusations, they were not handled as the Book of Discipline requires. No complaint was filed. Bishimba was given no notice about the meeting at which these accusations would be discussed. Bishimba had no opportunity to answer the accusations against him. There was no supervisory response or trial, to which Bishimba is entitled. There was no opportunity for an appeal. Bishimba found out about his suspension through a third party who is not even a United Methodist and not a member of the Board.
As a consequence, the Board suspended Bishimba without pay from his position. In contrast to the suspension of Banza Ben, Bishimba’s suspension is open-ended, with no opportunity envisioned for him to defend himself against the Board’s accusation. Furthermore, Bishimba has also been forbidden to receive any money from the annual conference through UMCOR for Covid-19 relief. As a result, he has been hunting for food in the wild and picking up odd jobs to support himself and his family.
Mr. Kasongo Kabange Kaba
Mr. Kasongo Kabange Kaba is a layperson who is a candidate for ordained ministry. He had just finished his bachelor’s degree at Africa University and had decided to study for his master’s degree while continuing in the process toward ordination.
The Board of Ordained Ministry accused Kaba of writing messages on social media that “are offensive and defamatory.” Kaba criticized those in North Katanga he believed were supporting the practice of homosexuality. Kaba also wrote a letter to the Rev. Stan Copeland, pastor of Lover’s Lane UMC in Dallas, clarifying that, when Bishop Mande Muyombo apologized to the LGBTQ community for the vote at the 2019 St. Louis General Conference reaffirming the traditional stance of the church, the bishop did not speak for all Africans (including Kaba). (The letter was later circulated widely by others among leaders and General Conference delegates in Africa.)
In February, the Board “suspend[ed] him from all his activities and ask[ed] the Staff of Africa University to bring him back to the North Katanga Conference to provide ample information. He should never work or study with the recommendation of North Katanga.” Again, Kaba was never informed of the accusations against him and was not given the opportunity to defend himself. The Board acted without having heard from Kaba. It has no authority to prohibit him from studying at Africa University.
Subsequently, Africa University allowed Kaba to continue his studies, since he was admitted and had a private scholarship to study.
No Recourse
The three individuals appealed to the chair of the Board to follow the Discipline. They received no response. Bishop Muyombo immediately began implementing the suspensions, which caused the three to believe Bishop Muyombo would not intervene on their behalf. As a guarantor of the proper enforcement of the provisions of the Book of Discipline in his episcopal area, he should not have acted on the decisions taken illegally by the Board of Ordained Ministry, but referred the matter back to the Board.
Therefore, Banza Ben, Kaba, and Bishimba filed a complaint with the President of the College of Bishops of the Congo Central Conference, Bishop Gabriel Unda, against the chair of the Board of Ordained Ministry and Bishop Muyombo for disobedience to the order and discipline of the church. They received no response from either the chair or the bishop. On June 18, Bishop Unda notified Banza Ben, Bishimba, and Kaba that as President of the Congo Central Conference College of Bishops, he “had no competence to open or activate any lawsuit opposing a United Methodist Bishop.”
In addition to the violations of the Discipline process for handling accusations against clergypersons, the complaint alleges that the Board acted illegally because it was improperly composed. The chair and vice-chair were never elected by the annual conference to the Board and the vice-chair is not even a member of the North Katanga Annual Conference as required by the Discipline. The complaint further alleges the Board did not have a quorum to act at its February meeting as required by the Congo Book of Discipline. Therefore, the complaint alleges, the Board’s actions were not only a violation of fair process requirements, but also improper due to the composition of the Board and the lack of a quorum.
The Story Behind the Story
The underlying issue behind the singling out of some pastors and laity for punishment has to do with the church’s position regarding marriage and human sexuality. The African part of The United Methodist Church is overwhelmingly against condoning the practice of homosexuality in Africa. However, there is an emerging difference of opinion whether the African United Methodists can remain part of the global United Methodist Church if the denomination changes its stance to allow for that practice.
Some leaders, including Bishops Muyombo, Lunge, and Unda, are personally against the practice of homosexuality in Africa. But they believe the African part of the church should stay united to the global denomination, even if same-sex marriage and the ordination of practicing homosexuals are allowed in the U.S. That is why Muyombo promoted the “One Church Plan” to his delegates at the 2019 General Conference. (Most of the delegates, however, voted instead for the “Traditional Plan” that passed the General Conference.) Both Banza Ben and Bishimba attended the 2019 General Conference as delegates, and Kaba attended as an observer. Bishop Muyombo was angry that the three promoted the Traditional Plan instead of the One Church Plan.
Other African UM leaders believe that, if the American part of the UM Church allows the practice of homosexuality, the African part of the church should separate from the denomination and align with a new traditional Methodist denomination that would be formed under the proposed “Protocol for Separation.” These leaders are working with traditionalist leaders in the U.S., Europe, and the Philippines to help prepare for a global traditional Methodist denomination, should the 2021 General Conference enact the Protocol. These are the leaders who are being punished by their bishops and annual conferences because of their disagreement.
The Result
As in the Central Congo situation, two of the three individuals in the North Katanga Conference have no recourse for the injustice that has been done to them. They are deprived of position and livelihood without due process and in violation of their rights as clergy members of the church. The last hope is that the Council of Bishops would step in and intervene in the complaint against Bishop Muyombo and the chair of the Board of Ordained Ministry.
The three individuals involved in this situation have appealed to Bishop Harvey, president of the Council of Bishops, under ¶ 413.3d.ii.1 of the Book of Discipline to process the complaint against Bishop Muyumbo by appointing three bishops, one from each of three continents, to complete the supervisory response process for the complaint. Discipline ¶ 413.3d.iv allows the full Council of Bishops to take over responsibility of a complaint against a bishop upon a two-thirds vote. But given the reluctance of bishops to “interfere” with a fellow bishop, that kind of intervention is unlikely.
It is this type of violation of the Discipline and the lack of accountability that is causing the separation of The United Methodist Church. The story told in this Perspective is but another example of the kind of malaise that has afflicted our church. When accountability becomes impossible, the only solution is to start over. A new traditional Methodist church will have a more robust accountability mechanism for bishops at the global level. Bishops will be expected to follow the Discipline or face accountability. Those unwilling to live by the Discipline of the church will be unable to align with that new denomination.
Our denominational identity should mean something. Without accountability, we have no identity as a church. If we stand for anything, we end up standing for nothing. If the plan of separation passes the next General Conference, we will have the opportunity to choose what we will stand for.
Thomas Lambrecht is a United Methodist clergyperson and the vice president of Good News.
by Steve | Jul 17, 2020 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter
Graphic is a screenshot from the Congo Central Conference Facebook page.
By Thomas Lambrecht –
The polarization of The United Methodist Church in the United States is now unfortunately surfacing in the part of the church located in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – one of at least 17 countries on the continent of Africa to host United Methodist churches. There are 3 million United Methodists in DRC – the largest contingent of Methodism outside the United States.
At last count, there were roughly 6.6 million United Methodists in North America, 5.9 million in Africa, and 200,000 in the Philippines and Europe.
Actions have been taken by two of the four bishops and annual conference boards in the Congo to penalize pastors and lay leaders who are working to promote faithfulness to traditional doctrines and moral teachings. These penalizing actions were taken contrary to the processes required by our Book of Discipline and violated the rights of the persons penalized. Complaints have been filed against the church authorities for these improper actions, but so far, the complaints have been either ignored or no remedy has been provided.
UM Church in the Congo
The primary languages of United Methodists in Congo are French and Kiswahili, which often presents a challenge in communicating with their English-speaking brothers and sisters. In addition, DRC is the same size as the U.S. east of the Mississippi, but with less than 1,000 miles of paved roads, an indicator of the extreme poverty of the country, which naturally affects the church and its ministry there.
The Congo Central Conference has four bishops: Bishop Gabriel Unda (Eastern Congo), Bishop Kasap Owan (Southern Congo and Zambia), Bishop Daniel Lunge (Central Congo), and Bishop Mande Muyombo (North Katanga). Bishop Unda was elected in 2013 and is the president of the Congo College of Bishops. The other three bishops were elected in 2017.
Bishop Kasap is the only bishop of the four who has declared his strong support for the Wesleyan Covenant Association and for the traditionalist position on church doctrine and teachings on marriage and sexuality. The other three bishops supported the “One Church Plan” at the 2019 General Conference in St. Louis, urging their delegates not to vote for the “Traditional Plan” that eventually passed. Reports from delegates, however, indicate that delegations generally voted contrary to their bishops’ advice, which has engendered conflict both within and between the episcopal areas in the Congo.
This Perspective will address some of the actions occurring in Central Congo under Bishop Lunge.
Nicolas Munongo
Nicolas Munongo is a layperson in the West Congo Annual Conference of the Central Congo Episcopal Area who at one time served as a trusted assistant to Bishop Lunge. Because Munongo became aware of some allegations against Bishop Lunge that cannot be made public at this time, Bishop Lunge suspended Munongo as a church member and removed him from his position as assistant. Munongo had also attended a meeting where he heard about the Traditional Plan and became a supporter of that plan, which further angered Lunge and his supporters.
After the 2019 General Conference, Munongo continued to promote the traditional perspective among clergy and lay leaders in Central Congo. When Bishop Muyombo (North Katanga) visited Central Congo and told one of the pastors, Henriette Okele, not to associate with Bishop Kasap (Southern Congo and Zambia) and the conservatives, Munongo reported that information to Kasap. When Kasap confronted Muyombo, he became angry and complained to his ally, Bishop Lunge. Lunge instituted proceedings against Munongo, a layperson, by the West Congo Annual Conference Board of Ordained Ministry. The Board held a hearing without any notice to Munongo and, in his absence, accused Munongo of making “defamatory, derogatory and insulting remarks” about Bishops Muyombo, Lunge, and Unda, designed to “create an unhealthy climate and lead to the division of the Central Conference of Congo and the College of Bishops.”
The Board of Ordained Ministry removed Munongo from his membership in the church as a layperson and forbade him “from performing any act in the name and on behalf of the East Congo Conference of the United Methodist Community in the Central Congo both inside and outside its bodies” and threatened legal action if Munongo failed to comply.
Apart from whether or not Munongo did anything wrong, there are many problems with how the bishop and annual conference handled this situation. First and foremost, neither the bishop nor the Board of Ordained Ministry has any authority to suspend or remove from membership a layperson. The only way a layperson can be penalized is through the complaint and trial process, which was not followed in this instance and over which the Board of Ordained Ministry has no jurisdiction. No formal complaint was filed against Munongo. No supervisory process was held. No trial was held. There was no attempt at a negotiated resolution of the problem. The bishop and annual conference violated Munongo’s rights as guaranteed by the Book of Discipline to fair process and trial. Instead, an arbitrary and punitive action is attempting to deprive Munongo of his membership in the church in an effort to discredit him due to his difference of opinion with the bishop over the Traditional Plan.
The Rev. Louis Loma Otshudi
The Rev. Louis Loma is a pastor in the West Congo Annual Conference. The Board of Ordained Ministry, without the filing of a written complaint, supervisory process, or trial, suspended him in October 2019. He was accused of “defaming” the bishop on social media (WhatsApp). (Loma had criticized Bishop Lunge for supporting the One Church Plan, advocating instead for the Traditional Plan.) Loma was also accused of being part of a “divisionist” group in Central Congo. (Loma identifies as a “conservative” in line with the current position of the Book of Discipline and spoke out against a group of progressive persons who came from the U.S. to meet with leaders in Central Congo.)
Again, regardless of whether Rev. Loma did anything wrong, the process of the Book of Discipline was not followed. There was no formal complaint filed against Loma. There was no supervisory response by the bishop, only a meeting by the Board of Ordained Ministry, of which no notice was given to Loma and no opportunity provided to Loma to rebut or present evidence. No trial was held. Under the Discipline, the Board of Ordained Ministry could only suspend Loma if a complaint was being processed, and then only for 90 to 120 days with pay. Instead, Loma has been suspended without pay for nearly nine months with no complaint or charges being filed. Loma has no recourse in this situation, since a trial was never held and therefore, he cannot appeal the decision. (Additionally, no appeal would have been possible because the Congo Central Conference has elected no central conference committee on appeals.) The Board of Ordained Ministry has violated Loma’s fair process and constitutional rights guaranteed by the Book of Discipline.
The Rev. Henriette Okele
The Rev. Henriette Okele is a pastor in the East Congo Annual Conference. On April 2, the Board of Ordained Ministry suspended her because she attended a meeting of African leaders in Johannesburg, South Africa. The meeting was sponsored by the Africa Initiative, a group formed by African leaders to equip and promote the voice of African United Methodists within the larger denomination. The purpose of the meeting was to explain the provisions of the “Protocol” and its implementing legislation regarding the possible separation of the church and to hear the feedback from African leaders regarding the “Protocol.” (The African Initiative issued a statement following the meeting endorsing the “Protocol” and urging several amendments to it.)
Because Okele attended the meeting without the permission of her superintendent and bishop, and because the meeting “was accompanied by resolutions tending to the division of the United Methodist Church,” she was suspended. The letter of suspension further said that her suspension was “without appeal.”
There is nothing in the Discipline that allows bishops or superintendents to forbid clergy from attending meetings of church leaders for the purpose of understanding issues and proposals coming before the church. This claim of power by Bishop Lunge and other African bishops is an attempt to keep their people uninformed about what is happening in the church. By controlling all the information that is reaching their people, the bishops hope to control what the African church decides to do in response to the actions of General Conference.
Again, the process with Okele violated every aspect of the Discipline’s requirements. No formal complaint was filed against her. There was no supervisory process or attempt to negotiate a just resolution. No trial was held. The Board of Ordained Ministry did not have the authority to suspend Okele at all, let alone without pay. It cannot deprive her of the right of trial and appeal, which is guaranteed by the Restrictive Rules of our church Constitution.
No Recourse
Because of all the violations of fair process and constitutional rights, Munongo, Loma, and Okele appealed to Bishop Lunge to reverse the decisions and require the Boards of Ordained Ministry to handle the situation according to the requirements of the Discipline. Bishop Lunge ignored their appeal.
Therefore, Munongo filed a complaint against the chair of the Board of Ordained Ministry for disobedience to the order and discipline of the church. Bishop Lunge ignored his complaint and declined to process it, refusing even to meet with him and instructing his aides not to allow him in the conference office or to receive any mail from him.
Finally, Munongo filed a complaint against Bishop Lunge for disobedience to the order and discipline of the church for failing to process his previous complaint. The complaint against Lunge went to Bishop Unda as the president of the Congo College of Bishops. In response to the complaint, Bishop Unda met with Munongo, Loma, and Okele and suggested that they should apologize to Bishop Lunge and ask forgiveness. Since they had done nothing wrong, they declined to apologize. Bishop Unda at that point refused to process the complaint, saying that he could not “interfere” in the affairs of another annual conference.
We have heard this line of reasoning from other bishops, who are unwilling to hold a fellow bishop accountable because it would be considered “interference.” Such reasoning is completely contrary to the Wesleyan and Methodist understanding of mutual accountability. It creates an Anglican or Roman Catholic idea of “diocesan bishops,” where each bishop is essentially a law unto themselves in their own diocese. In contrast, United Methodist bishops are general superintendents, having oversight of the whole church, not just their particular annual conference. In Methodism, bishops, clergy, and laity are supposed to be accountable to each other, for the sake of growing in holiness and for the good of the whole church.
We have also seen other instances where a college of bishops refuses to prosecute a complaint against a fellow bishop. It has happened in Africa before and in the Western Jurisdiction. This failure of accountability gives the appearance of episcopal dictatorship and the variations of practices from one annual conference to another that makes the United Methodist identity virtually meaningless.
The practical result of this lack of accountability is the victimization of pastors and laity who dare to think or speak differently than their bishop in some annual conferences. The heavy-handedness and distortions of the truth end up victimizing the whole church. When the Book of Discipline is no longer followed, we are no longer living in a faithful church, but in a church that is subject to the whims and proclivities of its leaders.
These three individuals in the Central Congo episcopal area have no recourse for the injustice that has been done to them. They are deprived of position and livelihood without due process and in violation of their rights as clergy and lay members of the church. The last hope is that the Council of Bishops would step in and intervene in the complaint against Bishop Lunge. But given the reluctance of bishops to “interfere” with a fellow bishop, that kind of intervention is unlikely.
It is this type of violation of the Discipline and the lack of accountability that is causing the separation of The United Methodist Church. The story told in this Perspective is but one example of the kind of malaise that has afflicted our church. When accountability becomes impossible, the only solution is to start over. A new traditional Methodist church will have a more robust accountability mechanism for bishops at the global level. Bishops will be expected to follow the Discipline or face accountability. Those unwilling to live by the Discipline of the church will be unable to align with that new denomination.
Our denominational identity should mean something. Without accountability, we have no identity as a church. If we stand for anything, we end up standing for nothing. If the plan of separation passes the next General Conference, we will have the opportunity to choose what we will stand for.
Thomas Lambrecht is a United Methodist clergyperson and the vice president of Good News.
by Steve | Jul 13, 2020 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter
By Thomas Lambrecht –
Screenshot from the “virtual” annual session of the California-Pacific Conference.
The current focus of our denomination is rightly on how to do effective ministry in the midst of a pandemic and how to understand and address racism in our nation and in our church. For most of our pastors and leaders, there is not much bandwidth left to keep abreast of denominational conflicts.
Unfortunately, the conflicts besetting the denomination have not gone away since the 2020 General Conference was postponed until 2021. Rather than honor a spirit of unity with patience before next year’s gathering in Minneapolis, where a new expression of Methodism can be launched, there are decisions made by progressive leaders that continue to sow division within our denomination regarding marriage and sexuality.
Annual Conferences
For example, at this year’s “virtual” gathering of the California-Pacific Annual Conference, the ordination service was conducted in front of an enormous “Reconciling Ministries Network” banner in the sanctuary of the First United Methodist Church of Pasadena. For those watching online, it gave the appearance that the ordination service was being conducted under the guidance of a singular advocacy caucus rather than a worldwide denomination.
In the Mountain Sky Annual Conference, clergy were invited to a “Zoom” webinar entitled: “Let’s Talk: LGBTQ+ Weddings” set for July 15 by the “United Methodist Association of Retired Clergy & Friends” (UMARC). According to the promotional material, the Rev. Harvey Martz, vice chair of the UMARC, declares, “Perhaps there is no better way to repent for past pastoral malpractice than to intentionally reach out to the LGBTQ community, acknowledging past sins, and instituting inclusive wedding policies in our local churches.”
Rather than respecting the fact that there are deeply held, Scriptural beliefs regarding same-sex unions, which are also enshrined in the Discipline as official church policy, these convictions are dismissed as “pastoral malpractice.”
Church Agencies
The General Commission on Religion and Race (GCORR) celebrated Pride Month in June, calling upon the church to “consider the impact of intersectionality,” a “paradigm that addresses the multiple dimensions of identity and social systems as they intersect with one another and relate to inequality (such as racism, genderism, heterosexism, ageism, and classism).” The principle of intersectionality supposes that all forms of discrimination are related, and one must combat them all in order to make progress against any form of discrimination.
“Genderism” is the belief that there are two genders, male and female, not a range of “gender identities.” “Heterosexism” is the belief that heterosexuality is humankind’s God-given manner of experiencing sexual relations. Rather than being harmful discrimination, these two “isms” have been part of our Judeo-Christian understanding of marriage and sexuality for over 3,500 years. Importantly, neither the Bible nor the Church condemns persons who experience gender dysphoria or non-heterosexual attractions. It is when we act on these feelings, inclinations, or temptations that we contravene God’s will.
The primary task of GCORR is to combat racism. That is a task that all United Methodists should affirm. There is a solid basis in both the Bible and the Book of Discipline for upholding equality and fairness for all persons, regardless of race or ethnicity.
But when the agency tasked primarily with overcoming racism instead celebrates and promotes the affirmation of LGBT behavior, that agency violates church policy and forfeits much of its credibility. Both the Bible and our Book of Discipline are clear: we love and affirm every person as created in the image of God, with infinite value and worth. At the same time, we acknowledge certain behaviors as contrary to God’s will for human flourishing.
To use church funds to “promote the acceptance of homosexuality” is contrary to United Methodist policy. At the same time, it is our policy “not to reject or condemn lesbian and gay members and friends.” This is admittedly a balancing act. But in its celebration of Pride Month, GCORR comes down completely on one side of the balance. When agencies such as GCORR contravene by their actions and words the official stance of The United Methodist Church, it is no wonder that individual members and churches are reluctant to enthusiastically pay funds to support the work of the general church. This is yet another example of the general church structure ignoring the will of the church body and disregarding the authority of General Conference.
Screenshot from GCORR’s Facebook page.
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
In another example of recent violations of church standards, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (Evanston, Illinois) recently announced it will bestow one of its distinguished alumni awards upon Sue Laurie. As a self-avowed lesbian, Laurie was ineligible for ordination in the UM Church. However, during the 2016 General Conference in Portland, Oregon, Laurie was “ordained” as clergy by a group of friends and colleagues. Although this “ordination” has no official standing in the church, GETS chose to recognize it in their honoring of Laurie by granting her the title “Rev.”
Since at least the 2000 General Conference, Laurie has been a leader in the disruptive demonstrations that halted the work of every conference before 2016. At the 2008 General Conference in Fort Worth, Texas, as an act of protest following the reaffirmation of the denomination’s current stance on marriage and human sexuality, Laurie and her partner, Julie Bruno, married in a sidewalk service outside the convention center.
GETS prepares dozens of clergy to serve in annual conferences of the upper Midwest. The impact such a seminary has in undermining the church’s teachings for generations cannot be underestimated. With its alumni award, GETS once again affirms its stance in opposition to United Methodist standards and policies, despite the fact that GETS receives hundreds of thousands of apportionment dollars each year from the church. This is another reason why UM members and churches are reluctant to wholeheartedly support giving funds to the general church.
Implications
Boards and agencies of the church have been flaunting the will of General Conference for years. Those of us who deal with such adverse actions day in and day out may become accustomed to this constant drumbeat of disobedience. But many United Methodists have been unaware of the blatant nature and common frequency of such actions over the years. It is the buildup of this repeated pattern of disregard for the teachings of Scripture and the decisions of the General Conference, the only body empowered to speak for the whole church, that illustrate the current impasse in our church.
Regardless of current challenges, that impasse is not going away. We remain two churches pretending to be one. Despite the wishful thinking of a few in our church, hoping this division would go away, it will not. Our deep theological differences cannot be overcome by thoughts of unity or appeals to solidarity.
During this time of waiting for the next General Conference to open a pathway to resolve our impasse, Good News and our coalition partners are diligently preparing for the founding of a new Methodist denomination that will reflect the doctrinal and moral commitments of the church through the ages and specifically our Methodist heritage.
We are part of an eternal Kingdom of God, in which there is one Ruler and Source of truth and righteousness. Earthly kingdoms and nations come and go, but the realm of our heavenly Father persists forever. As we prepare for the next iteration of Methodism, we are conscious of being part of that eternal stream. In our day and time, it is to that eternal Kingdom and its Sovereign that we seek to be faithful. If your heart is as our heart, we invite you to join us in this adventure.
Thomas Lambrecht is a United Methodist clergyperson and the vice president of Good News.
