by Steve | Mar 17, 2020 | Magazine, Magazine Articles, March/April 2020
By Jim Patterson –
“The Underground Railroad” is an 1893 painting by Charles T. Webber in the Cincinnati Art Museum. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
In four-part harmony without any instrumentation, members of Pruitt Hill United Methodist Church praised the Lord at a long-ago funeral in Greeneville, Tennessee.
“Have you got good religion? Cert’nly, Lord! / Have you got good religion? / Cert’nly, Lord! / Have you got good religion? / Cert’nly, Lord! / Cert’nly, cert’nly, cert’nly, Lord!”
A 9-year-old boy attending his great-grandmother’s funeral sat listening, enraptured by “Certainly Lord,” an old spiritual song. In that moment, the direction of James W. Story’s life was settled. “I just sat there listening to the worship and the rhythm,” said Story, the director of music at Gallatin First United Methodist Church in Gallatin, Tennessee. “I knew at that point in time that music moved me.”
During his long career teaching music at two area high schools and Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin, Story pursued his self-appointed mission to keep African American spirituals relevant to future generations. He’s produced two stage shows and a CD so far on the topic. The CD is “New World Spirituals: 1619-2019.”
“There’s a generation of young folk that really have no idea,” he said. “A lot of people don’t want to talk about African American (spiritual) music because they are old slave songs. But one must remember that those songs were part of the civil rights struggle.”
Story was influenced by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904), whose most popular work, “New World Symphony,” was influenced by African American melodies derived from slavery in North America. “I am now satisfied that the future music of this country must be founded upon what are called the Negro melodies,” Dvořák said to The New York Herald in May of 1893. “These must be the real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be developed in the United States. These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are the folk songs of America and your composers must turn to them.”
The stories behind many spirituals are just as interesting as the melodies and lyrics, Story believes. “The spirituals survived because it was part of history,” Story said. “Coded escape songs.” For instance, songs like “Wade in the Water” and “Follow the Drinking Gourd” were code songs. They warned escaping slaves to get off the trail and into the water to avoid dogs trying to track them. “Follow the Drinking Gourd” meant use the astronomical Big Dipper to help navigate north.
Born in Greeneville, Tennessee, Story started playing piano at 13 and was a drum major in high school and college. He graduated from Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tennessee, in 1977 and earned a master’s degree in music education from Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tennessee, in 1986. After teaching at White House and Gallatin high schools, he moved to Volunteer State Community College, where he established that school’s music recording program.
“Even in my choral groups at Gallatin High School and Vol State, they always knew that we were going to do a spiritual, or some spirituals,” Story said. “I always had (spirituals) in my mind.”
Without intervention, many African American spirituals might fade away, Story said. “My whole goal is to make sure that they don’t die,” he said. “These church hymnals, especially the United Methodist hymnals, they have been Europeanized. Some of those notational systems, you can’t get the true inflections of the sound in which they were perceived, the emotion working and singing.
“Singing was an avenue of rest and support and confidence, just to pull (slaves) out of the prison in which they existed.”
The United Methodist Church does have an Africana Hymnal Project, which saves African American spirituals along with photographs and original performance practices.
Years ago, Story interviewed American gospel singer J. Robert Bradley (1919-2007) – who counted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahalia Jackson, known as the Queen of Gospel, among his fans – for a research project. Story says Bradley best summed up the importance of African American spirituals.
“The spiritual gives hope,” Bradley said. “It fires up the inner power and gives me hope that I want to move higher. It makes me want to see what’s at the top of the mountain. The spiritual elevates my mind.”
Jim Patterson is a UM News reporter in Nashville, Tennessee.
by Steve | Mar 17, 2020 | Magazine, Magazine Articles, March/April 2020
The Rev. Tom Albin of The Upper Room addresses the 2020 Pre-General Conference Briefing in Nashville. Albin is heading up GC2020 prayer effort at UMCprays.org and is wearing a “prayer scarf” that everyone who comes to Minneapolis will receive. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
By Tom Albin –
Gracious God fill me with your wisdom, love, and compassion – that I may pray in your name, intercede in your nature, and align with your will. Incline the hearts of every United Methodist to your heart – that we may all love alike, even though we do not think alike.
As we intercede for each elected delegate and alternate, grant us courage and clarity to pray with the Holy Spirit for each one – regardless of the position he or she holds on the issues that divide us. Help every delegate and every alternate know and feel our prayers supporting them on their journey of discernment.
Lord Jesus Christ, bless the Council of Bishops, bless the staff serving the General Conference, bless the volunteers, guests, and visitors. Give us all the mind of Christ, that we may know how to pray. Give us eyes open to see each person and her or his needs – that our prayers might be a part of your answer to those needs.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy your consolations. May your kingdom come in us and your will be done in us – on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
Has God given you a burden to pray for the 2020 General Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 5-15? Do you feel a need, or desire, or urgency to pray with and for the elected delegates, alternates, leaders, participants, and guests?
I believe God is calling you and me and many in our global United Methodist family to pray earnestly and persistently for our church. The prayer above is the prayer I feel called to pray. You have permission to use it, edit it, or make it your own.
Below you will find information about the resources created to help our beloved church pray our way into a season of blessing and sending. The time of winners and losers is over. This is a season for separation and blessing. Like the New Testament Church during the second missionary journey, we have irreconcilable differences, just as Paul and Barnabas had irreconcilable differences (see Acts 15:36-41). Just as they went on different journeys, it is time for the United Methodist Church to pursue different missionary paths to proclaim Christ in ways that each group believes to be faithful.
At the request of The United Methodist Council of Bishops Worship Committee, The Upper Room and United Methodist Communications have collaborated to create a way for the entire denomination to pray together for 40 days before the General Conference begins – and through the gathering.
There is no question that this will be a historic event in the life of the global Methodist movement. For all of us who are not elected delegates, alternates, leaders or staff, our part is to pray: as an individual, as a family, as a small group, a local church, district, annual conference, or Central Conference. This is your personal invitation to engage your prayer with the prayers of 12 million United Methodists around the world. We have one goal in mind, to create an atmosphere of prayer for all those elected to make decisions on our behalf and for the future direction for our Wesleyan mission in the years ahead.
Prayer Action #1. From UMCprays.org, download the free 40-Days of Prayer and make it available to your family, local church, district, and annual conference. The PDF text is currently available in the four official written languages of the General Conference: English, French, Portuguese, and Kiswahili. The 40 Days of Prayer follows the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary. Each day there is a passage of scripture to read, followed by a personal reflection written by one person selected from a diverse group of United Methodist delegates, members, and friends from around the world; followed by a prayer for the day. The Prayer Guide also includes information about how it may be used in a family or small group setting.
Prayer Action #2. On Sunday, March 22, play the video from UMCprays.org for your congregation which will introduce the content and process for the rest of that week. Each week, there will be a brief video featuring one active bishop from a different region of the United States and the world. Each video will provide instruction and encouragement to pray with and for the elected leaders who will gather in Minneapolis. Bishop Bob Hoshibata, Chairperson for the Council of Bishops Worship Committee, will call the UM Church to pray and prepare for the first day of the 40 Days of Prayer on March 26, when we will all pray with and for the 862 delegates, the hundreds of alternates, the Council of Bishops, and all those involved in the 2020 General Conference.
On each successive Sunday prior to General Conference, a different bishop will lead prayer for the delegates of a specific area within United Methodism: Sunday, March 29, the Northeast Jurisdiction; Sunday, April 5 (Holy Week), the Central Conferences; Sunday, April 12 (Easter Sunday), the Southeast Jurisdiction; Sunday, April 19, the North Central Jurisdiction; on Sunday, April 26, the South Central Jurisdiction; and on Sunday, May 3, the Western Jurisdiction.
Prayer Action #3. Listen to a scriptural Podcast created by UMCOM to aid United Methodists to reflect each day of the General Conference on the biblical text for the plenary worship service of the day.
Prayer Action #4. UMCprays.org is the website where all the free videos, podcasts, and language versions of the 40 Days of Prayer are available. This prayer website will have additional prayer resources and online coaching to help you engage others in prayer.
Prayer Action #5. Pray for the Dakotas-Minnesota GC2020 Host Committee chaired by the Rev. Jim Haun and Becky Boland; along with the Prayer Team led by the Rev. Pam Serdar who is designing and staffing a General Conference Prayer Room.
Prayer Action #6. Intercessory Prayer Volunteers will be available at the General Conference. Anyone interested in serving in this role should contact me at TAlbin@upperroom.org. Intercessory prayer volunteers pray quietly in each of the legislative sessions, pray with delegates before and after legislative sessions, and pray during the plenary sessions of the General Conference.
Prayer Action #7. Volunteer Spiritual Directors will be available at the General Conference. The Upper Room is responsible to recruit, train, and supervise these individuals to help those who desire an opportunity to receive spiritual support as each one seeks God’s will and direction during the General Conference. Those interested in serving in this role should contact me at the above email address for more information.
Tom Albin is the dean of the chapel at the Upper Room and the Director of Spiritual Formation and Congregational Life.
by Steve | Mar 17, 2020 | Magazine, Magazine Articles, March/April 2020
By David W. Scott –
As I have tried to explain in a series of articles found on UM & Global (umglobal.org), The United Methodist Church as a whole is not a legal entity capable of owning property or financial assets. Local church property (real or personal, tangible or intangible) is owned by local legal entities and held in trust for the denomination as a whole.
This trust clause applies to the property of all parts of The United Methodist Church, but local churches are in a unique position with regard to the trust clause for several reasons: ¶2503 of the Book of Discipline explicitly names the annual conference, which generally is a legal person capable of owning property, as having authority over local church property. Several other places in the Discipline also give the annual conference explicit powers regarding the sale or transfer of local church property or its release from the trust clause. ¶2509.2 gives annual conferences the authority to bring lawsuits to enforce the trust clause. All of these provisions add up to clear enforcement of the trust clause on local churches by annual conferences.
Thus, the trust clause as applied to local church property has generally stood the test in secular courts. While in some instances departing congregations have negotiated with their annual conferences to take assets, when the trust clause has ended up in court, annual conferences have almost always won ownership of the property of departing congregations. Incidentally, that’s true not just for the UM Church, but also for the Episcopal Church and other bodies that also have a trust clause in their church law.
As cut and dried as the trust clause may appear, there are facets to keep in mind when thinking through the sorts of conflicts and potential lawsuits that might arise over ownership of local church property.
First, while most people assume that the trust clause means that the annual conference owns local church property, that’s not technically true. The annual conference has authority over local church property, and local church property reverts to the annual conference if it ceases to be owned by a local UM congregation, but the annual conference is not the legal person who owns the church property.
Who technically owns local church property depends on whether a congregation is incorporated. Most sizable congregations are incorporated as 501(c)3 organizations, but many small congregations are not. This means that for incorporated congregations, the property is owned by the local congregation as a corporate entity. For unincorporated congregations, the property is technically owned by the trustees, who as humans are legal persons. In either case, property ownership is exercised in trust for The United Methodist Church. The owner(s) of local church property can’t do whatever they want with it; they must abide by the stipulations of the Book of Discipline.
One problem here is that most bankers, investment brokers, and real estate agents are not familiar with the intricacies of the Discipline. While it would violate the Discipline, it might be possible for local leaders to work with bankers, brokers, or real estate agents unfamiliar with the trust clause to sell or otherwise dispose of local church property without annual conference consent. Such action would violate the Book of Discipline and thus expose the local church and its leaders to lawsuits from the annual conference, but it might be harder for the annual conference to recover property that was already disposed of.
Of course, the exit provision passed by General Conference 2019 and any future exit provisions passed by General Conference 2020 reduce the chances for lawsuits between local congregations and annual conferences over control of property.
Second, it’s important to remember that local church property includes more than just buildings. The trust clause applies to all other property that a local church owns, from its hymnals to its choir robes to its sound equipment to its vans to its tableware. It also applies to all financial assets owned by a local church. Thus, the question of property ownership goes beyond whether departing congregations can continue to worship in their same building. Any or all of these items could be a point of conflict between a departing church and the annual conference.
Certainly, the church building itself (and perhaps a parsonage) would likely be the biggest point of contention, since that generally represents the largest chunk of a local church’s assets. After that, who cares who keeps the Sunday school books, right? Maybe, but maybe not.
Especially when it comes to financial property, local congregations may have significant assets beyond their building over which annual conferences may want to assert their ownership. And larger churches may have a non-negligible amount of property in the form of vehicles, equipment, books, supplies, etc. Annual conferences have an incentive to assert their right to this property, even if just to give themselves better leverage in bargaining with a departing congregation.
Again, exit provisions reduce the chances for lawsuits between local congregations and annual conferences over control of buildings, equipment, and any other property. It is therefore worthwhile to keep in mind the scope of assets that could be at stake in such lawsuits.
Third, it is worth noting the variety of local church financial decision-makers established by the Discipline. This array of decision-makers increases the chances for conflict over assets within the local church itself.
The Book of Discipline outlines property-related responsibilities for the charge conference, the board of trustees, the financial secretary, the treasurer, the finance committee as a whole, and, in cases where they exist, the permanent endowment committee and the directors of the local church foundation. Moreover, in multiple-point charges, there may be both local church trustees for the property of each congregation and a board of trustees for property owned by the charge as a whole.
The authority to make all decisions regarding property, both real and personal, is vested in the charge conference. Yet, to carry out its property and financial decisions, the charge conference relies upon the work of the board of trustees, the treasurer, the finance committee, and (if they exist) the permanent endowment committee and directors of the local church foundation. These individuals have access to and oversight of the property of a church. Thus, they might be able to direct this property to another church body (either another denomination or the annual conference) in defiance of or in absence of a charge conference decision, especially since charge conferences usually meet rarely.
Again, such action would violate the Book of Discipline and ultimately lead to lawsuits, but in an instance in which there is a lot of internal conflict within a church about that church’s continued relationship with the UM Church, there is the possibility for factions within the church to use control of church property as a means to achieve their preferred outcome.
Since this type of conflict would occur within a church, an exit plan would not necessarily mitigate it. Control of property within a highly divided congregation may actually become more contentious with the existence of an exit plan. Such a plan could make local property a prize to be fought for between local “leave” and “stay” factions, with each group seeking control of the property. Nonetheless, an exit plan that sets or allows a congregation to set a relatively high standard of agreement for exiting is likely to reduce internal conflict around that decision.
David W. Scott is Director of Mission Theology at the General Board of Global Ministries. This essay orginally appeared on UM & Global (umglobal.org) and is reprinted here by permission. The opinions and analysis expressed here are Dr. Scott’s own and do not reflect in any way the official position of Global Ministries, nor Good News. Dr. Scott is neither a lawyer nor an accountant, and thus the information in this analysis should not be interpreted as legal advice.
by Steve | Mar 17, 2020 | Magazine, Magazine Articles, March/April 2020
By Sarah Parham –
I have shared the deepest honor in walking with people as they discern their call into next steps of following the Lord for many years now, first in campus ministry, and now in missions mobilization. As Christian believers, our first and only permanent call is to God alone. However, God does have a history of giving people secondary, specific calls or assignments to a particular people and ministry.
One thing that often gets talked about as people discern transitions, particularly in missions mobilization, is a release from current ministry contexts. When a person enters a context with a sense of calling, it is a weighty thing, and one that cannot simply be dropped on a whim. When you ask a person who has experienced this type of calling how you know when you are released, a typical response is, “you’ll know” – like you “know” when you’ve met your perfect mate, or you “know” when you’ve walked into just the right house.
Well, the truth is, they are right.
I have had the unfortunate privilege to have failed in this particular way, and as the old adage says, failure is the greatest teacher. In my last ministry setting, I had the strange situation of quitting twice. The first time I did not have the sense of release from my calling to that place, but rather a crushing dread of staying. Four years later, when I experienced a true release from that ministry setting, I knew. I did not have a release the first time. There are some lessons I learned while quitting the same ministry twice. While it isn’t easy to describe exactly what a ministerial release is, I can say with certainty some things it is not.
First, the ministerial release is not an urgent sense of retreat. The ministry I worked in was experiencing a season of pain. We were in a difficult situation, and I felt like I was being crushed. As I look back, the verse that speaks to being pressed but not crushed comes to mind. In fact, Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 is calling the church to not lose heart in ministry. It is not easy; there will be hard times. But being “pressed” is not release. These pains are like the pains of labor that bring forth new life – a new life that still needs tender nurture.
Second, a ministerial release is also not self-protective. There was a part of me that feared for my own reputation should the ministry fold. As it turns out, that isn’t God’s chief concern. Just after speaking of being pressed but not crushed, Paul speaks of “being given up to death for Jesus’ sake.” Ugh. Please note here that I’m not talking about a lack of self-care or formation that will hold us up in ministry. That is essential. God did not say he would work us to death, but rather that death is at work in us, once again bringing about life.
Third, a ministerial release is not something the minister does, but something that is done to him or her. As noted above, to hold the burden of loving the flock well is a great weight. When done well, it is held with open hands. This kind of release is not the sense of opening your hands from a tight grip. Rather, ministerial release is when God removes the weight from your open hands. The keeper of the flock is released from his or her responsibility. When I felt pressed by the ministry, my instinct was to thrust back against what was pressing me. This is not release. When it was time for me to move on, my hands were free to wave and to wipe my own tears.
Lastly, a ministerial release is a calling to go toward something new which then requires the leaving of something now. As I write this, I am preparing to attend the retirement celebration for TMS Global’s beloved Vicki and Frank Decker. They have gifted us with a living example as they consistently remind us that they are not retiring, but rather rebooting. Our new calling may not be known. Like Abraham, God calls us to follow him to what he will show us next. Our hands ever remain in the same position, open, palm facing upward, ready to receive whatever joys and burdens he gives us for the life of the world.
Sarah Parham is senior director of domestic mobilization at TMS Global (tms-global.org).
by Steve | Mar 17, 2020 | Magazine, Magazine Articles, March/April 2020
By B.J. Funk –
I always read John Wesley’s Covenant Prayer with a questioning heart, particularly over one section. Though challenging, to say the least, most of the prayer I get. There’s just this one part that bothers me. The part that makes me want to completely ignore him are the words, “Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you. Let me be full. Let me be empty.”
Laid aside for Jesus? Be full or empty? Seriously? So, how then can I work for you, Lord? I squirm under what are to me such uncomfortable and unnecessary words.
But then I think of Jim Elliott, the young Christian who trained as a missionary. However, the spears of the natives he hoped to convert ended his life before he got started. At the young age of 28, Jim Elliot and four missionary comrades were martyred by Auca Indians on the Curaray River in the jungles of Ecuador. These young missionaries had prepared for the mission field. They were, in John Wesley’s prayer, literally “laid aside for Jesus.” It makes no sense until we recognize that Jim Elliott prayed a similar prayer.
“God, I pray, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn up for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life but a full one like Yours, Lord Jesus.” In his diary entry for October 27, 1949, Jim wrote, “Was much encouraged to think of a life of godliness in the light of an early death.” Perhaps his most repeated quote is, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Jim Elliott was laid aside for Jesus.
Then, there is that adorable Dutch servant, Corrie ten Boom, who survived a German concentration camp and when she was freed, traveled the world telling about the goodness and grace of God inside a concentration camp. In her later years, she suffered a stroke. Her helper and friend wrote The Five Silent Years of Corrie ten Boom, reminding us that God could indeed work through the silence of this unbelievable minister of God. Without a word, she witnessed daily of God’s love and power.
Corrie ten Boom was laid aside for Jesus.
Amy Carmichael was an Irish missionary who served in India for 53 years in the first half of the 20th century. So dedicated that she never took a furlough, Amy boldly began rescuing little girls and boys from Temple prostitution. That became her life’s mission. Having found Jesus as a teenager in a Methodist boarding school and determining that she would never marry, she was empowered and eager to give up everything to serve the Lord. Always in poor health, she was bedridden for a period of years. At the end of her life during her time in bed, Carmichael’s writing and devotional ministry flourished. When asked by a young woman considering the mission field, “What is it like to be a missionary?” Amy answered, “Being a missionary is a chance to die.”
Amy was laid aside for Jesus.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer is known for his faith and his resistance to Nazi dictatorship. Arrested in 1943 by the Gestapo and imprisoned for a year and a half, he was transferred to a concentration camp. Accused of being tied with a plot to assassinate Hitler, he was hanged in 1945 as the Nazi regime was collapsing. Twenty-one days later, Adolph Hitler committed suicide. A quote from his doctor gives a beautiful documentary on Bonhoeffer’s life.
“At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”
Bonhoeffer was laid aside for Jesus.
Slowly, understanding sinks into my heart. Only God knows what he wants to get from my life, and if I am fully his, he is free to get what he wants in any way he wants. That sort of surrender is the surest way to a life of peace and joy. I’m whispering it today, but pray that I can one day say it louder and with deeper conviction. Lord Jesus, let me be laid aside for you.
