Uniting Methodists Leaning Left

by Steve | Sep 25, 2017 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter

By Walter Fenton

Uniting Methodists is a new caucus group that has entered as a “new voice” in the battle over the United Methodist Church’s sexual ethics, teachings on marriage, and its ordination standards. It joins a long roster of groups formed by concerned United Methodists over the years to lobby official church bodies like the General Conference, the Council of Bishops (COB), and now the COB’s special Commission on a Way Forward.

One of the more peculiar claims from Uniting Methodists is its belief that it is not like any of these other groups. As it states on its website, “We are not another combatant in a denominational tug-of-war.” (One supposes, without naming, they want to convey they are not like Methodist Federation for Social Action, Good News, Reconciling Ministries Network, or The Confessing Movement.) They’re just trying, as their tag line says, “to be a unifying and clarifying voice in a divided conversation and a polarized culture.” In other words, they want to convey they are not combatants, but nice people.

And of course, they are nice people, some of the nicest in the whole church. But as Bishop Will Willimon once said, one of the UM Church’s problems is its unspoken “conspiracy of niceness.” The denomination is already full of nice leaders who like to style themselves as facilitators, bridge-builders, and conveners of round-table discussions. Given the crowded table, one does wonder how much more room there is for another group dedicated to be a “clarifying voice in a divided conversation.” (By the way, everyone already at the table thinks they are “a unifying and clarifying voice in a divided conversation.”)

 Uniting Methodists certainly say all the right things.

Its homepage says the movement is “Christ centered, hope filled,” and committed to “make disciples for the transformation of the world.”

 In its mission statement, it puts itself forward as a voice “that clarifies and unifies our church, [and] urges holiness.” It calls for “cooperation with Christ-like love and honest, humble conversation, and desire[s] spiritual and structural unity in the church.”

 In a section entitled “A Shared Commitment,” it professes to follow a God who reveals through Jesus Christ that He is both “fixed and free.” So they are a people who “seek to keep [their] hearts and minds centered on Jesus,” and “open to wherever the catholic spirit of God’s love might lead [them].”

 Of course, The United Methodist Church already says all of these things. They are embedded in our Wesleyan heritage, and are rooted in our church’s constitution, doctrinal standards, theological task, social principles, and our polity. So what gives? Why another caucus group, especially one professing not to be “another combatant” in our perennial struggles?

Let’s be straightforward: Uniting Methodists, despite its protests, has its own agenda when it comes to the church’s sexual ethics, teachings on marriage, and its ordination standards. It would like to liberalize all of them. The group wants to eliminate the church’s statement on the “practice of homosexuality,” redefine Christian marriage as “a covenant between two people,” and give UM clergy the freedom to preside at “same-sex weddings.”

While studiously avoiding terms such as liberal or progressive, its members simply want to be known as people trying to secure a peace for a denomination beleaguered by combative groups. They haven’t shown up to take sides; in fact, they don’t even claim to be a side. They’ve arrived, as they put it, to help “clarify” things and bring “unity.” (Long time church observers should be forgiven for finding this kind of rhetoric mildly exasperating.)

But Uniting Methodists is, in fact, another caucus group, and there’s no shame in that. In time, the group might come to realize being combative for their cause can be an honorable and noble thing. But for now, they run the risk of appearing to be a group of reluctant combatants. They’re willing to allow for the ordination of LGBTQ people, but if there is push back from an annual conference, then they’ll retreat. And if a lesbian or gay couple can find a UM pastor willing to preside at their wedding, great. But if another one refuses to preside at such a service, then they’ll side with the pastor.

This “local option” approach, which has been floated before, is more likely to antagonize than unify the church. Uniting Methodists run the risk of appearing to be muddled and half-hearted, and it’s likely both LGBTQ advocates and many United Methodists will see them as such.

LGBTQ advocates are all in; they’re advocating for full inclusion in and unfettered access to the church. The timidity of Uniting Methodists will neither impress them nor deter them from their ultimate aims. They will quietly pocket the gains Uniting Methodists would be willing to cede them, and then continue their fight for full inclusion in and unfettered access to the church.

And the vast majority of United Methodists across the global connection, who support the church’s teachings, are firm in their convictions that those teachings are grounded in Scripture and the teachings of the church catholic. They’ve watched what has happened to other mainline denominations that adopted the approach Uniting Methodists are pedaling, and they will want none of it.

The new organization’s laudable tag line, “called to be a unifying and clarifying voice,” does succeed in clarifying that its members lean left, but that’s not a winning strategy if they also hope to be a voice for unity

Walter Fenton is a United Methodist clergyperson and an analyst at Good News. 

At the Center of What?

by Steve | Sep 18, 2017 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter

By Walter Fenton-

In his recent respectful, but critical appraisal of so-called United Methodist “centrism,” Dr. Kevin Watson, Assistant Professor of Wesleyan and Methodist Studies at Candler School of Theology, says he has “no idea to what extent [the Rev. Adam] Hamilton desires to be seen as a leader of… the United Methodist Centrist Movement.”

Question asked, question answered. Hamilton has quickly responded with an essay of his own entitled “In Support of United Methodist Centrists.” 

Watson’s critique and Hamilton’s response are well worth reading, particularly with the launch of a new caucus group called “Uniting Methodists” (Hamilton has openly identified with it).

But here, we want to consider whether self-identified “centrists” are actually at the center of the worldwide United Methodist Church.

For Hamilton, a centrist is a compassionate, faithful United Methodist who recognizes that other compassionate, faithful United Methodists “disagree on how to interpret the Scriptures cited as relevant to the questions of same-sex marriage.”

The centrist caucus appears to promote a new UM infrastructure where some pastors preside at same-sex weddings and where some annual conferences ordain openly gay clergy, and, at the same time, some pastors only miles away decline to preside at same-sex weddings and some annual conferences refuse to ordain openly gay clergy. 

Presumably, the centrist caucus would also promote legislation where some annual conferences could discipline a pastor who declined to receive an openly gay person as a church member, and, at the same time, would defend a pastor’s right to decline administering the membership vows in a different annual conference. 

For a moment we will set aside this rather novel approach to a Christian church’s sexual ethics, teachings on marriage, ordination standards, and even its membership vows to consider how Hamilton arrives at his definition of a centrist. For him, if two Christ loving, warm hearted, passionate United Methodists reach different conclusions regarding a given ethical issue, it most likely means the issue in question requires us to see gray even if what we want is a clear cut answer (see his book Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White and also Dr. Bill Arnold’s Seeing Black and White in a Gray World). This philosophy comes to the conclusion that the ethical issue is gray. In response, the best approach appears to be to sit loosely on the matter, allowing plenty of room for faithful people who have legitimate differences.

This is often a fair-minded, generous, and practical approach to some thorny ethical issues, and the church has decided to handle some of them in just this fashion. However, as Hamilton himself acknowledges, there are some ethical issues that cannot be handled this way. And that is the crux of the matter when it comes to the church’s sexual ethics, teachings on marriage, and its ordination standards.

Both LGBTQ advocates and the UM Church (through the General Conference) do not think we can sit loosely on these matters. The former believe justice is at stake and therefore there is no room for compromise. They are so fervent in their convictions that they have defied the church of which they are members.

The UM Church believes its standards are firmly rooted in Christian teaching and are reflective of what the church universal has taught at all times and in all places. With compassion and grace, it calls on Christ followers to do the hard work of warmly and compassionately engaging with people who feel – often justifiably – marginalized and mistreated. However, it maintains it cannot yield on an issue that has paramount ramifications for the community of faith, for some of its core theological and ethical convictions, and for families and society in general. As challenging as it can be, the church believes it must speak the truth with grace and charity. And it believes this is done most effectively at the most basic level, where pastors and lay people open their doors, befriend others, listen, and speak kindly and warmly at the right time.

Judging from the declarations on the new centrist website, it seems as if it is advocating that the theological and ethical issues surrounding same-sex marriage, ordination, and church membership are not of paramount importance and that global United Methodism can move forward where some pastors joyfully preside at same-sex weddings, and others are firmly convinced such weddings are contrary to Christian teaching. This version of centrism appears to neither warmly promote the church’s teachings, nor will it wholeheartedly advocate for the full and unfettered inclusion of LGBTQ people. While no one would question the sincerity of their beliefs, the centrist caucus errs in believing that this puts them at anything approximating the center of the church. It does not; it puts it at odds with the church.

Wittingly or unwittingly, the centrist caucus is attempting to usurp the center of the church from the duly elected delegates who are sent to represent United Methodists at its General Conferences. This global body – representing people from Africa, Europe, The Philippines, and the U.S. – either reaffirms or modifies our Book of Discipline, and it alone constitutes the actual center of the church. Those who want the church to adopt a novel, laissez faire approach to its sexual ethics, its teachings on marriage, and its ordination standards may well be sincere, good-hearted people, but it’s a stretch to call this centrism.

To be fair, the new centrist caucus – complete with high-profile clergy as well as the past and present top executive from the United Methodist Publishing House – are not completely indifferent to the teachings of the church or the demands of LGBTQ advocates, but they are apparently willing to champion an exotic approach that is almost certainly a recipe for disaster.

For example, the centrist caucus would have us believe the UM Church could function as a healthy and vibrant denomination where two ministers, in the same community, teach diametrically opposite things about marriage and sexual intimacy.  One teaches same-sex marriage is morally unacceptable, while another maintains LGBTQ marriages are to be celebrated. One teaches sexual intimacy is meant to be monogamous, heterosexual, and expressed in the confines of a marriage; the other warmly approves of LGBTQ understandings of sexual intimacy and marriage. This is not a credible way forward.

Practically speaking, particularly for bishops and district superintendents who have to appoint pastors to local churches, it’s a train wreck in the making. But even more importantly, their exotic plan of accommodation will solve little or nothing.

Previous versions of this “local option” plan were met with contempt by some ardent LGBTQ advocates. It was seen as an unacceptable vision of “gradualism” or “accommodationalism” – institutional leaders willing to sell them out whenever this or that annual conference has the votes to deny them full inclusion.

 To those who find themselves in the center of the global United Methodist Church – those who actually support the church’s teachings, abide by its polity, and respect the will of the General Conference – the centrist caucus looks like it is willing to perpetuate an on-going division because they continue to see only gray.

Both sides – LGBTQ advocates and the UM Church – want the centrist caucus to take a stand on an issue where the church cannot have it both ways. Do they support LGBTQ advocates’ cry for full inclusion? Or do they stand with the center of The United Methodist Church, which believes what Christians at all times and in all places have taught regarding our sexual ethics and teachings on marriage. 

Seeing only gray is no longer a luxury LGBTQ advocates or the UM Church can afford.

Walter Fenton is a United Methodist clergyperson and an analyst at Good News. 

Local UM Churches Respond to Harvey and Prepare for Irma

by Steve | Sep 11, 2017 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter

The Woodlands United Methodist Church is one of the official distribution centers for the relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Harvey. Photo by Steve Beard.

By Walter B. Fenton

Local United Methodist churches across the country have rushed to support people trying to get back on their feet after the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. And they are already preparing to assist those in the path of Hurricane Irma.

Along the western coast of the Gulf of Mexico, teams of United Methodists have assisted thousands of people in the depressing, but necessary task of quickly removing drywall, carpeting, furniture, and appliances from homes flooded by Harvey’s torrential rainfall. Across the region 40 inches of rain fell in just three to four days, and in some areas total rainfall topped 50 inches. Communities that never expected to flood found themselves surrounded by a foot or more of water.

“Our church and community wanted do whatever we could to support people impacted by the flooding,” said the Rev. Jeff Harper, lead pastor at Evangelical UM Church in Greenville, Ohio. “One of our church members owns an 18-wheeler truck and he volunteered to drive it to Texas if we would fill it with supplies. We’re in the process of filling it right now.”

Harper explained they did not know exactly where to send the truck, but his team eventually got in touch with the Rev. Dr. John Hull, pastor of missions at The Woodlands UM Church, just north of Houston. Hull is playing a leading role in coordinating local and national efforts to assist flood victims.

“We don’t always understand exactly why tragedies like this strike people,” Hull said, “but we want people to know God will walk with them as they go through these experiences. As a church we’re in this for the long haul, and it is always moving to see the gifts God has given us rise to the surface as we seek ways to help others.”

Local government officials asked The Woodlands congregation to serve as a major distribution center for relief supplies

Marshall Perry, facilities engineer at The Woodlands United Methodist Church, unloads diapers and water to be distributed in the greater Houston area. Photo by Steve Beard.

in the area. During the storm, and in the days immediately following, the church’s gymnasium filled with cases of bottled water, food, cleaning supplies, diapers, clothes, and other items.

The Rev. Dr. Edmund Robb III, senior pastor of The Woodlands UM Church, reported that church members stocked its large gymnasium with relief supplies four times only to see it emptied it out four times in a matter of days. Church members have worked almost around the clock to assist people forced from their homes by the flood waters.

“Fortunately,” Robb said, “people continued to restock the gymnasium as quickly as it was emptied. The church will continue to serve as a distribution center for as long as local government officials ask us to do so. The response of the congregation has been tremendous.”

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has organized an effective cleaning bucket campaign to channel local congregational involvement. (It has also been sending financial relief to respond to the severe flooding and mudslides in Sierra Leone – Advance #982450.)

The United Methodist News Service has published several articles in the past week detailing various ways United Methodists and their local congregations have responded to the storm that hit Texas and Louisiana.

When two members at Chapelwood UM Church in Houston realized the city’s 911 service was overwhelmed with calls, they created an app that helped police, fire departments, and volunteers quickly locate people who needed to be rescued.

Local churches quickly turned into shelters to house people driven from their homes.

And pastors prepared sermons to comfort people who face a long journey to recovery and to challenge others to help wherever they can.

United Methodists are now preparing to assist people in Florida as it braces for Hurricane Irma, one of the strongest storms on record to develop in the Atlantic.

Walter Fenton is a United Methodist clergyperson and an analyst at Good News.

In All Things

by Steve | Sep 1, 2017 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter

By Walter B. Fenton

Surely the psalmist was using flood in a metaphorical sense when he cried out,

“Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me” (69:1-2).

But for people from Corpus Christi to Houston and on over to Louisiana, the psalmist’s plea has seemed all too real these past several days.

Boy Scouts and veterans join members of The Woodlands United Methodist Church in packing supplies for evacuees of Hurricane Harvey. Photo by Steve Beard.

Our hearts break for families who have lost loved ones to the ravages of Hurricane Harvey’s strong winds and rain inducing floods. From the woman killed by a tree that crashed through her house to the valiant police officer who died trying to report for duty and to the family of six who perished in flood waters as they attempted to flee the disaster, we are left to ponder how fleeting and perilous our lives are amidst the powerful forces of nature. We feel small and helpless. We prepare as best we can, but know our best can easily be overwhelmed.

Thousands of people along the Gulf coast have had to abandon their homes with little more than a duffle bag and the clothes on their backs. They have taken shelter elsewhere, with family and friends, or among strangers in a church or a school gymnasium. They are left wondering when they can return home to assess the damage to their property and all their belongings. They need our thought and prayers, and our resources. 

In the midst of the storm we turn to the comfort and reassurance of loved ones and even strangers who are going through the crisis with us. And of course, we rely on our faith that God will be with us even if the flood should overwhelm us.

Hurricane Harvey and its flooding rains struck close to home for the Good News staff. Some of us were able to ride out the storm in our homes, but others were forced to evacuate because of flooding. Some of us have sustained damage to our homes, but so far it is relatively minor compared to the grave challenges others are facing.

The entire Good News staff thanks all of you who sent emails, posted your thoughts and prayers on social media, or called us to note your concern and offer your help. Your words of support were a great encouragement. Thank you very much for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Veterans and Boy Scouts join members of The Woodlands United Methodist Church loading supplies for evacuees. Photo by Steve Beard.

Our attention now turns to assessing the damage, and to helping neighbors and strangers recover from the storm’s devastation. We have been reminded once again of the Apostle Paul’s great words: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Paul was no peddler of a glib theology. He understood that suffering, no matter its source (a vicious crowd or a terrible storm at sea), is a part of this life. But tenaciously, we cling to our rock and redeemer even when the flood threatens to overwhelm us.

Walter Fenton is a United Methodist clergyperson and an analyst at Good News.