by Steve | May 25, 2011 | Magazine Articles
By Linda Bloom
The Rev. Joseph Bishman loves motorcycles so much that he’s ridden nationally on behalf of Harley-Davidson.
So it seemed only natural for the United Methodist West Ohio Annual (regional) Conference to ask the 62-year-old Shawnee district superintendent to hold a motorcycle ride for Vietnam mission work.
What was unexpected was what happened next. His district of mostly small, rural churches on the edge of Appalachia has pulled together to raise nearly $650,000 so far for the conference’s support of Vietnam churches through the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
The district has held three “Rally in the Valley” events for Vietnam, with a fourth one approaching in May. Key to their fundraising success has been Bishman’s decision to treat the 159 churches in his district—which spans nine counties and 4,700 square miles—as one large congregation.
Or, as he characterizes it, “If we’re going to move a mountain, what would happen if we put all our shovels together on one single initiative?”
Bishman shared his strategies with Global Ministries’ directors on April 12 during the board’s spring meeting in Stamford, Connecticut. West Ohio Bishop Bruce Ough, who also serves as the board’s president, introduced him as a spiritual, visionary, passionate teacher in his region. “There’s one word that describes Joseph: leader,” Ough said.
A missional priority
Vietnam is part of the Southeast Asia Mission Initiative. It is one of the mission initiatives launched in recent years in countries where United
Methodist work did not previously exist or was disrupted in the past by political factors.
The work of the initiatives involves evangelism, social ministries, and church growth—including a commitment made in 2009 by the Board of Global Ministries to develop 400 new congregations outside the United States over a four-year period. About 280 congregations already can be counted toward that goal.
In a live webcast on the initiatives following Bishman’s presentation, board directors spoke via Skype with a district superintendent from Bulgaria, learned how the church in Cameroon uses play dates for children to grow membership and talked with church members in Senegal and Thailand about the difficulties in evangelizing in countries with non-Christian majorities.
Back in the Shawnee Valley, the missional connection with Vietnam has helped some in West Ohio—including Bishman himself—deal with the brokenness caused by the dispute over a long-ended but still unpopular war.
“We’ve really not known what to do about Vietnam for our own healing,” he states. “This has given a unique platform for many of our veterans to go back.”
Some have returned on the motorcycle rides, carrying Bibles instead of weapons. The most recent ride, involving a mission team from the Shawnee Valley District and Grove City United Methodist Church, occurred from late February to early March.
“I’ve put 36 new motorcycles in the hands of our pastors in Vietnam just through the motorcycle ride itself,” Bishman said.
Beyond motorcycles, the connection with Vietnam has helped bring the district together in a unique way. “What the Vietnam church has given us is an inspirational challenge which is unimaginable,” he said.
Becoming self-sufficient
The partnership in Vietnam is not based on dependency, Bishman pointed out. Both Vietnamese leaders and denominational supporters immediately began developing a plan for self-sufficiency, with the goal that every church pay its own pastor’s salary and that members look to their “responsibility to the rest of the world as well.”
Ough, who was recently named by the denomination’s Council of Bishops to provide episcopal oversight to the Southeast Asia Mission Initiative, travelled to Vietnam with a small delegation during Holy Week to preside over the church’s annual meeting. The church in Vietnam currently has about 12,000 participants in 200 congregations.
The West Ohio Conference presented $12,000 worth of seed corn to the Vietnamese church. “They will double or triple it, and next October they will bring the harvest in,” Bishman said.
When the Vietnamese take their first national offering this year, they will donate one-third of the total to new church development, one-third to Wesley Theological College in Ho Chi Minh City, and one-third to mission work in Laos, he added.
The church also continues to work toward official recognition by the Vietnamese government. A year ago, the new United Methodist Mission Center was dedicated in Ho Chi Minh City, one of the steps deemed necessary to achieve that end. Another requirement is a constitution and bylaws. “We have a draft of a constitution done,” Ough said. “It is now being translated into English so it can be reviewed by legal counsel.”
The bishop expects that Vietnamese United Methodists will have an organizing conference a year from now to approve the constitution and elect their own leaders.
“It’s a very exciting time for Vietnam,” Ough said. “We’re running to keep up with what God is doing there.”
Linda Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York.
by Steve | May 25, 2011 | Magazine Articles
By Joey Butler
Since 1955, April 15 has signified Tax Day in the United States—a pretty tragic date in our minds. But prior to that, April 15 always marked an even larger tragedy: the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
This year marked the 99th anniversary of the famous shipwreck that claimed almost 1,500 lives, and as the centennial draws nearer, interest in the event is ramping up.
Of note to United Methodists is the fact that two of the members of the famed Titanic band were Methodists themselves.
A recently released book by music journalist Steve Turner detailing the lives of the musicians cites the Methodist heritage of bandleader and violinist Wallace Hartley and cellist John Wesley Woodward, and speculates how their faith influenced their decision to play until the last.
In The Band That Played On, Turner wrote: “[Hartley’s] moral character and his personal assurance that death was not the end must have stirred his bandsmen. Together as a band under Hartley’s leadership, they transcended their personal limitations.”
Wallace Hartley was raised in Colne, England. His father, Albion Hartley, was choirmaster and Sunday school superintendent at Bethel Independent Methodist Chapel. Perhaps a foreshadowing of things to come, it was choirmaster Hartley who introduced the hymn “Nearer, My God, to Thee” to the congregation.
Colne had deep ties to Methodism, although its introduction to the movement wasn’t the best first impression. Several times John Wesley visited the mill town, which had a tough reputation, and was always met with opposition and, in some cases, violence. During one visit, he was met by an angry mob, and one of his helpers was thrown to his death off a bridge.
However, Methodism was eventually embraced in Colne, and Methodist chapels sprang up there.
Born in 1878, young Wallace studied at Colne’s Methodist day school, sang in Bethel’s choir, and learned violin from a congregation member.
Less is known about the band member with the most “Methodist” name—John Wesley Woodward—but the cellist was raised in the Methodist tradition, and his father was an officer at Hill Top Methodist Chapel in West Bromwich, England.
That fateful night. The Titanic sailed from Southampton, England, but its band was hired in Liverpool, making them, behind The Beatles, maybe the second-most famous band to emerge from that port city.
Hartley was among three of eight Titanic musicians who were engaged to marry in the summer of 1912. Sadly, like many of his bandmates, Hartley’s intent was to make this his last sea voyage and return home to concert work instead.
Owing to the contract they’d signed with their Liverpool management, the musicians were considered second-class passengers, rather than part of the crew. Therefore, they were not under the order of the captain.
A crowd of 40,000 lined the streets of Colne, England, to witness the May 18, 1912, funeral procession of Titanic band leader Wallace Hartley.
When the ship struck the iceberg around 11:40 p.m. on April 14, the band would have already finished playing for the night. Yet, something led them to gather up their instruments and head to the first-class lounge. One survivor later claimed that, as she passed the men, one of them told her they were “just going to give them a tune to cheer things up a bit.”
“No one knows for sure why the band played,” Turner said. “We do know that Wallace Hartley once told a friend about the power of music to prevent panic. My feeling is that he was a person of great moral authority as well as a born leader, and therefore his wish at that time was passed on to all the men.”
Hartley’s was one of only three musicians’ bodies to be recovered and identified, and the only one returned to his home. He was given a hero’s welcome as his funeral procession drew a crowd of 40,000—almost twice Colne’s population at the time—and several memorials were crafted in his and the band’s honor.
Urban legend? The two most popular beliefs surrounding the Titanic band are that they played until the ship went down, and their last song was “Nearer, My God, to Thee.”
Because no definitive eyewitness accounts exist to prove either, even those who have studied Titanic history disagree. And survivors had, in some cases, completely contradictory details about whether the band was playing, where they were playing and what song they were playing.
Once the band was playing on the deck (they began their last performance in the first-class lounge), it’s not known how the two pianists would’ve participated, as there weren’t pianos on deck.
But Phillip Gowan, a United Methodist and Titanic historian, thinks the band did, indeed, play on.
“From all the accounts I’ve either read, or people who were there that I’ve interviewed, I do think the band played till the end,” Gowan said. “Most of the survivors that were in an area where they could’ve heard did claim that they heard the band playing.”
Turner said, “I think they played for as long as they could. There were some reports of them playing while the water began to engulf them and others of them eventually packing their instruments into cases.”
As for the last song the group performed, no one can agree, all survivors are now deceased and no living person will ever know for certain. Since their goal was to keep spirits up and keep passengers calm, a hymn typically reserved for funerals may not have been the best choice. But once their outcome was certain, who knows?
“It’s more likely that they played a French waltz called ‘Songe d’Automne.’ The most reliable accounts I’ve heard mention that song,” Gowan said.
“Wallace Hartley once told a friend that if he was on a ship going down, the best thing he could do would be to play a hymn like ‘Nearer, My God, to Thee,’” Turner said.
“One of the most convincing accounts I read, by one of the sailors, was that at the end, there was a lone violinist playing ‘Nearer, My God, to Thee.’ I suspect that was Wallace Hartley.”
Joey Butler is editor of young adult content, United Methodist Communications, Nashville, Tennessee.
by Steve | May 25, 2011 | Magazine Articles
By Linda Bloom
When Maria, an Armenian citizen, ended up in Dubai, she resisted attempts by her traffickers to force her into prostitution.
In retaliation, they threw her off the top of a three-story building.
Maria survived the fall, eventually escaped her captors and was repatriated to Armenia, where police referred her to the Anti-Human Trafficking Project run by the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
To date, the UMCOR project has helped 93 women move on to new lives after becoming entangled in what is considered the second-largest and fastest-growing global criminal enterprise, said Kathryn Paik, UMCOR’s Armenia program officer.
Paik and two staff executives with United Methodist Women, Carol Van Gorp and Susie Johnson, spoke about how United Methodists are addressing the human trafficking problem during a March 28 panel discussion at the offices of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
United Methodist Women and its parent organization, the board’s Women’s Division, have focused on human trafficking for more than a decade and started the current campaign, “The Protection Project,” in 2009.
“Since the campaign, our trafficking team has educated and opened the eyes of over 7,500 people,” said Johnson, who spoke by phone from Washington, where she oversees public policy work for the division.
The United Nations defines human trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of people—by threat, abduction, deception or abuse of power—for the purpose of sexual or labor-related exploitation. Eighty percent of those trafficked are women and girls, and half of all trafficking victims are under the age of 13.
Providing shelter
UMCOR was the first nongovernmental organization to work with Armenian authorities in all regions of Armenia to reintegrate trafficking survivors back into society, Paik said.
At UMCOR’s shelter, survivors receive medical services, legal counseling, vocational training and psychosocial support. The length of stay varies by individual case, but about 90 percent of participants have successfully returned to society. “Shelter staff also have ongoing contact with the victims and their families,” Paik said.
But the successes are not without effort. “We have many challenges in Armenia for this program,” she explained. “The greatest is probably economic empowerment.”
Without other viable options for employment, it is difficult to break the cycle of trafficking. And societal changes are needed to address populations vulnerable to trafficking. In Armenia, for example, more than 10,000 “extremely vulnerable” children living in boarding schools and orphanages are often left without a home or social support as they grow older.
So, in addition to the shelter, UMCOR Armenia has established a toll-free anti-trafficking hotline, conducted awareness campaigns through presentations, community outreach and mass media, and advocated for victims’ rights.
In the United States, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000—also called TVPA—increased penalties to traffickers from five years to 20 years to life and mandated the creation of an interagency government task force that meets annually.
The State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons assesses and rates 194 countries each year to show whether problems of trafficking are being addressed. Countries that lag on the issue risk losing funding from the United States. Task forces coordinated by the Department of Justice link federal and local law enforcement officers to pursue traffickers.
The department’s “2010 Trafficking in Persons Report,” released last June, was the first to rank the United States alongside other nations.
On a denomination-wide level, General Conference, the church’s top legislative body, first adopted a resolution calling for the abolition of sex trafficking in 2004. The church also has supported “global efforts to end slavery” since 2000, and has long called for the eradication of abusive child labor.
Linda Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York.
by Steve | May 25, 2011 | Magazine Articles
By Jeff Walton
The public policy arm of the United Methodist Church has once again voted to introduce legislation to the 2012 General Conference that would remove disapproval of homosexual practices and effectively liberalize the church’s teachings on sex.
In a lopsided vote, directors of the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) adopted a resolution at the agency’s spring meeting February 9-13 that would swap the current text of the church’s “Social Principles” in the denomination’s Book of Discipline with neutral language that was termed more conciliatory. Of the 63-member board, only two directors opposed the resolution, while one abstained. An undetermined number were not present for the vote. The two “no” votes were Mark Parris from North Alabama Conference and Steve Furr of the Alabama-West Florida Conference.
GBCS has a long-time tradition of asking General Conference to liberalize the church’s sexual teachings. Every General Conference has rejected these appeals.
The Book of Discipline declares that “The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching,” which is in the “Social Principles,” and instructs elsewhere in the Discipline that “self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church.” The Board’s resolution only addressed the “Social Principles” language.
In a change from how other proposed resolutions were introduced at the meeting, GBCS Human Welfare Committee Chair Bishop Jane Middleton of Central Pennsylvania asked directors to first pair off into groups of two. The directors were asked to, in under a minute, share with the other how they had arrived at their current position on the human sexuality language. After each director had shared with the other, they were then to explain what they had learned from the other. Following this discussion session, the plenary session editing of the resolution resumed.
Several directors were not present for the meeting held at a United Methodist retreat center outside of Orlando, Florida, but the overwhelming margin of the vote would seem to signal GBCS’s determination to see the language changed.
The move paves the way for human sexuality disputes to once again be at the forefront of the United Methodist General Conference when it meets in 2012. As the denomination’s highest rulemaking body, only the General Conference can vote to change language in the Discipline.
The board’s vote in favor of removing the “incompatible” language, which dates to 1972, coincided with a statement issued in February by a group of retired United Methodist bishops in which they called upon The United Methodist Church to remove the ordination standards regarding homosexual practice.
The retired bishops’ statement quickly drew rebuke from a coalition of traditionalist groups who aim to uphold church teaching on the matter.
“The path urged by the retired bishops, if adopted, will leave The United Methodist Church barely distinguishable from the culture, particularly in the Christian West,” read a statement by the Renewal and Reform Coalition. “All this would be done for the sake of expediency and convenience, a desire for ‘relevance,’ and a misapplied sense of social justice. In reality, the retired bishops’ position is in a distinct minority across the Church universal and has only resulted in dissension, schism, and the weakening of the Church where it has been adopted.”
Some bishops expressed disappointment with the retired bishops’ public opposition to the Book of Discipline’s current rule.
“I think that it’s unfortunate that this group of bishops has stepped outside of the covenant relationship and find this the only way in which to voice their opinion about the issue of homosexuality,” Oklahoma Bishop Robert E. Hayes Jr., said in an interview with United Methodist News Service.
He said the statement steps outside the accepted process for changing church policy. Any person, regardless of whether that individual is clergy or a layperson, can petition General Conference to ask for a change.
“This circumvents our way of handling difficult issues,” Hayes said. “I am very disappointed the bishops chose this way to make their opinions known.”
Two bishops from Africa also spoke out against the statement.
“Africa should not be pushed on this issue,” said Bishop Eben K. Nhiwatiwa of Zimbabwe. “The position of The United Methodist Church right now is the position that is in sync with the context of the African church right now.”
Bishop John Innis of Liberia agreed. “We are all created by God,” he said. “A person who practices homosexuality can be my friend, but I cannot condone that behavior.”
In 2008, delegates to the General Conference voted 517 to 416 to retain the church’s official stance holding homosexual practice as “incompatible with Christian teaching.” The margins on the church’s prohibition against active homosexual clergy and same-sex unions were larger, sometimes surpassing 70 percent.
The presence of 192 African delegates, who were outspoken in their defense of the church’s current position on homosexuality, was credited by traditionalists as providing the votes necessary to prevent deleting the “incompatible” clause. The number of African delegates will increase to nearly 300 at the 2012 General Conference. Although over 4 million United Methodists now live in Africa, over one-third of the denomination, only 3 Africans serve on GBCS’s 63-member board.
The 2008 General Conference also voted, by larger margins, to “support laws in civil society that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” to affirm that “sexual relations are affirmed only within the covenant of monogamous, heterosexual marriage,” and to maintain the current prohibitions of same-sex union services and the ordination of “self-avowed practicing homosexuals.”
Jeff Walton is Communications Manager for the Institute on Religion & Democracy.
by Steve | May 25, 2011 | Magazine Articles
Call to Action
Regarding the analysis of the Call to Action in the March/April issue, I applaud Dr. George Hunter for naming theology and spiritual formation as two of the Great Omissions in the Call to Action. I’m guessing Dr. Hunter will agree, but the truth is, theological and spiritual formation should always be mentioned together as dimensions of the same task. I work with college students and other emerging adults. The crying need of this generation is good, solid, exemplary (i.e., visible in lives of mentors and models) doctrinal formation; what we in the academy sometimes call first order theology. Theological formation is spiritual formation. John Wesley got this fundamental truth in a way that we simply do not these days.
I also want to disagree with the Rev. Kent Millard for defending the legitimacy and reliability of the research organization used to develop the Call to Action. Of course, these organizations are good at their jobs, but are they using the right tools for the analysis we need? Social science research methods render social science results. That there is “vitality” across congregations of a wide theological spectrum simply means that the definition of “vitality” fits what a social science method will define ahead of time as useful or appropriate. It simply begs the question about theology.
Finally, let me add what may look like a tangent, but I think is not. Whereas I love the local church and understand its importance for ministry,
I plead with United Methodists not to forget about the rising generation. To that end, we had better not put all of our eggs in the local church basket. Yet, when we face the pressure of denominational decline, we still default to talk about “the local church” when we want to cure what ails us. On the contrary, until there is large scale and systematic reformation in the theological aims of higher education (this includes church-related schools and state university campus ministries), we will continue to abandon our emerging adults to whatever pop culture forces happen to be at work. And we will thereby fail at one of the four missional priorities established by General Conference.
Stephen Rankin
Dallas, Texas
Cracks before the rift
I am disturbed as well by bishops who do not have the integrity to uphold our denominational rulings. They seem to conveniently ignore the fact that General Conferences speak for the United Methodist Church. But over and above this is the reaction many of us receive who hold to what we believe are clear Biblical mandates concerning human sexual behavior.
I have found that many (not all) who are supposedly tolerant, liberal, and open-minded can become very hostile and narrow-minded when they find I am on the “other side” of these issues. It’s as though holding to traditional Biblical morality is some kind of religious or cultural crime.
Considering the terrible brokenness people experience around sexual issues, it would seem that the more liberal viewpoint isn’t working. From an exegetical basis, there is not a single word or phrase in the original New Testament Greek (related to human sexual matters) to condone the “liberal” viewpoint. In any case, it makes me wonder just how long the UM Church can live with this kind of tension before the cracks become a wide rift. I pray that does not happen.
Brian Channel
Durand UM Church
Durand, Illinois
Failing as disciples
In the article, “Leaders react to homosexuality statement by retired bishops,” retired Bishop Sharon Z. Rader is quoted as saying many have told her the initiative “brings hope for the future of our church and the making plain of our desire to invite, receive and empower all who desire to live as faithful disciples of Jesus as part of The United Methodist Church.” Bishop Larry Goodpaster, writing on behalf of the Council of Bishops’ executive committee says, “We call this holy conferencing.” Why do our bishops, General Conference, Good News, and whoever considers this topic worth talking about not realize that the main problem is that we’re even willing to discuss this topic?
The fact is evangelical, Bible believing Christians who oppose homosexual ordination believe it is impossible “to live as faithful disciples of Jesus” while continuing to practice homosexuality. The two are in opposition of each other.
As long as Bishop Rader and those like-minded continue to believe it is possible to live as a faithful disciple of Jesus while continuing this practice ,I, and others like me, have no reason to do any holy conferencing on this subject.
There is no reason to talk to someone who refuses to pay attention to the clear teachings of Scripture. And may I go a bit further in saying that I am annoyed that our current council of bishops does not hold this opinion.
Remember the issue is not whether we should invite homosexuals to church in an attempt to introduce them to Christ and disciple them. The issue is whether we’re going to call them to be faithful to Christ by leaving their homosexual lifestyle behind. It will not be easy. They will stumble and fall, and we will have to extend grace. But if we do not ask them to leave this lifestyle, then we are failing to “live as faithful disciples of Jesus.”
Brandon Fulmer
Mann Memorial UM Church
Augusta District,
North Georgia Conference
by Steve | May 25, 2011 | Magazine Articles
By Riley B. Case
Christianity is dying in the following countries—Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland—and is headed for extinction. That is the conclusion of a study conducted by a group of social scientists (the Research Corporation for Science Advancement), using census studies, and a linear dynamics mathematical systems model (whatever that is). These “findings” were reported at a recent American Physical Society meeting in Dallas.
Of course anyone who has been in Europe recently and has interacted with cynical college students or visited empty churches might draw the same conclusion. Census figures report that more and more persons in these “western civilization” countries are reporting “non-affiliated with religion,” with 60 percent of the persons in the Czech Republic making that claim. While not put into the “headed for extinction” category, countries like England, Germany, and France are also reporting increasing secularization and disregard for organized religion. A study conducted by the British Humanist Association reported that while 61 percent of those in England indicated they “belonged” to a religion, 65 percent reported they were “non-religious.”
Shall we panic?
Well, no, but it is sad to think that the lands which furnished the Christian beliefs and values that were so influential in making America what it is today, are now turning their backs on those beliefs and values.
There is no denying that the continent of Europe is growing increasingly pagan. We have not, in the past, associated the word “pagan” with the word “civilized.” The word “pagan” in popular usage often refers to persons, practices, or peoples that are not “civilized” (as in Westernized). Does not paganism have to do with primitive religions, heathenism, barbaric practices, and superstition? Can one be civilized and pagan at the same time?
Of course. Alien, secular, and humanistic philosophies are gaining dominance in Europe. These philosophies serve different gods. Man (and Woman), not God, is the center of the universe. Progress in these nations is measured not by how society reflects Christian values, but in the
extent to which their society is ordered apart from those values. The word “pagan” fits these nations appropriately.
But God is not without a witness.
This past Sunday more Anglicans attended church in each of the following countries: Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda than did Anglicans in all of Britain and Canada and Episcopalians in the United States combined. The number of Anglicans in church in Nigeria was several times the number in those other African countries.
This past Sunday it is possible that more Christian believers attended church in China than in all of so-called “Christian Europe.” Yet in 1970 there were no legally functioning churches in all of China.
This past Sunday there were more Roman Catholics at worship in the Philippines than in any single country of Europe, including such “Catholic countries” as Italy, Spain, or Poland.
It is important to see the big picture. Is it possible that in the plan of God Europe will be like the branch of the vine in John 15 that, since it no longer bears fruit, is cast away? Is God now using lands we once disdained as not-civilized to bring about his purposes? Is this an example of God using “what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (I Cor. 1:27)? Christianity is among other things a philosophy of history. All of history is moving toward a goal. God once used the European nations to advance that goal and to bring healing to the world. But in the present time we are seeing a redistribution of the world’s Christian population. The energy and the vision for a redeemed world lies no longer with Europe but with those nations where the church is alive.
We ought to be interceding for the spiritual health of Europe. One can mention judgment only with sadness. This present week in Great Britain at least fifteen thousand Christian foreign missionaries are hard at work evangelizing the locals. Most of these missionaries are from Africa and Asia.
What a twist of history; what a twist of faith.
Riley B. Case is a retired member of the North Indiana Conference, assistant executive director of the Confessing Movement, and a member of the Good News Board of Directors. He is also the author of Evangelical and Methodist: A Popular History (Abingdon).
