This blog will be a forum for ongoing thoughts about religion and social change. While I expect to address a range of interests, the current focus is division within the United Methodist Church (UMC) as it reflects division within Christianity and society itself. The UMC is at a breaking point over the place of LGBTQI persons, with official policy prohibiting their ordination and marriage. Strong forces within the church argue for that policy to be retained and equally strong voices call for it to be overturned.
The UMC is in the midst of heightened activity around this issue. At the request of the 2016 General Conference, UMC bishops appointed A Commission on a Way Forward, which is charged with finding enough common ground for us to remain “United” Methodists. Other bodies are addressing the election and consecration of Karen Oliveto, a legally married lesbian, as a UMC bishop in 2016. Over the past year, conservatives have established the Wesleyan Covenant Association, while LGBTQI clergy have formed the United Methodist Queer Clergy Caucus (UMQCC). These organizations join existing conservative and progressive caucuses, such as Reconciling Ministries Network and Good News, lining up against each other with competing versions of God’s truth.
The internet is abuzz with news and conversation around these developments, so why add another voice? As a middle child, I was the peacemaker in the family, and that is a role I often step into as a college chaplain. In my research as well, I look for common ground that will allow us to remain one denomination. Specifically I ask: what is at stake for people on both ends and the many places in between?
The current situation illustrates different responses to social change. In such times, there are those who wish to “conserve” the institution as it has been in the past and who see change as the overturning of sacred order. Others drive the institution forward, embracing change as inevitable and beneficial “progress,” thus my use of the terms conservative and progressive to refer to these movements. Most United Methodists, I suspect, are in the middle – willing to ride out the wave of change without pressing forward or dropping anchor.
I explore these dynamics in my book, We Shall Not Be Moved: Methodists Debate Race, Gender, and Homosexuality, where I compare our current impasse to historical restrictions on the leadership of African Americans and women and the rhetoric that reveals similar resistance to change. A blog allows me use that analysis to explore this rapidly changing situation.
I look forward to your comments as the conversation continue.
I’m looking forward to your posts, Jane. 🙂
Hi Jane. I came across your blog from Facebook. I had not realized there was this division among the United Methodists. Thoughts that came to mind reading this…. What are the common values among all United Methodists? If all step back from the dividing issue and find that common ground, maybe the division looks smaller. Should we love each other as we love ourselves? Do we restrict who we carry God’s message of love to? Do we only listen for God’s love from those who look and act and feel like us? As my friend says, sometimes the questions are more important than the answers.
Hey Jack – thanks for your comment. There a number of folks who are focusing on common beliefs and values within the body, and hopefully those voices can prevail. For most conservatives, core values include fidelity to scripture, so there is resistance to interpreting certain Bible passages within modern understandings of sexuality.