Consensus

June 11, 2019

Annual Conference starts tomorrow. For the next four days Mel Hansen-Holloway and I will be representing Saxapahaw United Methodist Church as we worship, fellowship and conduct the business of the Conference. The business includes adopting future goals, programs and budgets, ordaining clergy, and sharing stories.

Every four years the business also includes voting for General Conference delegates – work we will be doing this year. This is always difficult, but this year it feels especially painful. I have two lists: one includes the names of those clergy and laity who are “fully vetted evangelicals who are in full support of the Traditional Plan;” the other includes the names of those who “believe the Traditional Plan does not reflect the future God desires for us as the body of Christ.” Both lists include people I love and respect – people who deeply love God and live lives of faithful discipleship – people who are kingdom builders. And yet we remain deeply divided on the issue of homosexuality.

Last week our Church Council met to reflect on the things we, as the leadership of the congregation, can all agree on. It quickly became clear that we all long to know Christ and make Christ known, and we long to do this together – embracing our diversity and recognizing that our differences make us stronger. We acknowledged our fear of change and our fear of losing people we love.  We also agreed that we would much rather work toward consensus than take a vote.

Consensus building is based on both participation of all stakeholders and ownership of decisions. It is up to the stakeholders – that means you! – to participate. Consensus is reached when every voice has been heard, every effort has been made to find common ground, and everyone agrees that they can live with whatever is proposed. This is much harder than voting. It also feels so much more faithful.

So I ask: Will you commit to praying for our Annual Conference and for our congregation as we seek to be faithful to the One who loves us and calls us friend?

New Saplings

June 7, 2019

Just a few weeks ago (May 20 – 22, 2019) over 600 United Methodists from Annual Conferences across the United States gathered in Kansas City at Church of the Resurrection[1] for a three-day conference called UMCNext. All of those who gathered were united in their opposition to the Traditional Plan, which retains the church stance that the practice of homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching” and strengthens enforcement of church bans on same-sex weddings and “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy.

The participants who gathered agreed to four commitments:

• To be passionate followers of Jesus Christ, committed to a Wesleyan vision of Christianity.
• To resist evil, injustice and oppression in all forms and toward all people and build a church which affirms the full participation of all ages, nations, races, classes, cultures, gender identities, sexual orientations and abilities.[2]
• To reject the Traditional Plan approved at General Conference 2019 as inconsistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ and resist its implementation.
• To work to eliminate discriminatory language and the restrictions and penalties in the Book of Discipline regarding LGBTQ individuals.

This meeting is just one of many similar meetings that are happening across the United Methodist Church as we seek a faithful way forward. I admit that I was hoping for something more than these four commitments. I’m ready for some clarity. I want a plan.

Rev. Tyler Sit, the openly gay founding pastor of New City Church in Minneapolis, and a participant in the UMCNext Conference, likened what happened at the 2019 special General Conference to a giant, old tree that has fallen in a forest, leading to new saplings starting to grow and reach for the light.[3] I love this image of new life coming out of death and decay – it is so full of hope and promise. It also helps me recognize that is too soon to know which of these new saplings will end up thriving – and it may be more than one! So for now we need to nurture all of them, trusting the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us and even in spite of us to show us the faithful way forward.

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[1] Adam Hamilton is the lead pastor at Church of the Resurrection, which is the largest United Methodist Church in the United States. Over the years many of us have read books and participated in studies he has written.

[2] If this language sounds familiar it is because these words are very similar to our baptismal vows.

[3] You can learn more about the conference at https://www.umnews.org/en/news/planning-new-directions-for-the-church