wfn.org | United Methodists look back on year of conflict, successes

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Dec. 13, 1999       News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville,
Tenn.    10-21-28-30-71B{668}

A UMNS Feature
By Tim Tanton*

The close of the 20th century finds United Methodists engaged in ministry
all over the world.

Work teams of volunteers are building homes, operating clinics and schools,
and providing ministry to victims of natural disasters and war in Africa,
Europe, Central America and the United States. United Methodists are
advancing children's concerns, fighting gambling, advocating civil rights
and affirmative action, trying to save family farmers.

The church is growing in membership in Africa and Asia, despite a continuing
decline in the United States and parts of Europe.

At their best, United Methodists still exemplify the spirit of John Wesley
by spreading the Gospel of Christ and ministering to the world around them. 

However, as the church rounds the corner on a new millennium - whether the
year is 2000 or 2001 -- United Methodists seem more divided than ever on
issues such as homosexuality and Scriptural authority, liberalism versus
orthodoxy.

Homosexuality

The church's struggle with homosexuality was a big story again in 1999. The
issue that roused passions on the General Conference floor in 1972 was
equally divisive this year, with all sides as polarized as ever, if not more
so. 

The year began with more than 150 United Methodist pastors participating in
a same-gender union ceremony for two women in Sacramento, Calif., on Jan.
16. Charges were filed against the clergy members, including a group of 69
pastors in the California-Nevada Annual Conference. The Cal-Nevada group,
which has decreased to 67, is awaiting a hearing before an investigative
committee in early 2000.

Meanwhile, the Rev. Greg Dell of Chicago was convicted by a jury of his
peers on March 26 in a clergy trial for violating church law by performing a
same-sex union. Less than a month later, the Rev. Jimmy Creech performed a
similar union in North Carolina, and charges were filed against him as a
result. Creech, who was acquitted narrowly in a church trial in 1998, was
found guilty this time and punished with the loss of his ministerial
credentials on Nov. 17. 

While Creech's trial was under way, a United Methodist agency was sponsoring
"In Disagreement Charity, A Conversation on Homosexuality" in Chicago.
During the Nov. 16-17 event, clergy and lay people from both sides of the
issue gave their perspectives in a civil dialogue. A few weeks earlier, the
Council of Bishops issued a pastoral letter urging United Methodists not to
be distracted by the issue when General Conference meets in May 2000.

The homosexuality issue had other plot lines as well, including a
controversy over whether a church-related campground in Northern Illinois
had discriminated against a gay couple, and a debate over whether
homosexuals should be allowed to serve as leaders in the Boy Scouts.

The Boy Scouts issue took on an odd twist, as two United Methodist agencies
adopted seemingly opposite viewpoints. The Commission on United Methodist
Men spoke in support of the Scouts organization being able to set its own
guidelines, which currently exclude homosexuals from leadership roles. The
Board of Church and Society issued a statement calling on the Scouts to
allow homosexuals to serve in leadership positions. Lost in the confusion
was the fact that the United Methodist Church itself has no stand on the
issue. Only General Conference can speak for the entire denomination.

Meanwhile, the Judicial Council added local congregations to the list of
official church bodies that may not adopt labels identifying themselves with
unofficial movements, such as Reconciling Congregations or Transforming
Congregations. Those and other groups represent different sides on the
homosexuality issue.

The division over homosexuality was evident at a Dec. 7-9 consultation
sponsored by the United Methodist Board of Discipleship and the churchwide
Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns at Scarritt
Bennett Center in Nashville, Tenn. Biblical scholars and other church
thinkers disagreed about Scriptural authority and how it addresses
homosexuality.

General Conference

Churchwide boards and agencies, along with caucuses and other groups, spent
much of 1999 gearing up for General Conference by drafting legislation and
planning strategy. The denomination's top lawmaking body will meet May 2-12
in Cleveland. 

One of the most important items of business for the General Conference will
be consideration of an act of repentance for racism. Several annual
conferences repented for individual and institutional racism during their
yearly summer meetings. Past acts of racism led to the splintering of the
Methodist Church and the creation of the three historically black Methodist
denominations, the African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal
Zion and Christian Methodist Episcopal churches. United Methodists continue
to be in dialogue with the kindred churches on the topic of possible union.

General Conference also will consider a report from the Connectional Process
Team (CPT) addressing the future of the denomination. The CPT was formed
through a mandate by the 1996 General Conference to come up with a
transformational direction for the church. CPT members spent 1999 discussing
its work with boards, agencies and other groups in the church.

Another major item will be United Methodist Communications' request for
support for its proposed "Igniting Ministry" campaign. The media campaign
would be aimed at increasing the public's awareness of the United Methodist
Church and renewing commitment to it. UMCom will ask General Conference for
$20 million that would be spent on buying ad time on nationwide TV cable
networks. UMCom would fund other parts of the campaign.

Membership and finances

Average Sunday attendance in United Methodist churches increased slightly in
1998, while the 30-year decline in membership seemed to slow down, according
to the denomination's General Council of Finance and Administration (GCFA).
The agency's data run a year behind.

Attendance in United Methodist churches in 1998 was 3,495,641, an increase
of almost 13,000 or 0.37 percent, according to GCFA.

Lay membership dropped 40,727 to 8.36 million. This represents a decrease of
0.48 percent, one of the smallest drops ever. The addition of clergy members
and military personnel who are not members of a U.S. congregation brings the
total U.S. membership to 8.4 million. The church has an estimated 1.2
members in Europe, Africa and Asia, and growth is strong in Africa and Asia.

Income at the denominational level for the first 11 months of 1999 was up 3
percent over the same period the year before, according to GCFA. That
includes all the apportioned funds and the six Special Sunday offerings.
That doesn't include local church and conference giving.

The financial picture had other bright spots also. United Methodists were
generous in giving to church-related work at Africa University in Zimbabwe
and to ministry in other parts of the world. Some annual conferences and
church agencies got a boost from the disbursement of money related to the
resolution of the Pacific Homes bankruptcy case. The Board of Pension and
Health Benefits made progress with its turnaround while posting strong
investment returns.

Relief work and social action

The church responded swiftly and generously in situations of disaster in the
United States and around the world. The denomination provided relief to
earthquake victims in Colombia, Turkey and Taiwan. Victims of hurricanes,
tornadoes and floods throughout the United States continue to receive aid in
the form of money, supplies and volunteers. The United Methodist Committee
on Relief and Volunteers-In-Mission teams were all over the globe.

United Methodists also acted to provide relief and the peace of Christ in
war-torn areas. Specific ministries helped refugees and victims of the
violence in countries such as Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and
Sierra Leone, to name a few.

During the Kosovo conflict, the Rev. Jesse Jackson led an interfaith team of
clergy members, including United Methodist Bishop Marshall L. (Jack) Meadors
Jr., to Serbia to win the release of three captive U.S. soldiers. After the
hostilities, a delegation of bishops' spouses visited Kosovo to observe
UMCOR's work and to develop strategies for church relief around the world. 

Children's concerns and ministries continued to be a focal point for the
church. During annual conference sessions, church members raised money for
the Bishops' Initiative on Children and Poverty and the Hope for the
Children of Africa appeal. About 9,000 young people attended Youth '99 in
Knoxville, Tenn., for worship, fellowship and deepened commitment to God.

The need for addressing the problems of children and youth was driven home
by the shooting of more than a dozen students at Columbine High School in
Littleton, Colo., as well as acts of violence against kids elsewhere. In
those situations, and during tragedies such as the collapse of the bonfire
at Texas A&M, United Methodist clergy and lay people ministered to the
victims and the traumatized communities.

Acts of violence shocked the church and the nation throughout the year. A
white supremacist from Indiana went on a Fourth of July weekend shooting
spree that left several people wounded or dead. Among the dead was Won-Joon
Yoon, who was shot as he walked to church in Bloomington, Ind. Church
leaders raised their voices in denouncing the violence.

The church became more outspoken in 1999 on the crisis facing family farmers
and rural communities in the United States. Events were held around the
country to hear testimony from people and to develop strategies for dealing
with the life-changing problems facing these areas.

Efforts to legalize or expand gambling in several states met with resistance
from church organizations. United Methodists campaigned against gambling,
which is discouraged by the denomination's Social Principles. Church members
went into action on other issues also. Those included supporting efforts to
ban the use of Native American logos in sports and to halt U.S. Navy target
practice on Vieques in Puerto Rico.

United Methodists were in ministry throughout Africa during the year. Work
included erecting new buildings at Africa University and providing an
endowment for a university press; providing support to AIDS orphans in
Zimbabwe; supporting schools in Mozambique; planning church expansion in
Uganda and East Africa; and placing missionaries throughout the continent.

Church growth continued in Russia, Estonia and elsewhere in the former
Soviet Union.

More than 500 United Methodists gathered in Dallas during August for the
National Hispanic Consultation. This meeting, the second of its kind in 20
years, brought together Hispanic Methodist church leaders from the United
States, Puerto Rico, Cuba and elsewhere to celebrate their past and focus on
the future.

Ecumenism

United Methodists provided leadership during the World Council of Churches'
Eighth Assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe, in December 1998. The council acted on
a wide range of issues, including debt forgiveness for impoverished
countries and women's rights. The United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries contributed $1.5 million to endow a chair in mission at the WCC's
Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland.

A sizable contingent of United Methodists participated in the World
Methodist Council's Executive Committee meeting in Hong Kong during
September. Two months later, United Methodists joined with other members of
the Wesleyan family to celebrate Jesus Christ as the hope for the new
millennium at a WMC event in Houston.

The National Council of Churches celebrated its 50th anniversary in
November, barely a month after a United Methodist agency halted funding
support because of concerns about the NCC's budget problems. On Nov. 12, the
Rev. Andrew Young of the United Church of Christ was elected president of
the NCC, and the Rev. Robert Edgar, a United Methodist academician and
former congressman, was elected top staff executive. Both take office Jan.
1.

The Consultation on Church Union, which includes the United Methodist Church
and eight others, adopted a new name and hired two staff executives. The
member communions voted to enter into a new relationship, "Churches Uniting
in Christ," which would be celebrated in 2002.

Obits

Methodism lost key figures during 1999 and the last weeks of '98, including
Lord Soper, 95, familiar fixture in London's Hyde Park, Dec. 22, 1998, in
London; Carrie Lou Goddard, 87, Christian educator, writer, and teacher,
Feb. 25 in Nashville; Harry Blackmun, 90, retired Supreme Court justice,
March 4 in Arlington, Va.; Roy Fisher, 80, former newspaper editor and
former director of United Methodist Communications, March 25 in Evanston,
Ill.; Jorge Gonzalez, 66, clergyman and educator, April 7 in Atlanta;
Lawrence Lacour, 92, former staff executive of the former General Board of
Evangelism of the Methodist Church, May 3 in Tulsa, Okla.; Richard Reeves,
79, key supporter of Africa University, June 2 in Springfield, Ill.; Leon
Hickman, 98, former Judicial Council member, June 10 near Pittsburgh; 

Also the Rev. Tullulah Fisher Williams, 45, leader in Black Methodists for
Church Renewal, June 20 in Evanston, Ill.; the Rev. Allen M. Mayes, 79,
former staff member of the church's Board of Pension and Health Benefits who
led opposition to South African apartheid, June 26 in Beaumont, Texas; D.W.
Brooks, 97, businessman whose service to the church earned him the title
"Mr. Methodist," Aug 5 in Atlanta; W. Maynard Sparks, 92, former Evangelical
United Brethren Church bishop, Aug. 17 in Sacramento; Don Holter, 94, the
oldest United Methodist bishop, Sept. 11 in Prairie View, Kan.; and the Rev.
Frank Baker, 89, leading authority on Methodism, Oct. 11 in Durham, N.C.
# # #
*Tanton is news editor for United Methodist News Service, based in
Nashville, Tenn.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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