wfn.org | United Methodist panelists discuss 'nature of church'

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

Feb. 4, 2004  News media contact: Linda Bloom7(646) 369-37597New York7E-mail:
newsdesk@umcom.org ALL{034}

NOTE: Photographs are available. For related coverage of the Pre-General
Conference News Briefing, see UMNS stories #033 and #035.

By Linda Bloom*

PITTSBURGH (UMNS) - Noting that Methodism founder John Wesley often warned
about the dangers of schism, a United Methodist theologian said he considers
this year to be "particularly dangerous" to the unity of the church.

"I don't think it would take that much to tear our church apart," said the
Rev. William Abraham, the Albert Cook Outler Professor of Wesley Studies at
Perkins School of Theology in Dallas. He cited the crisis in the Episcopal
Church, sparked by the ordination of a gay bishop, as an example of the
threat to unity. 

Abraham was one of four panelists discussing issues that divide and unite
United Methodists during a session on "The Nature of the Church" at the
Pre-General Conference News Briefing Jan. 29-31 in Pittsburgh. The event,
sponsored by United Methodist Communications, was in preparation for the 2004
General Conference, the denomination's top legislative body, which meets
April 27-May 7.

Pointing out that one of the functions of General Conference is to bring
people together to dialogue, Abraham said United Methodists must recommit to
being connectional. That will involve listening to others, setting aside
stereotypes, and speaking in truth and love, he added.

Who is included and who is excluded in the church also can lead to divisions,
according to Courtney Goto, a doctoral candidate at Emory University Graduate
School of Religion in Atlanta and a director of the United Methodist
Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.

Goto, who called herself a "longtime beneficiary" of the church's policy of
inclusion, said those efforts "have helped heal the chasm that has existed
between people of color and the white majority church." But she also believes
that a "shadow culture of exclusion" can be found within the denomination.

Getting people to acknowledge "white privilege" is difficult, and it's easy
to use inclusive policies "as an excuse not to examine how power and
privilege (are) used in the church," she said. 

For the Rev. Don Messer, the Henry White Warren Professor of Practical
Theology at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, exclusion is what leads to
chasm.

Messer recalled the 1964 General Conference of the Methodist Church, where
delegates "refused to change their ways" of segregation, no matter how
visible the sins of racism and discrimination.

"The issue of excluding gays and lesbians ... cannot be ignored," he said. "I
believe that the essence of the church is inclusion."

He also believes the importance of the 2004 General Conference will not be
measured by how the denomination's book of law is revised or how many pages
are added to the socially oriented Book of Resolutions, but by how United
Methodists allocate their dollars. "The budget will reflect what the
theological nature of the church is," he said.

The Rev. Joy Moore, assistant professor of preaching at Asbury Theological
Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., said disagreement is not necessarily unhealthy,
"for it means that discussion is taking place."

But Moore, also a director with the Commission on Christian Unity, thinks
theology is being manipulated. "The story we tell becomes the substance that
defines us, but we don't tell the story of our church."

How the story is told will be different for the oppressed than for the power
brokers, but the content of the story does not change, she said.

Bishop Judith Craig, the panel moderator, concluded the session by
encouraging those at the briefing to pay attention to the Holy Spirit and be
gentle with one another at General Conference. "The nature of the church is
just that: the strength of gentle care for each other."

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

 
 

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United Methodist News Service
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