wfn.org | Students try less rancorous ways of discussing homosexuality

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

June 3, 1999  News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.    10-21-28-71B{314}

NOTE: This report may be used as a sidebar to UMNS story #313. 

By Tom McAnally*

OKLAHOMA CITY (UMNS) -- United Methodist college students are trying to
model for their elders how to avoid hostility when dealing with emotional
social issues such as homosexuality. 

The annual Student Forum of the United Methodist Student Movement, meeting
at Oklahoma City University May 27-30, included guest speakers, workshops,
prayer, small covenant groups, music, worship and an afternoon of community
service. It also included a time for the 251 students to consider six
resolutions, two of them dealing with homosexuality, a topic that has
confounded church members for at least 25 years.

Each annual event since the UMSM was founded in 1996 has been marked with
hostility and anger as students have debated issues related to
homosexuality. This year, leaders were determined to avoid such rancor
without sacrificing the organization's prophetic role. 

The process began with resolutions from individual students sent to the UMSM
office in Nashville and then distributed to participants in advance and
posted on the movement's World Wide Web site.

"We believe that Christians may discuss important issues without acrimonious
debate and traditional parliamentary maneuvering, which can divide a group
into contending factions," UMSM leaders said in a statement accompanying the
resolutions. "We want to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit in all
things, and avoid making decisions in a fashion which leaves some feeling
like winners and others like losers. " 

The process included a session for clarification followed by caucuses of
students who supported or rejected the resolution and those who were
undecided. At each caucus, two members were chosen to serve as spokespeople
in a later plenary session where all points of view could be expressed. This
dialogue or "conferencing" took place  in front of the entire assembly, but
only  eight designated representatives were allowed to speak.

The session was moderated by UMSM steering committee chairman Ben Heavner,
of the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash. The conferencing was a
microcosm of debates on homosexuality throughout the denomination. Some
students argued that the practice of homosexuality is a sin and should never
be approved, while others argued that it is a gift of God and that the
church should support loving relationships between two people of the same
sex.  

After the conferencing, students gathered in one of five geographic U.S.
jurisdictional settings where they voted, without discussion or debate, for
or against the resolution or as "still discerning."

Two-thirds of the total votes were required for approval of the resolution.
Heavner described the statement as a "snapshot in time" that was not
intended to represent all college students.

Not everyone was enthusiastic about the process. Some grumbled that the
steering committee was attempting to stifle debate and determine the outcome
of the vote.   

"It is hard to evaluate an experiment while you are in the middle of it,"
Heavner observed after the votes were announced. Yet, he was clearly
pleased. "There wasn't a feeling everyone was trying to kill each other, and
that has been a change."

The students drew praise from the Rev. Donald Shockley, campus ministry
executive of the church's Board of Higher Education and Ministry. In his
final comments before retiring, Shockley commended them for their efforts
and said they have the potential of leading the United Methodist Church
"through its present troubles."

Noting that conflict is not new to the church, Shockley applauded the
Student Forum for not becoming a political legislature or a debating society
where there are winners and losers. "Keep trying to move away  from systems
not suitable for the body of Christ," he urged.

Early in the meeting, the Rev. William Abraham, a faculty member at Perkins
School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, drew applause
when he stressed the importance of distinguishing between people and their
acts, a direct reference to the issue of homosexuality. "You can love people
without agreeing with what they do," he said.

He also related a story of John Wesley, Methodism's founder, who in 1732
ministered to a man imprisoned for "homo-erotic activity" by visiting him,
providing legal counsel and protecting him from attack.  

Of the two resolutions dealing with homosexuality, one calling for UMSM to
become a "Reconciling Student Movement" was approved with only one vote
beyond the required two-thirds total of 143. The other resolution, calling
for the elimination of negative language about homosexuality in the church's
Book of Discipline, fell far short of the necessary two-thirds vote.

The approved resolution says the Book of Discipline establishes a framework
for becoming a reconciling movement by calling for a "fellowship that
enables reconciling relationships with God, with others and with self." 

"By becoming a reconciling student movement, we can further this goal," the
resolution said.  "Moreover, we affirm the value of life and baptism for all
persons regardless of their sexual orientation."

A sentence was added saying that adoption of the resolution does not
necessarily align the Student Forum with the Reconciling Congregation
Program, which has offices in Evanston, Ill. Reconciling Congregations is a
coalition of United Methodist churches and organizations that publicize the
fact that they are open to the full participation of all individuals,
regardless of sexual orientation.

The resolution that failed sought to strike all language from the Book of
Discipline that "excludes lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people
from the leadership and ministry of the church, and thereby accept God's
call to people of all sexual and gender orientations to a community of faith
and leadership in the United Methodist Church."

The resolution proposed deletion of  prohibitions against same-sex union
ceremonies and a phrase in the Social Principles that says the practice of
homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching."

The four approved  resolutions expressed grief for acts of violence (see
UMNS story #313); authorized a UMSM Mission Fund; established a partnership
with United Methodist students in Russia; and endorsed Jubilee 2000, a
campaign to forgive the debts of poor nations.  

Complete texts of the resolutions may be found on the UMSM web site:
www.umsm.org/studentforum.html. 
#  #  #
*McAnally is director of United Methodist News Service, the official news
agency of the denomination with headquarters in Nashville, Tenn., and
offices in Washington and New York.

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United Methodist News Service
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