wfn.org | Evangelicals call for move to higher ground

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March 8, 2000  News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-28-71B{125}

By United Methodist News Service

A group of evangelical United Methodists are calling on others like them to
pray for the church in advance of the denomination's legislative gathering,
and to focus not on political processes but on making disciples for Christ. 

The group has issued a statement titled "Called to Higher Ground: A
Pre-General Conference Appeal to United Methodist Evangelicals." The March 2
statement was signed initially by 28 clergy and lay members from across the
United States, and others have added their signatures on the new "Higher
Ground" Web site. They include the Rev. Wesley Putnam, an evangelist known
in evangelical circles, and Karen Covey Moore, a board member of the
Confessing Movement, an unofficial United Methodist group that emphasizes
adherence to Scripture and doctrine.

The signers are a close-knit group of people who have become acquainted
primarily by e-mail, said the Rev. James Gibson, pastor of Marshallville
(Ga.) United Methodist Church. They have no formal organization, leader or
headquarters. "We are strictly a bottom-up organization," said Gibson, who
wrote the basic document with suggestions from others.

"We are calling for a new vision for Methodist renewal in the 21st century,"
he told United Methodist News Service. "We believe that the political
solutions that have been pursued in the past have been human-driven and
maintenance-oriented, and we are asking evangelicals to pursue a new vision,
which is Spirit-driven and mission-oriented. We believe in so doing that we
will be effecting a solution to our doctrinal and theological crisis that is
biblical, compassionate and most importantly, redemptive."

The call comes at a time when bishops and others in the church are urging
United Methodists to pray during the period leading up to General
Conference. The church's top legislative gathering will be held May 2-12 in
Cleveland, and it's expected to be a doozy. Various groups are gearing up
for a fight over issues related to homosexuality, which has become the
touchstone topic for debates about Scriptural authority and inclusiveness in
the church. 

The evangelicals feel that the church is straying away from faith in Jesus
Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to transform people and overcome
sin, said one of the signers, the Rev. Robert E. Parker, pastor of East
Ringgold United Methodist Church in Circleville, Ohio. "We've become too
accommodating to the principles of the world, and we've just strayed way far
away from the principles that are outlined in the Scriptures, both old and
new."

The evangelicals said their statement was issued in anticipation of
denominational officers and leaders advocating changes in the Book of
Discipline at General Conference. The book is revised by each General
Conference, which meets every four years.

At the 1996 General Conference, evangelicals and others were "caught
off-guard" when 15 bishops signed a statement regarding homosexuality,
Gibson said. The bishops endorsed removing strictures against full inclusion
of homosexuals in the life of the church. This time, the evangelicals felt
they should take the higher ground and define the issues before General
Conference, Gibson said.

The denomination "faces a doctrinal crisis which threatens it with
dissolution," the evangelicals said in the statement. They expressed dismay
with what they view as the movement of some official entities of the
denomination as well as "a significant number of United Methodist bishops"
away from the faith. "As a result, the United Methodist Church is now in a
state of schism with the one holy catholic and apostolic church." 
In particular, the evangelicals blasted some bishops who, in their view,
"encourage disobedience to Scripture and the Discipline, undercut the
expressed will of the General Conference, and undermine the law of the
church." The criticism echoes that of other conservatives in the church who
believe some bishops are too liberal on homosexuality-related issues.
The signers expressed concern about "the lack of progress toward United
Methodist renewal." They attributed that largely "to misplaced priorities
and a lack of focus on the root causes of our doctrinal crisis." 
"Evangelicals have become overly concerned with building political
coalitions, electing General Conference delegates, and passing General
Conference legislation," they said. "Such efforts, while necessary, do not
offer redemptive solutions to the problems within our denomination."
Tightening the rules or closing loopholes in the Book of Discipline will not
bring about a redemptive solution either, the signers said. 
"We repent of our reliance on human political strategies," they said. "God
is calling us to move to higher ground: to restore our unity with the one
holy catholic and apostolic church; to renew our passion for the lost of the
world; to reshape the face of Methodism in the dawning new century through
the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which has the power to
transform sinners and to save lost souls from an eternity of death and
destruction." 
In the statement, the signers call on United Methodist evangelicals to:
·	join together in a denomination-wide Day of Prayer, from 10 a.m. to
6 p.m. March 20; 
·	"move beyond efforts to preserve a denomination built on the failed
experiment of pluralism and focus, instead, on restoring our unity with the
one holy catholic and apostolic church, a unity which transcends
denominations. We owe allegiance to the United Methodist Church only so long
as that denomination officially upholds the authority of Scripture and the
Lordship of Jesus Christ." 
·	"cease all 'dialogue' with persons and groups who reject the
authority of Scripture and the     Lordship of Jesus Christ"; and
·	"engage in active, unequivocal and unapologetic evangelization of
the lost, with    particular concern for those who, having been led astray
by the false teachings prevalent in our denomination, are now enslaved by
sinful and destructive lifestyles." 
"We will be watching closely what the General Conference does, and hopefully
they (the delegates) will be taking some action that will be favorable to
our concerns," Gibson said. "But one of the purposes of this statement
really was to issue the call to evangelicals to not be so worried about what
the General Conference does or doesn't do. We have a higher calling to be
loyal to."

The signers want to emphasize unity with the whole church, a unity that
transcends denominations, Gibson said. "Our loyalty ultimately is to Christ
and not to any particular denominational expression."

The evangelicals believe dialogues are not the answer to the divisions in
the church. Gibson said the denomination's diversity dialogues in 1997 and
1998 showed that "one group believes Scripture is the decisive revelation of
God, and the other side believes there are other revelations that transcend
or even trump Scripture. Those are diametrically opposed." Further dialogue
would only exacerbate the differences or force both sides to compromise
their principles, he said.

"Dialogue, like other political solutions, is simply not the redemptive
measure that we believe is necessary at this time," he said. "Dialogue does
not really give an opportunity for the proclamation of the gospel. It just
places the historic faith of the church on an even plane with teachings that
we believe are grievously false and erroneous."

Many evangelicals also feel that dialogues in the last three or four years
have been designed "to change the minds of the conservatives, who have been
unbending in their determination to stand by the authority of Scripture,"
Parker said. Some evangelicals fear that attempts by renewal groups to
remain in dialogue could result in some kind of compromise and a
watering-down of the Gospel message, he added.

"The primary issue is not homosexuality," Parker said. "The primary issue is
the authority of the Scripture."

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United Methodist News Service
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