wfn.org | Agency must help church explore today's issues, theologian says

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Oct. 3, 2000 News media contact: Linda Green·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10- 71B{450} 

NOTE: For related coverage of the United Methodist Board of Discipleship
meeting, see UMNS stories #441 and #451.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - The United Methodist Board of Discipleship must
take on the role of helping the church get to the heart of issues involving
homosexuality and teachings about creation versus evolution, according to a
prominent seminary professor.

 Marjorie Suchocki, professor of theology at United Methodist-related
Claremont (Calif.) School of Theology, laid that charge before the board's
52 governing members during their 2001-2004 organizational meeting, Sept.
26-30.

Homosexuality and creation science are the newest issues that the church
must address today, she said.

"The issue of the division over homosexuality is not an issue of biblical
authority," Suchocki said. "Jesus spoke strongly against divorce, but he
never said a word about homosexuality." If people adhered to biblical
authority, then there would be more discussion about such practices as the
braiding of hair and the wearing of earrings, she said.

She asked why one sin is singled out more than another, when everyone sins
and needs the grace of God.

Homosexuality is not an issue of love, promiscuity or child abuse, Suchocki
continued. What is the issue? she asked. "I do not know. But you at the
United Methodist Board of Discipleship have to help us name what isn't the
issue and try to figure out what it is." 

The board is responsible for helping people deal with one another over
differences, she said. "Holiness calls us to expect contradictions and bear
one another's burdens," she said. "There are no reasons for separation, for
putting the other side down or for condemning people."

Sexuality is both a "marvelous and a scary gift," and it is very close to
spirituality, she said.  "Sexuality runs so deep in our being that it has
the power and ability to drown out reason. Maybe that is why we want to
control it and be safe from its power.

"As Wesleyan Methodists who are governed by a theology of Christian
perfection, we must find ways of dealing with one another in and through our
differences," she said. "We cannot allow our contradictions with one another
to be a reason to tear us apart."

Children are taught through television and video games that dealing with
problems requires vilifying or demonizing the other person and even killing
those who are different from them, she said. "We are called together in the
bonds of Christ and called by God to show that there is another way to deal
with issues of diversity."

Shifting to the issue of creation teachings, Suchocki described how a
grandchild was learning evolution theories in school that were contrary to
her religious upbringing. United Methodists cannot ignore the issues their
children face daily on the playground, such as creation versus evolution,
Suchocki said.

The Board of Discipleship must develop resources to help United Methodists
deal with the purported conflict between the teachings of science and
religion.

One way of dealing with the differences, Suchocki said, is to tell children
there is more than one way of interpreting text. "Wesley said it is
impossible to think right about all things, but that does not excuse you
from thinking," she said.   

She challenged board members to take a stand on things prayerfully,
thoughtfully and openly while recognizing that their views may be wrong. She
told them not to let pride keep them from learning other points of view.
"Pride is the refusal to learn from another, particularly from one with whom
you disagree," she said.

The board must find ways to help children become disciples in this world and
deal with controversy they will encounter in their schools, Suchocki said.
It also must help children understand the word of God with a clarity that
contradicts what they are learning in school, she said.

In other actions, the board members elected officers for the 2001-2004
quadrennium: Bishop Kenneth Carder, Jackson, Miss., president; Bishop
Michael Coyner, Fargo, N.D., vice president; SongJa Park, Pasadena, Calif.,
secretary, and Foye Webb, Nashville, treasurer.

Board members also:
·	Nominated the Rev. Karen Greenwaldt, a veteran staff member, as
general secretary of the agency, succeeding the Rev. Ezra Earl Jones, who
served in that position for 20 years.
·	Learned that Elna Raby, a staff member at the board for 41 years,
serving 11 of those as executive secretary for Jones, will retire in
December.
·	Approved requesting contingency funds from World Service dollars to
finance the 2000 General Conference's mandate that the board study the
feasibility of establishing a young adult ministry organization in the
church.
·	Awarded $115,240 to 11 ethnic minority local church projects.
·	Directed Carder, as president of the board, to contact the U.S.
Immigration Service to find out why visas were denied for some board members
from central conferences.
·	Mandated that the agency provide professional interpreters for
members who don't have English as a first language.
·	Learned that the office of the churchwide Shared Mission Focus on
Young People's initiative, which was continued by the 2000 General
Conference, will be housed at the United Methodist Board of Discipleship,
effective Jan. 1.

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