wfn.org | Theologians testify on New Zealand church property case

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Nov. 3, 2003   News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
7  E-mail: newsdesk@umcom.umc.org 7 ALL{521}

NOTE:  The following story may be used as a sidebar to UMNS #520.

A UMNS Report
By J. Rich Peck*

United Methodist theological heavyweights testified in court to help a judge
resolve property claims made by a Tongan congregation in New Zealand.

In February 2001, some members of the Otahuhu Tongan Methodist Church told
their district superintendent they wanted to separate from the denomination
after a self-professed homosexual was admitted to the ministry. They
subsequently asked a district judge to divide assets between those who wanted
to remain with the denomination and those who wanted to establish a new
church.

Among a series of arguments asking the judge to divide assets, the dissidents
said that the admission of a homosexual to the ministry involved a change in
Wesleyan doctrine upon which the church was founded. "The break means the
[denomination's] final authority is a break in the trust under which the
Otahuhu property is held," argued the dissidents. 

United Methodists testifying during the trial last summer included the Rev.
William Abraham, a professor at Perkins School of Theology, Dallas; the Rev.
Richard Heitzenrater, a professor at Duke Divinity School, Durham, N.C; the
Rev. Ted Runyon, professor emeritus of Candler School of Theology, Atlanta;
the Rev. John Cobb, professor emeritus of Claremont (Calif.) School of
Theology; and the Rev. Philip Wogaman, retired pastor and author.

The attorney for the congregation argued that in his Notes on the New
Testament, Wesley made it clear that he shares the opinion that homosexuality
is contrary to Christian teaching. He likened doctrine to the core of a golf
ball and the outer covering to the application; he asserted that both make up
the whole ball. 

Wogaman, who traveled to New Zealand to testify, argued that there was a
difference between core doctrine and how it is applied. Asked about the
comparison to the golf ball, Wogaman said he preferred to think of the entire
golf ball as the core doctrine and efforts to get the ball in the hole as the
application. "Sometimes you get the ball in the hole with one stroke and
sometimes it takes several tries," he joked.

The former pastor of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, said he
believes judgments about homosexuality are applications of doctrine and not
part of the core doctrine. Wogaman, a veteran General Conference delegate,
noted that the application of doctrine depends upon our perceptions of the
real world, and these perceptions change with new experiences and scientific
study.

Heitzenrater, perhaps the best known Wesley scholar in America, told United
Methodist News Service, "My whole point in testifying was to show that any
Methodist denomination that stipulates Wesley's sermons and notes as
'doctrinal standards' that demand strict compliance is in trouble, since they
were not designed for that particular use in a denomination with ordained
clergy."

The judge ruled on July 23 that the congregation had no basis to claim a
"stand-alone status" and found that the conference is the final authority
within the Methodist Church on all questions concerning the interpretation of
its doctrines. The judge declined to express a view on the doctrinal issue
and dismissed all plaintiff charges as well as an injunction issued in July
2001.

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*Peck is a free-lance writer based in Nashville, Tenn.

 
 

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United Methodist News Service
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