Defining unity

Rev. Jeremy Smith, in his blog Hacking Christianity, talks about unity within the United Methodist Church. It is an important topic because the denomination faces a unity question at the special General Conference next February. There is also a lot of buzz around the phrase, “a new form of unity.” So what does “unity” mean?

Already, in this diverse denomination, unity doesn’t mean uniformity. There may be a standard service in the hymnal, but few churches follow it. A service in the city, at a megachurch, at a Native American congregation, in the Philippines, or in Africa will all look different. Our polity statements include multiple viewpoints. Our Covenant is not international or national, but regional. We don’t require a set of beliefs. Even our guiding Book of Discipline is adapted by regions in Africa.

Unity means Diversity in Expression, United in Mission. The One Church plan to be voted on in February allows for each region, perhaps each congregation, to set its own guidance on such things as same-sex marriage. It may be flawed, but comes close to this version of unity.

But the Wesleyan Covenant Association and related conservative groups have a different definition of unity:

A new form of unity…seeks to bless progressive conferences as they form a new denomination that can be fully inclusive of LGBTQ persons. It provides for a similar kind of unity that the UMC has with the AME, CME, and AMEZ denominations today but envisions closer cooperation on mission.

This needs a translation. AME is African Methodist Episcopal. AMEZ is AME-Zion. I don’t remember what CME is. These are black denominations that split from the Methodist Church because of slavery and racism. They didn’t rejoin when the United Methodist Church was formed in 1968. So what the conservatives are saying is: We’ll bless your departure. Unity means we’ll all treat LGBTQ people the same way – our way.

Smith gets into Girardian scapegoat theory. When the dominant power structure of a group is challenged unanimity can only be restored when all become fixated on someone who can be held responsible. When that someone (or group) is expelled those who remain forge a new social unity in opposition to those who left. But they soon need someone else to hold responsible. Smith says the United Methodist Church is right now a textbook example of Girardian scapegoat theory.

An example of this at work is the Anglican Church of North America. They broke from the Episcopal Church over LGBTQ issues. Glad we got rid of them! And one of the first things they did was ban the ordination of women.

What should we be aiming for? Smith says “diversity without enmity” – “the church does not challenge the way we look at one another and hold one another.”

Bishops recommend a Way Forward plan

I recently got an email of a press release from the United Methodist Council of Bishops and their meeting in Chicago.

I had posted that the bishops and created a Commission on a Way Forward and the commission had done its work, sending a report to the bishops. This press release noted the commission considered three plans for the denomination’s future, the Traditionalist Plan, the One Church Plan, and the Connectional Conference Plan. The release also said the bishops strongly endorsed the One Church Plan and gave their reasons. All three plans are to be presented to the special General Conference scheduled for next February.

However, this press release did not describe the three plans.

The details of the plans and the legislative proposals to implement them are still being completed. They will then be translated into the official languages of the General Conference (this is a world-wide denomination). Release is expected about July 8.

Though the Council of Bishops didn’t release details of the plans, individual bishops, in letters to their pastors, did release broad outlines. Bishop John Schol is one who did so.

The Traditionalist plan would strengthen the language against (Schol used the word “about”) homosexuality in the Book of Discipline and strengthen punishment for those who disobey.

Schol says the Council of Bishops doesn’t like this plan because of the pain of individuals and congregations as well as the disruption and distraction of church trials.

The Connectional Conference Plan allows districts or congregations to decided if they want to be under one of three umbrella conferences – progressive, centrist, or conservative. Each of these conferences could modify or reject parts of the Book of Discipline.

The Council of Bishops rejects this plan because it is based on segregation. That didn’t work well for Methodism between 1939 and 1968 when it was racial segregation. It would also take maybe 10 years to implement.

The One Church Plan allows congregations to decide their marriage policies and pastors to determine who they will marry. Each district decides who is fit for the ministry.

The Council of Bishops, says Schol, recommends this plan because it does not require congregations to think and act alike and preserves unity in the midst of differences.

In the meantime a court case over a breakaway church is proceeding. Within the United Methodist Church, though a congregation may raise the money to build a church, the denomination owns it in trust. I just learned that’s why a congregational committee in charge of the building is known as the trustees. A conservative faction, the Wesleyan Covenant Association, is providing the legal support for a congregation attempting to leave the denomination while keeping their building. They are also offering their services to any other congregation that might want to do the same. But isn’t this the group demanding obedience to the Book of Discipline on homosexuality while they defy it here? Rev. Jeremy Smith of Hacking Christianity notes:

Every church that leaves Methodism makes it weaker and easier to bargain with or hold hostage. And every church that leaves brings in more money to the official legal counsel of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, who can advertise his services to more people.

Rev. Smith notes that no matter the plan some pockets of United Methodism will continue to discriminate against LGBTQ people. All three plans allow at least some congregations or conferences to discriminate. Smith compares this to what the denomination did with women and African-American clergy.

Smith also warns that given a chance conservatives will squeeze progressives out of the denomination’s power structure. An example of that: The Western Jurisdiction (Colorado and west) is the most progressive (they even have a lesbian bishop). One proposal that might show up in a minority report suggests absorbing the Western Jurisdiction into another (more conservative) region.