How We Can Build a United 'Way Forward'

A Perspective from an African Clergy

by

A United Methodist Insight Exclusive

In a world torn apart by conflict in so many places, our denomination has also been torn apart by conflict and we need to rethink our mission and purpose. When we stand at the crossroads, reconciliation is the theme that demands constant consideration in ways that relate to the context in which we live. For Christians it is a subject at the center of our faith.

Immediately we put it in this way we recognize that this is a claim that has social and political consequences, as well as some more obvious interpersonal ones.

It would be a theological travesty if we tried to give an account of the Christian doctrine of reconciliation in a way that confined it to the realm of personal piety and relations, or to the sphere of the church. If there was ever a theological theme that had to be developed in relation to the world in all its agony and hope, this is that theme.

The Christian doctrine of reconciliation presupposes a particular understanding of what it means to be a human person, and this in turn is fundamental to what is meant by the church as the community of reconciliation. The society of humanity means that we only exist in relation to others, something also expressed in the word UNHU that is repeatedly used in my Maungwe community (a part of the Mashona People in Eastern Zimbabwe), and this can help us build the process of reconciliation. Unhu is all about human dignity, respect, self-control and how you relate with your community. It also has to do with how you treat strangers. That is generally how your UNHU is judged.

Embracing the 'other'

This means that we come into being as person through encountering and embracing the “other” whether neighbor, stranger or enemy. In this encounter, God confronts us with an ethical choice that determines whether or not we become truly responsible human beings.

This, in turn, becomes a precondition of genuinely human relationships and the building of a sustainable community. These values will also help build a strong denomination for the people called United Methodist all over our global connection. For only within such a relationship is there a genuine reciprocity of wills. The alternatives are separation, divisions and alienation that come within western individualism. In that case there is no true appreciation of the “other” as person, or respect for the differences that distinguish the “other” from us, that is Unhu.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his sanctorum communion wrote, “God does not desire a history of individual human beings, but the history of human community; however God does not want community that absorbs the individual into itself, but a community of human beings.” This then means each person is respected as an individual who in turn carries themselves with dignity and respect and promoting the dignity (unhu) of others.

God’s primary concern, then, is the establishment of human community in which the uniqueness of the individual person is not lost in the mass but discovered in relationship to the “other.”

The truth is nonetheless that humanity is fallen, basic human relationship has been broken, and genuine community has become impossible. This is what you hear as you pay attention to the debate taking place in our denomination and that debate is dominated by United States of America voices.

Power, domination and bullying

Loudly voiced, It is the “I-YOU” relationship actualized in a sinful way through coalition and partnerships of domination. Such unity or solidarity is not genuine community, but individualistic and fragmented. It is unfortunate that most of the groups and caucuses coming out of the United States part of the connection have expressed these traits and reconciliation has become a farfetched idea. All people are talking about is "my way or the highway." The discussion is mostly about power, domination and bullying.

For those of us from Africa with our experiences of having to deal with colonial powers and domination, we became sensitive where such expressions are lauded within the church. However our own challenge also could be regarding Christianity simplistically as the religion of the west, the religious arm of colonialism, imperialism and capitalism, and propagate views about Christianity that are often mischievous. We need to get involved and engage with our brothers and sisters who may learn a lot from us, when it comes to negotiating as a survival skill. Most Africans almost always have to negotiate with and tolerate others  in our lives as a way to survive and build communities because of the diversity found in our geographical regions. Differences are a part of our life and handling them becomes more natural.

The world regards the United States as the dominant Christian nation. In The United Methodist Church, the United States is where the denomination has the biggest numbers statistically (at least as the official statistics show),  but not necessarily the footprints at the church’s door every Sunday. Even though for many of the rest of us these statistics are, at times, somewhat embarrassing.

Struggle over identity

The struggle over identity, and the attempt to construct a common denominational identity, within which other identities are recognized and respected, is at the heart of global reformation of the structure of The United Methodist Church.

The question that has to do with who is a United Methodist within the global context, a question that does not have to do so much with regional location as it does with commitment and building relationships. What do people hear us saying when we dare to speak about connectionalism? How connected is our connectionalism? I often hear references to Central Conferences being "mad" as if we from the Central Conferences, especially Africa, are just an appendage to the "real church" as it exists in the U.S. Jurisdictions. It is about time we would remind all our brothers and sisters across the connection that The United Methodist Church is as much ours as anybody else’s.

The mindset of U.S. United Methodists seems to be, "what shall we do with these Africans, or sometimes with these Central Conferences?" That mindset needs to be reframed and reformulated and start talking with respect of all of God’s children called United Methodists wherever we are geographically located. We need to begin to think as a united connectional church. If we are to keep our unity in the process of reforming who and how we are a global denomination, we must focus on our pride and value. This is a gift we cannot sacrifice on the altar of "othering."

I urge our commission on way forward to think deeply on ways we can stay together as a global connection respecting our differences and keeping our fundamentals of preaching the gospel to make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. I call the church to reconciliation and healing so that we can move forward.

The Rev. Lloyd T. Nyarota, a United Methodist clergyman, current serves the Sedgewick-Lougheed Pastoral Charge of The United Church of Canada in Sedgewick, Alberta, Canada.