The Peril of All These Secret Meetings

by

When I was a cub reporter, my editor laid one hard and fast rule on me: whenever any three of our town’s five council members were gathered anywhere, I was to be there with them. Being young and ignorant, I asked why.

“Because three out of five council members makes a quorum, which means they can take official action,” he said. “Any council action taken in the dark is bound to line somebody’s pockets, and it won’t benefit the people.”

Since that day 46 years ago this month, I have been committed to citizens’ right to know what goes on in their government. This principle includes scrutiny of church government, which has been taken over by secret meetings. The proliferation of closed meetings across The United Methodist Church since the formation of the Commission on A Way Forward has been a sure sign that the institution is rotten and ready to fall.

The writer of John’s Gospel understood the power and peril of darkness, writing in John 3.19-21:

“And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

This, then, is the test of what is true and worthy, not only in witness to Jesus as the Christ, but to all dealings among humans under God: that which is done in darkness should be suspect. This principle applies across the board, to all gatherings where one group of humans makes decisions for others. Yes, even if those involved believe themselves to be pure of heart and upright in their dealings, the seductive cover of darkness can entice even the most righteous to evildoing.

Organizers of these secret meetings contend that it’s necessary to gather behind closed doors to avoid disruptive conflict. That rationale belongs to an empire that seeks to preserve its institution more than uphold its citizens’ welfare. As long as I’ve been a United Methodist journalist, the Book of Discipline has contained some version of current Paragraph 722, which requires that all meetings to conduct church business, from the smallest congregation to the biggest general agency, should be conducted in the open with few, well-specified exceptions. Why are those so avid for “upholding the covenant” with harsh punishments not railing against the widespread violation of this part of the Book of Discipline, our covenant of doctrine and rules?

Clandestine meetings taking place outside the confines of Paragraph 722 are probably more than we’ll ever know. Two prominent examples:

  • The Council of Bishops, seizing with impunity its “constitutional authority” to make its own rules rather than set an example for the whole church, has met mostly in secret all week. The bishops are so enamored of meeting in secret that they even threw their cloak of confidentiality over the Commission on A Way Forward. We all know now how well that turned out.
  • The “UMC Next” group, composed primarily of United Methodist movers and shakers, gathers May 20-22 at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kan., with some 500 “stakeholders” (as if all United Methodists aren’t “stakeholders” in its future). The meeting of the 500 comes after at least two more secret meetings held earlier this spring in Dallas, Tex., and Atlanta, Ga.

One coalition, UM-Forward, will hold an open meeting May 17-18 in Minneapolis, Minn. Even though this meeting is sponsored by a group publicly committed to LGBTQ inclusion in the UMC, its results likely will be more trustworthy than that of those meeting in darkness, simply because they’re being discussed openly.

Ultimately, however, all these meetings will fail – yes, even the LGBTQ-friendly ones – if their objectives are to maintain the current institution of The United Methodist Church. The UMC has gone beyond saving even by the draconian “reform and renewal” punishments of so-called traditionalists. Those with eyes to see already have discerned that God is doing a new thing on the margins of Christianity and in United Methodist congregations far from power centers. Those with institutional religious authority are either clueless to these changes, or are consumed with fear and trying desperately to preserve their power. Therefore, it behooves those among us who see clearly to heed the Apostle Paul’s words in Ephesians 6.12:

“For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Our path forward must follow more closely Jesus’ greatest commandments, to love God with all our being and to love our neighbors as ourselves. If we build our future on these instructions, we’ll live in the light and we’ll shed God’s light of love all around us, which ought to be our purpose as Jesus’ disciples. That’s something no secret meeting can accomplish.

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011 after four decades in secular and religion journalism.