African Bishops Oppose Separation Plans

September 10, 2019

4:50 PM

Tim Tanton Photo by Tim Tanton, UM News

Africa Bishops 2019

Bishop John K. Yambasu of Sierra Leone addresses a meeting of the Africa College of Bishops in Mutare, Zimbabwe. The bishops said the church would continue in Africa after General Conference 2020. (Photo by Tim Tanton, UM News.)

Bishops in Africa have resolved not to support any proposed legislations or plans that may result in a split or dissolution of The United Methodist Church.

In a statement at the close of the Africa College of Bishops retreat Sept 2-6, the bishops said the church would continue in Africa after the 2020 General Conference.

“We do not support any legislation that calls for the dissolution of The United Methodist Church. We uphold our values as a connectional and worldwide church committed to ‘making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world’,” the bishops’ statement said.

President of the Africa College of Bishops, John K. Yambasu of Sierra Leone, said the bishops would not allow others to set the agenda for the church in Africa.

“We African bishops and the galaxy of informed clergy across this continent must set the agenda for the church in Africa rather than allow others to draft it on our behalf for us to rubber stamp and seal it,” Yambasu said.

The bishops said they were concerned that conversations on the future of The United Methodist Church are taking place in the United States without African representatives.

“We cannot allow a split in the global church to split up the church in Africa again. We cannot allow a split to further reduce us to second-class citizens in a church that only needs us when they want our votes,” the statement read. “As Africans, we have the right of self-determination and we have the right to speak for ourselves and determine who we want to be.”

During his keynote address, Yambasu said the future of the church is not about winning and losing.

“Christ came and died for all of us, and so the church belongs to all of us. We can agree that the debate on human sexuality is not about who wins or loses; it is about all of us winning. Nor is it about kicking others out so that we can stay in. More importantly, it is not about one group of people making decisions for and on behalf of every other group,” he said.

At the meeting, the African bishops reiterated their stance on homosexuality, noting in the statement that they agree, “as an African Church, we do not accept nor support the practice of homosexuality because it is incompatible with the teachings of Scripture.”

At the 2019 special General Conference, held this past February in St. Louis, delegates by a 438-384 margin approved the Traditional Plan, which reinforces the church’s restrictions on ordination and same-sex marriage.

Since then, several groups have developed alternate plans for the future of church, including the Indianapolis Plan, the UMCNext Proposal and the Bard-Jones Plan.

The African bishops’ statement called on the entire denomination to exercise restraint at General Conference 2020, “and work towards an approach to the human sexuality debate in ways that are humane and respectful.”

In an interview with UM News, Yambasu said this year’s College of Bishops retreat at Africa University aimed to sensitize African bishops regarding the impact of decisions on the future of the church in Africa.

“There is a kind of development of preparedness strategy for economic sustainability, functional structure and continuity of programs and ministry already on the continent,” he said.

Yambasu also spoke about the creation of five new episcopal areas in Africa in 2020.

“The placement of five new bishops was a General Conference decision and we therefore expect that General Conference through the General Council on Finance and Administration will provide the needed support for those bishops. However, in the event that funding may not be readily available, part of our strategy as a college is to develop alternative means of support or alternative ways of addressing the issue,” he said.

Ten African bishops attended the retreat, which was themed “Rethinking the African Church: A Call to Reclaim Our African Identity in Light of Changing Realities in The Global United Methodist Denomination.”

The agenda for the meeting also allowed time for the bishops to consult with whom they identified as traditional U.S. bishops.

Four U.S. episcopal leaders — Bishops L. Jonathan Holston of the South Carolina Conference; Scott Jones of the Texas Conference; Gary Mueller of the Arkansas Conference and James Swanson Sr. of the Mississippi Conference — attended the retreat.

Representatives of the Africa Initiative and Renewal Coalition also attended.

“We invited only those groups who requested to be invited. We remain open for other groups who may want to be in conversation with us,” Yambasu said.

Mueller said interacting with the African bishops had been “enlightening, broadening, humbling and, at times, convicting.

“Those of us in the West by nature so quickly try to solve problems that we don’t spend time praying and listening to God, allowing the Holy Spirit to help us discern, nor do we necessarily have the conversation we really need to have with each other,” he said.

“This time here broadened that tremendously. I think we have reached the point where there is too much harm being done to each other that it is inevitable that there has to be some sort of untangling of the mess.

“I came away with a pretty much clearer understanding about what’s important for Africa,” Mueller said.

Swanson said he attended the retreat in order to listen to his African colleagues.

“I didn’t really bring a message. What I really wanted to do was to listen and in so doing I heard some things that I felt like I needed to hear, not just with the head but also with the heart,” he said.

“One of those messages that was very loud and very clear was that I don’t think we in the U.S. understand how precious and how dear the name of The United Methodist Church is, not only to the African bishops, but to the African United Methodist people.

“It’s not just a name, but it’s a really valuable asset, the doors that name opens up, the respect it engenders in people who are not United Methodists, even the political figures, economic institutions, education institutions,” he said.

“That name carries a lot of weight in Africa and I don’t think people understand that with their hearts as well as their heads. They don’t understand what they may be losing if the African United Methodist Church loses that name.”

Eveline Chikwanah is a communicator of the Zimbabwe East Conference.

Comments (3)

Comment Feed

Who says Christianity is not exciting?

Who needs wrestling when global ideologies began clashing head on! This is an epic battle of Biblical proportions that has been building for decades. Right now, there is a better chance of the numerical decline making the denomination moot point before this is ever resolved.

betsy more than 5 years ago

African Bishops can't have it both ways

African bishops don't want to be seen as 'second-class citizens' and have Tom Lambrecht & Co. telling their GC delegates how to vote--although that's exactly what happened @ GC 2019 and previously. They insist on 'self-determination' and a United Methodist Church that supports their views on human sexuality--but when they got that @ GC 2019, they failed to reckon with the backlash of most American United Methodists who don't want Africans and a conservative minority calling the shots.

They insist on their own 'self-determination', but they don't and won't like it when Americans insist on their own 'self-determination' rather than being African pawns.

With an emerging African majority in the global UMC, of course they want to call the tune in a global power struggle. That's a form of 'reverse colonialism' when at last they get a taste of power and prestige and hanker for more--particularly when they get to call the American church on its moral lapses into degeneracy.

African bishops who are insisting on an African context for being the church have forgotten that they are bishops of the whole church. When they try to throw their cultural weight around and even threaten to walk out of a Council of Bishops meeting if they don't get their way, they're operating out of political reductionism. That makes them look slightly silly when it's so easy to see behind their posturing. Not a good move for a bishop.

African bishops would have more credibility if they clean up their act, stop threatening dissident GC delegates who fear reprisals for voting their conscience, and end fiscal shenanigans like those documented in the case of East Africa Area Bishop Daniel Wandabula.

If they want to participate in the global conversation about the future of United Methodism, the African bishops need to stop focusing on interacting with the Pied Pipers of the Lambrecht, Renfroe, Lomperis, and Boyette coalition and realize that those guys are the instigators of United Methodist dissolution, NOT the advocates of denominational unity.

In fact, Lambrecht and Boyette want out now. They want to set up their separate denomination and take the Central Conferences with them, principally to justify Robb-ing the Methodist Bank of as many dollars as they can justify squeezing from the reserves of our general boards and agencies, starting with 50% as a negotiating tactic (see the 'Indy Plan').

African bishops need to wake up and smell their Traditionalist coffee before they swallow it whole and then discover a badly burnt taste in their mouths.

Wayne more than 5 years ago

So much for the UMC witness

Bishops keep talking about! When push comes to shove we are all colonialists fighting for our turf. As a result everybody will know us for our lack of love for each other and our concern for who gets the biggest piece of the financial pie that the UMC has become! It always becomes about money and power--even within the church! It was a badly handled power struggle between leadership and traditionalists that was full of missteps, miscalculations and underestimations by everybody concerned that has created the current stand off. Luckily we have a God who is above all this and His redemptive truths stand firm.

betsy more than 5 years ago