Delegates Send Message of Hope and Unity at General Conference Delay

by

Seeking to counterbalance a recent wave of negative messages about The United Methodist Church, an informal group of delegates elected to the 2020 General Conference this week issued an “open letter to the connection” that emphasizes a hopeful future for the denomination despite its teetering on the brink of schism.

The “Open Letter to the Connection upon the Postponement of General Conference” is intended to “send a clear message that United Methodists of good faith are working towards a vital future for the church,” said an email distributed by Lonnie Chafin, treasurer of the Northern Illinois Annual Conference and a 2020 General Conference lay delegate.

“Division cannot be the only response to the challenges of this moment,” said the email introducing the open letter.

Originally intended to be a statement by 2020 delegates to General and jurisdictional conferences, the letter has been kept open to be signed by any United Methodist who wishes to endorse the message. Some 250 United Methodists, mostly delegates, had signed the statement as of March 16. Among them are several people who have been active in centrist and progressive efforts to encourage a new vision for the denomination, including the Rev. Kennetha Bigham-Tsai, top executive of the Connectional Table; the Rev. Molly McEntire, Mission Training and Volunteer Coordinator for the Florida Annual Conference; the Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli, senior pastor of Foundry UMC in Washington, D.C.; the Rev. Kah-Jin Jeffrey Kuan, president of UMC-related Claremont School of Theology; and Mr. Chafin, among others.

“Division cannot be the only response to the challenges of this moment.” 

The letter opens with "Psalm 91:11: “God will command his angels to protect you wherever you go." It centers on four points:

  • “We hold in our hearts our LGBTQIA siblings and commit to the celebration and welcome of all God’s children, now.
  • “We commit to prayerfully and steadfastly dismantling the sins of racism, tribalism and colonialism.
  • “We envision and will work toward a church that is regional in structure, where United Methodists in Africa, Europe, the Philippines, and North America can do ministry based on their own cultural context.
  • “We commit to practicing Wesley’s advice—'Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike?’ Recognizing the theological and cultural diversity in our church, we commit to moving forward with a focus on the ministry that unites us.”

The Rev. Dr. Rebekah Miles, part of the team that drafted the open letter, told United Methodist Insight that the statement is meant to "affirm key parts of our shared Christian faith and our Wesleyan theology and say you can have diversity and still find unity, particularly in regard to LGBTQIA United Methodists, their families, friends and allies.

“We realize that this postponement of General Conference is hard because we still have these punitive laws in the Book of Discipline, such as a pastor being immediately suspended for performing a same-sex wedding,” said Dr. Miles, who is Susanna Wesley Centennial Professor of Practical Theology and Ethics at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University and a South Central Jurisdiction delegate from the Arkansas Annual Conference.

Dr. Miles singled out the word “now” in the letter’s first point. “I think the word now is important. We note that we’re welcoming all while we have still have such punitive laws in the Book of Discipline.

The Rev. Eric Swanson, pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Pekin, Ill., and a first-time General Conference delegate from the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference, said he views the statement as a key perspective to counter recent “disparaging” messages about The United Methodist Church, often from proponents of the breakaway traditionalist Global Methodist Church that will launch May 1.

“I feel that a lot of the messages we’re hearing have a lot of negativity, and we wanted to speak positively about the future of the church,” said Rev. Swanson. “We expressed our hearts to our LGBTQIA siblings, but we also lift up the issue of racism, and the continuing need to evolve our church.

“We still think the UMC is the best place to [pursue social justice ministry] and we wanted people to know that. Too much disparaging of the church doesn’t help anybody.”

Rev. Swanson also noted the theological significance of publishing the statement during Lent, the 40-day season of reflection and repentance leading to the celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection on Easter.

“Lent is a transformational season and not all of it is pretty,” Rev. Swanson said. “We haven’t created the letter thinking we have all the answers; there’s a mixture of humility and openness. The postponement may force us to think about what it means to be a resurrected church as we approach Easter – what it means for God to breathe new life in us individually and as a church.”

Rev. Swanson cast the statement’s plea for unity as a “continuing powerful message rooted in scripture, centered in Jesus and united in essentials.”

Dr. Miles, a longtime General Conference delegate, also noted the pain and frustration of many who want General Conference to do away with the bans on same-sex marriage and ordaining LBGTQ clergy that stem from the tenet expressed in the UMC’s Social Principles: “We hold homosexuality to be incompatible with Christian teaching” (Paragraph 162, Book of Discipline)

“We have been stuck in polity hell for a long time now and with the postponement of General Conference, we realize it is going to be longer still,” Dr. Miles said in a follow-up email. “With this letter, we wanted to share a word of hope in a time of waiting – offering delegates and other United Methodists an opportunity to share a message of support to LGBTQIA United Methodists, recommitting ourselves to a more inclusive church that seeks to overcome racism, homophobia, and colonialism, and affirming that we can be united in mission and theological essentials while still allowing greater regional autonomy and even celebrating our differences.”

In a forthright manner reminiscent of her late father, the Rev. John Miles, a longtime Arkansas delegate who was known for his colorful sayings that often moved past General Conferences past fruitless debates, Dr. Miles added in her email:

“The bad news is that we United Methodists are still up sh*t creek and the stench is just as strong as ever. But there is good news. We can see a way through, and we know that before long we are going to be in clearer waters. That’s what we are hoping, praying, and working toward.”

The letter affirms the intention of its signers not to wait until the 2020 General Conference convenes in 2024 to be about the church’s business.

“As General and Jurisdictional Conference delegates, we acknowledge that legislation is important. However, leadership cannot be relegated to legislative processes at a quadrennial meeting. Ministry is happening now! With each of you, we will do the work of Christ that will lead our church into Easter resurrection.

Click here to read and sign “Open Letter to the Connection upon the Postponement of General Conference.

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded n 2011.