Lenten Gathering Aims for Liberation, But How?

by

(c) United Methodist Insight 2020

DALLAS – Whatever may come institutionally from General Conference 2020, participants at UM Forward’s Lenten Gathering made it clear they’re “leaving Egypt” one way or another.

The biblical metaphor of “leaving Egypt” often was employed to describe their efforts during UM Forward’s Lenten Gathering March 6-8 at Preston Hollow United Methodist Church in Dallas. Some of the 120 participants came to build a new Liberation Methodist Church in anticipation of a split in the denomination at the 2020 General Conference. Others were drawn to a newly added option, tentatively named a “Semi-Autonomous Liberation Collective,” that would work for full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons, people of color and women while staying within the denomination.

Refining vision and values

Keynote speaker, the Rev. Dr. David Hooker, continuously urged the group to look deeper into its deliberations, especially defining the values underlying a liberation theology. Dr. Hooker serves as Associate Professor of the Practice of Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding at the Kroc Institute at the University of Notre Dame.

“What is the vision of Liberation Methodism?” he asked during a plenary session. “What liberation vision drew you to this event?”

Participants gave a range of responses to Dr. Hooker’s questions:

  • “Building a new thing”
  • “Leaving the old thing”
  • “Love without limits”
  • “Created by people of color and queer folks to transform the church and the world.”
  • “A future for my kids.”
  • “Something decisive, extreme, radical, because the working system hasn’t worked.”

A participant, the Rev. Dr. Darryl W. Stephens, a United Methodist deacon and scholar from Lancaster, Pa., challenged the group’s thinking. His own congregation, Grandview UMC of Lancaster, recently voted by a 96 percent margin to disaffiliate from the denomination.

“We’ve named an eschatological vision of intersectional justice and love without discrimination, but how does that take flesh?” Dr. Stephens asked. “What institutional form would call forth that vision?”

In contrast, Dr. Hooker pressed the gathering to think about how structure can fulfill or restrict liberation. “Once you’ve left Egypt, it may not matter how long you wander because liberation was accomplished,” he said. “If there’s someplace to go, you may have passed it without recognizing it. The Hebrews spent time wandering because they weren’t suited for where they were going.”

The Rev. Dr. Jay Williams, senior pastor of Union UMC in Boston and a UM Forward leader, told a plenary that the “semi-autonomous” option was added after the recent meeting of Black Methodists for Church Renewal. BMCR was founded to promote racial justice after the racially segregated Central Jurisdiction was dissolved by the 1968 merger of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church.

Black United Methodists long have contended that their “reform from within” tradition offers a viable option to splitting the denomination. Much reaction that sparked the semi-autonomous option stemmed from opposition to the “Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation,” Dr. Williams said. A privately negotiated settlement that has since been endorsed by at least four annual conferences, the “Protocol” offers a plan for separation negotiated by a group of 16 people brought together by Bishop John Yambasu of Sierra Leone.

“The work of General Conference 2020 shouldn’t begin before General Conference begins,” Dr. Williams said. “BMCR claims that the $25 million [amount designated for a “traditionalist” church] is fuzzy math based on a wrong premise. Instead, let’s adopt a process to determine a plan for separation with transparency.”

Imagining an institutional form for liberation was easier for the “autonomous Liberation Methodist Church” group than it was for those in the “Semi-Autonomous Liberation Collective” track. Presenters of the former came well prepared with studies and papers documenting the work to date, while those who considered the recently added option of a movement within the UMC had to work from the ground up. Nonetheless, both groups struggled to come up with both content and process to go forward in their liberation vision.

Liberation Methodist Church

The Liberation Methodist Church builds upon the New Expressions Worldwide (NEW) plan of separation that UM Forward has sent to General Conference 2020 that was reviewed at a March 7 plenary. The NEW separation plan proposes to dissolve the existing United Methodist Church in order to create four new denominations: traditionalist, moderate, progressive and liberation. The separation would be guided by a Transitional Council made up of representatives from each new “stream” of Methodism. Each denomination would write its own constitution and create new structures.

UM Forward leaders have said the NEW Plan is intended to provide a completely fresh start without “ruling from the grave,” that is, carrying forward rules and practices that they think are holding the denomination back from fully embodying the gospel of Jesus Christ. The full plan is available for review.

A Liberation Movement

The “Semi-Autonomous Liberation Collective” articulated a long list of goals for working within the United Methodist structure to remove the denomination’s longtime oppression of people of color, women and LGBTQ+ persons. The Rev. Alex da Silva Souto, a UM Forward leader, said the “semi-autonomous” option also was sparked by listening to clergy and laity who long for liberation, but for many practical and relationship reasons currently aren’t able to separate from the denomination.

Some LGBTQ+ participants who asked not to be identified said that for them, the “semi-autonomous” collective model serves to separate the liberation movement from longtime advocacy groups such as Reconciling Ministries Network. They said that they felt RMN had betrayed them because its representative Jan Lawrence agreed to the “Protocol” proposing $25 million for establishment of a “traditionalist” church while allotting only $2 million for other denominations.

‘Smallest scalable model’

In a plenary titled “Bringing It All Together,” Dr. Hooker once again challenged participants to think hard about what actions are needed for fulfilling their respective versions, whether a full-blown new denomination or a movement within the existing UMC.

“List everything you think is needed to operationalize the vision. If one thing doesn’t happen, are liberation and full flourishing still possible?” he asked. “If so, cross that item off the list. Create the smallest scalable model.”

Participants expressed mixed reactions to the event’s intensive exercises and the two streams described as “fluid and porous” with one another.

Nicole Meeker, a layperson from the New York Annual Conference, said she came to the Lenten Gathering because she “wanted to determine what liberation might look like.”

Jon Pohl, a licensed local pastor from Lansing, Mich., said he came “because the concept of a Liberation Methodist Church is very appealing.

“I thought the organization would be more developed,” Mr. Pohl told United Methodist Insight. In concept a Liberation Methodist Church would be ideal but if it’s not a fully formed structure it doesn’t work for me. I have great hope for a Liberation Methodist Church, but not anytime soon.”

The Rev. Sandra Bonnette-Kim, a GC2020 delegate from the New England Annual Conference, said she came because she wanted to work to liberate the UMC. She cited two instances of exclusion that motivated her:

  • Development of the “Protocol,” which was negotiated by an ad hoc group of “only 16 people without transparency”; and
  • A coming gathering of Korean pastors of Korean churches in her conference that doesn’t include any clergywomen in planning, leadership or instruction at the event.

Rev. Souto told United Methodist Insight that UM Forward leaders reviewed the Lenten Gathering’s results during a conference call March 9. Rev. Souto reported they agreed to continue refining both approaches in preparation for whatever happens at General Conference 2020.

The Lenten Gathering marked the third event UM Forward has held since the special 2019 General Conference tightened United Methodist restrictions against homosexuality, including increased mandatory penalties for LGBTQ+ clergy and same-gender marriages. Momentum for splitting The United Methodist Church has swelled since GC2019 a year ago, with several plans being offered for how to accomplish institutional division including UM Forward’s own New Expressions Worldwide (NEW) Plan.

However, the drive toward division shifted in January with the announcement of the privately negotiated “Protocol.” Organized by Bishop John Yambasu of Sierra Leone, the 16-member ad hoc group that worked out the “Protocol” with the help of professional negotiator Kenneth Feinberg included representatives of many theological and political perspectives on dividing the UMC. However, it didn’t include members of the various United Methodist racial-ethnic caucuses, church women and advocacy groups such as UM Forward.

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