The six-session DVD video series, Faithful and Inclusive: The Bible, Sexuality and The United Methodist Church, portrays a moderate to progressive view of the current somewhat schismatic debate about homosexuality within The United Methodist Church. The series’ strength is its ability to examine the Bible (Scripture) and the texts touching on the subject of homosexuality from a United Methodist understanding of Scripture honoring Scriptural authority as reflected in tradition, reason and experience, known commonly within Methodist circles as the Wesleyan “quadrilateral.”
Faithful and Inclusive
The cover of "Faithful and Inclusive." (Image Courtesy of Rob Fuquay).
The author, the Rev. Rob Fuquay, senior pastor of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church of Indianapolis, one of America’s largest United Methodist congregations, presents the series believing that United Methodists can be completely faithful to the authority of Scripture and fully inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community in the life of the church. Early in the first of six 50-minute session, Fuquay clearly points out that United Methodists do not believe in the inerrancy or the infallibility of Scripture but pays close attention to the context in which Scripture was written honoring Scripture for being authoritative in its foundation of the Christian faith.
From the beginning, Fuquay asks participants viewing this series in a classroom-type atmosphere to respect the views and opinions of others in the room being sensitive to the fact that there may be many opinions among participants. Reasoning together seems to be a hallmark of the series.
Fuquay begins the first session explaining how United Methodists study Scripture using the Wesleyan “quadrilateral” of authoritative Scripture, the traditions of the church, reasoning through how the passage of Scripture was presented through the culture of the time in which it was written and how we experience Scripture in our own life and culture some 3,500 to 2,000 years later.
The second and fourth sessions deal respectively with the Old Testament and the New Testament and its passages pertaining to homosexuality. These sessions point out the importance of understanding the differences in dealing with Jewish (Old Testament) Scriptures and thoughts originally written in Hebrew and early Christian (New Testament) Scriptures written originally in Greek. Fuquay also says the word “homosexuality” itself is a word that only appeared in English literature around 150 years ago and was mistranslated into English translations of the Bible. The whole concept of sexual identity was only developed during the twentieth century.
Fuquay warns in the third session that our own culture influences the way we even read and understand Scripture in the present. We must always be mindful of the cultural context of when the Scripture was written.
For me, the fifth session, “The Jesus Ethic: What did Christ say?”, is most helpful in understanding Jesus. Fuquay compares the words and actions of Jesus in the New Testament Gospels to the words of Jewish law in the Old Testament. Death was the prevailing answer to homosexual and other sexual behaviors in Jewish law. However, Jesus never condemned anyone to death for their sexual sins. At the same time, Jesus pointed out unacceptable behavior asking individuals he encounters to “sin no more.” Fuquay uses several Scripture references from both Old and New Testaments Illustrating his point and proclaiming that Jesus said nothing about homosexuality, but does say much about heterosexual infidelity. Other New Testament passages attributed to Paul also are examined.
The sixth and final session explains how United Methodists at the global legislative level of the denomination has wrestled with this issue for more than 45 years without resolve. He then asks participants to openly discuss where they are in their thinking on this issue relating to the acceptance or non-acceptance of homosexual behavior among faithful, monogamous same-gender relations and marriage. Fuquay reports that denominational leaders seek a resolution to this theological and social impasse as they approach the next General Conference, the top legislative body of the denomination, by this coming spring.
Two aspects of the series present in each session are the three to six breaks during each session for participants to openly express their thoughts and feelings in a safe, non-judgmental atmosphere. Questions on the screen guide these conversations. In addition to the breaks, at the end of each session two or more testimonies are shared by LGBTQ+ United Methodists or the parents of LGBTQ+ children on how they view and interact with The United Methodist Church on this issue.
The six sessions encourage United Methodists to consider their own personal views on the acceptance or non-acceptance of homosexual behavior and the full acceptance or non-acceptance of LBGTQ+ sexuality in the life of the church, calling for love to overcome judgement and laws which inhibit the openness of the church to all people. Fuquay gives witness of how St. Luke’s Church has become an open and affirming congregation using the gifts and talents of all its members regardless of their sexual orientation, striving for faithful monogamous relationships between two individuals.
The series comes with a terse eight-page leader guide tucked into the DVD case that covers everything from promotion to guiding each of the sessions. One feature imbedded in the DVD is the automatic pauses that occur at the point of each discussion period. The $40 cost plus $7.95 for shipping are reasonable for the nearly six-hour content on a single DVD. There are no restrictions on the number of times one DVD can be used. I do wish all the Biblical passages used were listed in the guide. That might be an extra benefit each leader could prepare for participants and distribute during each session.
Sponsor of the series is the Richard and Julia Wilke Institute for Discipleship. The Faithful and Inclusive DVD with leader guide and downloadable resources can be ordered online at www.institutefordiscipleship.org/dvd.
The Rev. Dr. Daniel R. Gangler of Indianapolis is a retired United Methodist communicator.