The Global South Would Like a Word with United Methodists

by

Special to United Methodist Insight

United Methodism exists in a polycentric world. Polycentric means that Christianity is no longer contained in the Western world, in our case, the United States. Instead, the Church finds itself in many centers within the Global South. The coming US Regional Conference must understand and embrace this. Why? Because we need to grow again! We have let racism, which is embedded within our culture, push these voices away. We treat them as "others" and degrade their perspectives because they are perceived not to have equal wealth and political influence. If money and power are the values that govern our worldview, and in the US context it is, we need to address this idolatry. Maybe the Global South can teach us a thing or two. So, how can we respond?

First, we should refer to the national churches by their names. Ghana is not Nigeria. North Katanga is a real place and given the number of Methodists there, why don’t we know them as well as we should? Zimbabwe is not Seoul or Cebu; we need to extend respect to our neighbors by acknowledging where they are from. Understanding their contexts. Africa and Asia are not the names of countries or ethnicities. Africa alone has well over 3,000 different ethnicities alone! We need to be very specific as to whose perspective is being gifted.

The US annual and jurisdictional conferences need to repent for our failure to love our neighbors, to deeply engage in our communities, and to bring practical solutions to our communities' problems. Instead of leaning into the institutions we've established here, such as our hospitals, universities, nursing homes, and housing services, and embedding the church within them, we've pushed them away. We've made them distinct institutions outside of our denomination. And then, we act hurt and insulted when these institutions no longer engage with the annual conferences where they're located as deeply as we'd like. We need to change this approach. We must fully own our mission again! We should never outsource Christ!

When I look at the many pictures (too many) of closing churches, I see beautifully maintained buildings and immaculate lawns devoid of life. We have become an insular country where our buildings are used as “country clubs.” These buildings never reflect the celebratory nature of the Risen Christ. Where is the joy? Why is this?

We've fallen into the trap of idolatry. Instead of worshiping the Triune God, we've started worshiping money, power, property, rugged individualism, and personal responsibility. The Global South, on the other hand, has embraced the church as a community with a big C! The church is the community, at the heart of it. They openly share their faith and don’t hide their love for Christ. Meanwhile, the most effective evangelists in the US are currently atheists and secularists! We're going against God's calling. We need to learn from the Global South; their approach can be a guiding light for us.

Seventy percent of believers live outside the Western context, they have a diversity of many skin tones, and they are overwhelmingly women! The US church, despite the diversity of our communities, lacks diversity within. We have evolved into a segregated, gated-off community.

With the Traditionalists moving on, we have an opportunity to embrace our mission again of spreading Christ and engaging in love as action. We can preach the radical gospel of a table that is open and set for all humanity. Will the US Conferences finally treat the many national and regional conferences of the Global South as equals and embrace their strategies, theologies, and communal practices as our own, or are we so wedded to control through the purse that seeing their agency isn’t possible?

We are at a crossroads. I believe that this crossroads is Global in belief and practice. But we must acknowledge that there’s something wrong with the US Church, and the Global South may have some answers.

The Rev. Eric Pone is pastor of Bloomington  Hillcrest UMC in Bloomington, Minn.