Courageous Actions
A "word cloud" captures responses to Dr. AnneMarie Mingo's question during her March 18 webinar for United Women in Faith. (United Methodist Insight Screenshot)

United Methodists Called to Courageous Resistance Amid US, International Crises

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A United Methodist Insight Exclusive

Drawing upon the witness of past generations, United Methodists sponsored two webinars March 18 and 19 calling for Christians' courageous resistance to US policies and actions that are causing domestic and international crises.

United Women in Faith held "A Call for Courageous Resisters and Moral Leaders" featuring the work of the Rev. Dr. AnneMarie Mingo, who has documented the courage of "everyday women" during the U.S. Civil Rights movement. Dr. Mingo presented findings from her recent book, Have You Got Good Religion? Black Women’s Faith, Courage, and Moral Leadership in the Civil Rights Movement, to an online audience of 250 participants.

The next day, the World Methodist Council presented a 90-minute webinar, "Steadfastness as Resistance," focused on Israel's military and political campaign against the Palestinian people in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The webinar happened to coincide with Israel breaking the ceasefire and resuming bombing raids on Gaza.

Co-sponsored by the United Methodist Church, the British Methodist Church and the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, the WMC session featured three speakers:

  • Dr. Lamma Monsour, an expatriate Palestinian scholar specializing in social science research with young Palestinians;
  • The Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, former academic dean of the UMC-supported Bethlehem Bible College; pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem and the Lutheran Church in Beit Sahour; and author of a new book, Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza
  • The Rev Dr. Sidwell Mokgothu, bishop of Limpopo District, the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and a veteran of the anti-apartheid campaign in South Africa.

'Everyday women' and civil rights courage

In the UWFaith webinar March 18, Dr. Mingo (at left) opened her presentation with a recording of a song, "Certainly, Lord," to illustrate how spirituals, gospel music and other worship practices encouraged and sustained activists during the Civil Rights movement. She described how her mother and aunt participated in public demonstrations in her hometown of Tallahassee, Florida, even though they weren't officially part of organizations such as the NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

"How did the women and young people who didn't have the protection of the civil rights groups have the courage to go out every day and do sit-ins?" Dr. Mingo asked. She said their participation stemmed from African Americans' "legacy of activism, self-determination and lived theology" arising from slavery's abolition through the era of official discrimination known as "Jim Crow" laws.

Dr. Mingo cited three virtues of resistance she found from her interviews with women who were active during the Civil Rights era.

"Freedom faith." Dr. Mingo described this virtue as "understanding the importance of the work they were doing and believing God would be there with them when they experienced the repercussions of their actions, such as registering to vote."

"They needed 'freedom faith' to get churches to open doors for (civil rights) meetings," Dr. Mingo said. "They might be bombed. They might be burned. The churches could have had their insurance revoked or their mortgage called in."

The personal dangers were even more daunting, the professor continued.

"Signing up to vote revealed where they lived; they could have been beaten, their homes bombed, their families threatened," Dr. Mingo said.

Cultivating Courageous Resistance. Civil rights era activists took small steps in their resistance to build up their strength for larger actions, said the scholar. Again, spiritual practices supported actions, such as adding verses like "We are not afraid" to the familiar song "We Shall Overcome."

Dr. Mingo told the story of Dr. Willa P. Player, president of Methodist-related Bennett College, who encouraged her students known as "Bennett Belles" to study, think and participate in civil rights actions.

"The 'Greensboro Four' – the four young men who first staged a sit-in in Greensboro, North Carolina – took action because they heard Martin Luther King Jr. speak at Bennett College," said Dr. Mingo. "Dr. King spoke at Bennett because no other institution would have him until Dr. Player invited him."

Theo-Moral Imagination. Dr. Mingo described the third virtue of courageous resistance as "theo-moral imagination" or "sight-imagination-vision, i.e., seeing injustice, imagining overcoming it, and envisioning a better world.

"Jesus said he came to bring us abundant life, but life can't be abundant with the type of injustices we have," Dr. Mingo said. "We don't need everybody on the front lines. Voter education and voter activation must follow voter registration."

The professor said the times especially call for white Christians to act. "White folks can talk to white folks (about racism and injustice) in ways people of color can't," she said.

Steadfastness as Resistance

After a prayer by the Rev. Reynaldo Ferreira Leao Neto, the organization's new general secretary, the World Methodist Council webinar March 19 opened with lengthy statements from its three speakers, beginning with Bishop Sidwell Mokgothu of South Africa. Click here to view a recording of the session.

Bishop Mokgothu noted that the 2025 observance of Israeli Apartheid Week sponsored by the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions) Movement begins March 21. He read from the organization's website, "Inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the BDS call urges action to pressure Israel to comply with international law. BDS is now a vibrant global movement made up of unions, academic associations, churches, and grassroots movements across the world."

"This year's theme is 'Resist. Rise. Decolonize,' the bishop said. "Imagine a liberated Palestine; listen to Palestinians' voices and amplify them in our pulpits and churches."

Bishop Mokgothu elaborated that his view of the Palestinian crisis was formed by three characteristics: the witness of biblical prophets, the South African anti-apartheid struggle, and Jesus Christ as a model of prophetic resistance.

Biblical prophets such as Daniel and Habbakuk proclaimed mercy and truth even in face of torture and violence, and denounced injustice and evil, he said.

"When their oppressors demanded sacred songs, they refused to cooperate and hung up their instruments," said Bishop Mokgothu. "They refused to be complicit."

The bishop said he believed Palestinians and their supporters could be inspired by others around the world, just as South Africans were inspired by Latin America liberation theology, the U.S. civil rights movement, and "anti-colonial" Africans who fought for independence from European colonizers. He said that all segments of South African society enlisted in the anti-apartheid struggle, such as the late entertainers Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela.

"We wrote slogans to inspire courage and instill bravery, Bishop Mokgothu said. "And we danced. Africans are people of song and dance in times of joy and struggle. Our dancing was an act of bravery to stop intimidation."

Bishop Mokgothu emphasized, "For many of us, steadfastness was a result of our faith in God and Jesus Christ. Jesus was a model of steadfastness.

"The grave does not have the final word; the rubble (in Palestine) is not the final word; we are a people of resurrection, and Palestine shall be free in our lifetime," he said.

Steadfastness as 'lived reality'

Dr. Lamma Mansour said she takes the story of the persistent widow and the corrupt judge from Luke 19 as a model for steadfastness as a "lived reality."

"The widow didn't receive justice because the corrupt judge was morally good," said Dr. Mansour. "Her persistence forced the judge to act."

In the Palestinian context, such steadfastness shows in Palestinians who build rebuild their homes knowing the Israelis will demolish them over and over, she said. It shows in Palestinian farmers who plant trees even though the trees will likely be bulldozed. It shows in Palestinian families who take in orphaned children.

Dr. Mansour said her research with young people shows they are redefining what resistance means for today, such as telling stories of Palestinian hardships through networks formed beyond traditional media and establishing new forms of social solidarity around the world.

The danger comes when such resistance gets romanticized, the scholar said.

"Why does the world keep expecting Palestinians to prove their humanity?" Dr. Mansour asked. "We want the world to act so Palestinians don't have to keep being resilient."

The third speaker, Dr. Munther Isaac, sparked the "Christ in the rubble" campaign of the past two Christmases by placing a Baby Jesus doll wrapped in a Palestinian keffiyeh in a manger scene strewn with broken concrete to represent Israel's attacks on Gaza.

"I'm angry and I'm appalled," Dr. Isaac acknowledged. "International law is ignored; the global church is silent at the ethnic cleansing in Gaza and West Bank and East Jerusalem."

"Maybe it was our fault to allow the western world to determine moral piety in the world, because human rights are being outlawed and we're paying the price," he said

Referring to the actions of President Donald Trump's two-month-old administration, Dr. Isaac noted that citizens are afraid of being challenged, losing their jobs and even being arrested.

"This is no longer just about Palestine, it's about our collective humanity," the pastor said.

Refusing to bow to empire

Dr. Isaac said he was "guilty of preaching hope in the midst of brutal genocide" when perhaps he should be preaching survival. He described resistance as "refusing to give in; refusing to conform to the ways of empire," including those of the United States.

"This is a time when we need to unite, to say 'no, we won't bow to the empire'," the pastor said.

Likening Trump to Herod, Dr. Isaac said the US president's proposal to annex Gaza and turn it into a money-making tourist attraction showed its idolatry by including a golden statue of Trump in its photo presentation (at right).

"No one wants to talk about this," he said.

Dr. Isaac also had harsh words for what he called worldwide Christianity's failure to hold Israel to account for slaughtering the Palestinians in Gaza.

"Can we rely on the global church in this crucial moment? The same global church that hasn't called Israel's action genocide?" he asked. "South Africa led the way in calling Israel's actions genoice, but the West dismissed it."

Dr. Isaac also cited the prophet Habbakuk as an embodiment of steadfastness because the prophet refused to despair of Israel's redemption despite its all-consuming corruption in Habbakuk 3:17.

"All politicians have failed us, so we turn to hope when it's persistence that will grant justice," said Dr. Isaac. "Our persistence is anchored in God. We insist on believing in God against all odds."

The pastor said the image of the infant Christ in Gaza rubble is an image of defiance.

"Jesus refused to give in and defeated the worst enemy of all – death," said Dr. Isaac. "We find ourselves crushed, displaced with no source of hope but we look to Jesus. Faith will help us endure and survive."

During a question-and-answer session, webinar participants asked the speakers where God is in the midst of the Gaza violence; whether hope can be unhelpful to the Palestinian cause; how to counteract Christian Zionism and whether Americans' shock at the Trump Administration's actions impedes their compassion for Palestine and other oppressed people.

Regarding the last question, Dr. Isaac said he finds Americans' reactions to the Trump Administration stem from their painful realization that the United States is an empire that causes widespread pain and destruction to other nations.

"People said Trump was sent by God to make America great again," he said "What's happening is (Americans are getting) a sense of America as an empire and they can see the suffering America has caused.

"It's time to wake up, I tell my American friends; realize America is an empire concerned about its own interests and has no real interest in the lives of others."

Cynthia B. Astle is Editor of United Methodist Insight, an online journal she founded in 2011 as a media channel to amplify the news and views of marginalized and under-served United Methodists. Please email Insight for permission to reproduce this content elsewhere.