Leaving and Going #UMC and #WCA

October 17, 2016

2:46 PM

UM Insight Screencap

WCA Panel

A cover photo from the website of the Wesleyan Covenant Association

In full disclosure, I was not at the initial gathering of the Wesleyan Covenant Association on Friday, October 7, 2016 in Chicago. This is not a commentary on the WCA's actions at all but the underlying conversation present in many of the UMC leaders: schism.

Right now there still seems to be a battle over who is leaving whom. It is a defense mechanism to all parties to say that "they" left "us" and that "we" did not leave but held fast to the "true" expression of the denomination. I get it. In Christianity, perhaps only in the USA, there is a bit of a stigma to leaving. Leaving looks like you quit and were a failure, and there are only a few things that American Christians hate more than quitting and failure. So no one desires to be the one who "leaves".

In the battle for language, it is much more effective to communicate that you are not "leaving" but that you are "going" somewhere. When you say you are going then it looks like you have a mission and a purpose; that you have a righteous calling that you are "going" to live into. Going is much better than leaving in part because of the assumed righteousness in "going".

From what I could see on the #WCA2016 Twitter feed, there was a lot of talk about "going". Here is a sampling of the feed:

We are here to move on, to push forward. We are moving on to fulfill God's purposes in this generation. - Jerry Kulah #WCA2016

— Kristin Mahoney (@KristyMahoney) October 7, 2016

Going on offense... Building for the Kingdom. #WCA2016

— Chris Howlett (@kyblues) October 7, 2016

@aaronjmansfield #umc folks need to keep going whereThe Spirit is &from what I seeHe was at #NewRoomConf & #WCA2016.If we ask we'll see more

— Kathy Button (@kdbutton) October 8, 2016

This is a small sample size of tweets, but a quick search of "leaving" on the Twitter feed returns a couple of responses that are about how excited people are leaving their home in order to attend the conference. The sentiment on Twitter gives the impression to this outsider that the desire of the WCA is that of "going" and not "leaving".

I don't want to read too much into the tea leaves, but I raise this matter as a point of caution that there is a difference if you say you are "going" or if you are "leaving". The WCA may feel like they are "going" but it feels like the WCA has already left.

Valendy Thumb

Rev. Jason Valendy

The Rev. Jason Valendy, along with his wife, the Rev. Estee Valendy, serves as co-pastor of Saginaw (Tex.) United Methodist Church. This post is republished with the author's permission from his blog, JasonValendy.com.

Comments (3)

Comment Feed

WCA

I was at the Oct. 7 conference. AWESOME! As last minute conference, they were hoping for 500 attendees and had 1,700! Leaving was not the thrust of the meeting. The meeting was to put a governing structure in place as we all wait for the special Bishop Commission to prayerful study and make their proposal in 2018. The one thing I kept hearing is that the speakers wished their annual conferences were as Spirit lead as our Oct 7 event. The question really is, everyone has an opinion but is it a God centered or a secular opinion? Pushing a secular political agenda has divided our church. Do we as Methodists (note: not united) have the right to have disobedient pastors and Bishops reprimanded or released as pastors of the UMC? Yes. Our church is divided. The old UMC as we knew it is gone forever. Maybe that is a good thing. The good news, we really are in God's hands, but are we all listening? Who or what are we worshiping? It is hard to tell some days. Let us all pray for our church, our Bishop Commission and ask: God's Kingdom Come, God's Will Be Done through the Methodist Church. Praise God!

Susan Hinesly, Champaign, IL more than 7 years ago

WCA

No, the WCA hasn't "left;" rather it has clearly stated some goals it would like to see achieved as the Bishop's Study Commission gets underway. I heard no one in Chicago say that they weren't open to continuing to pray for the work of the Commission. Even though many of us can't imagine what it might look like, we are hoping and praying for a mutually agreeable solution to our current dilemma.

Jamie more than 7 years ago

Having talked to a WCA attendee

I am convinced that they view leaving as an option but it is nowhere close to a finalized decision. The possibility is on the table but there is no time line because they are committed to letting the commission do its work and see what it produces as well as await the outcome of GC2018 or whatever GC deals with the commission's recommendations. They do have their sites on specific outcomes of both the commission and GC; I don't believe that if things fall short of their outcomes they will automatically pick op their marbles and leave.

Progressives have been working hard to push the church in their direction. The WCA is not in agreement with what the progressives believe or the tactics progressives have employed to achieve their goals. It is only natural this group of people should come together to make their viewpoints known just as the progressives have made their viewpoint clearly known.

I agree with the WCA assessment that it is time to put an end to the insanity surrounding the sexuality question as well as settle how the church functions. Having monitored a myriad of voices across the UMC for four years, my own assessment is there are too many conflicting and contradictory understandings of what it means to be a faithful United Methodist and something needs to give.

During GC2012 the image that best described the UMC for me was a gianourmous square raft with umpteen oars lining each side and each oar was paddling the best it knew how. In the months leading up to GC2016, the image changed to cats with their tails tied together. No organization can function indefinitely in such an atmosphere.

And when it comes to being a church that is supposed to have a specific mission, I now view the UMC as a large, nondescript gray area that believes absolutely nothing in particular because its conflicting and contradictory messages cancel each other out! And I personally have had enough--something I never thought I would say!

The United Methodist Church is in existence because John Wesley believed in a practical religion for a plain people who lived in community with each other. Currently there is absolutely nothing practical about the confusing morass of messages the UMC has to offer; trying to sort through everything is most definitely not for a plain person; and as far as living in community with each other–hat basically went out the window in 1972 when the progressives started their sexuality campaign and made it the be-all to end-all issue for the church. I now have an appreciation for why people are not choosing to become part of The United Methodist Church. Up to a point, being a Methodist/United Methodist felt like a blessing. Now I am not so sure!

Betsy more than 7 years ago