And In This Corner...

by Kathryn Johnson,
Executive Director, Methodist Federation for Social Action

You’d think we were preparing for a heavyweight championship match and that the new Pittsburgh Convention Center housed a first-rate boxing ring rather than meeting rooms.

In this corner we have Conan the Conservative, fighting on behalf of the conservative renewal groups. Once an 86-pound weakling, he has been in intensive training and has become a real contender. Will this be the year he successfully executes a knockout?

In this corner we have Priscilla the Progressive. Priscilla has dominated the ring for decades but has lost a number of key matches in recent years. Will she rise to the challenge before her? Continue to take a beating? Rally and win a decisive victory?

The crowd goes wild! Rumor has it that if they weren’t United Methodists, betting on this match would be hot and heavy.

Not exactly what you’d expect to hear about a community of Christians called to embody God’s love.

How did we get so very polarized?

Thinking of General Conference (GC) as a battleground is nothing new. In reviewing articles written after each of the last several GCs, for example, I found "victors," people who felt pleased and hopeful about what had transpired and "victims," those who felt discouraged and demoralized. Many GC “battles,” at least according to what was written after the fact, have had clear winners and losers.

In 1972 when theological pluralism was affirmed, for example, conservative United Methodists were deeply troubled. In 1984 when a number of restrictive provisions were added to the United Methodist Discipline concerning sexual orientation, progressive United Methodists were deeply discouraged.

By the time we reached GC 2000 in Cleveland, these battles had grown to what felt to many like an all-out war among factions of a deeply polarized church.

Coming out of GC 2000, progressives were absolutely shattered, devastated by what had happened. For many, the experience of GC 2000 profoundly shook their faith in the United Methodist Church as an expression of God’s love. A number of people, both delegates and those visiting as observers or volunteers have reported that they will never again attend GC. It was simply too painful.

On the other hand, conservatives were elated and described GC 2000 as a watershed that had finally turned things in their direction. Votes on several key issues had gone their way as well as elections to the Judicial Council and the University Senate. This is not to say there wasn’t strong negative emotion present for conservatives as well, particularly around the arrests of several persons, including two bishops, during the closing days of the conference. I don’t know if the primary emotion at that point was anger or pain, but it was not an easy time for anyone.

I enjoy politics as much as the next person. And I am well aware that there is an element of General Conference that always has been, and always will be, political in nature. This is, after all, the top policy-making body of the church. It is quite natural that individuals and groups will be doing their best to convince others of the wisdom of their ideas. But what we experienced at GC 2000 was something that went well beyond the normal give and take of tussling over policies.

As a progressive, I was stunned by the organization and efficiency of the conservative effort.

The image that most aptly describes my own experience as an observer was that of watching a steamroller move through the convention center, flattening people in its path – not just once – but on several occasions. Any time I felt the breath of the Spirit moving, it felt like the air was immediately sucked from the room.

I do not want to imply that only those on the right act in ways that inflict pain. Indeed, it has been a real eye opener for me, as I have studied the interactions between the left and the right, to see the painful descriptions of experiences by those on the right at many points in the last half century.

While it is my own observation that the actions of those on the left are not usually as well-orchestrated and calculated, the end result has often been that those on the right feel disenfranchised and discounted.

This is clearly no way to “be the church.”

What can we do?

I have some ideas. And I’m interested in yours.

• Claim our common identity as followers of Jesus seeking to embody God’s love, justice and mercy. We may have different understandings of what this means, but it is the same God that we worship and the same Jesus that we follow. It is important that we do not lose sight of this fact.
  
  
• Respect one another in our efforts to live out our faith. Too often it seems that we not only disagree but that we attach motives to others that may or may not be true. It’s time that we started to believe the best about one another. Each of us, no matter where we fall on the spectrum of conservative to progressive, believes we are doing God’s will. It behooves us to try to understand what that means for one another.
  
  
• Admit our faults. We must acknowledge that our actions, no matter where we stand, have caused pain and anguish for those who believe differently than we do.
  
  
• Declare a cease-fire. Step back from the intense fighting over contentious issues and consider the human consequences of both current policy and proposed policy.
  
  
• Be open to new solutions. In the midst of our deep polarization we have become committed to deeply entrenched positions. We leave little room for the Holy Spirit to move in our midst. We need to believe that God can show us a way where once there was no way.
  
  
• Stop focusing on winners and losers, who will stay and who will go. Feeling their strength leading up to GC 2000, the strategy of conservatives was to “invite” those who did not adhere to their understanding of faithfulness to “leave the church.” This suggestion must be withdrawn. Progressives should do the same. Conservatives rightly point out that their perspective has too often been ignored and belittled. Too often have progressives had the attitude, “if they don’t like it, leave.”
  
  
• Have the courage to honestly face the tough questions. Those of us on the left tend to claim that there is room for everyone in the United Methodist Church. At one level this is true. While those on the right claim that we misunderstand Wesley’s “think and let think” sentiment, I believe a careful reading of Wesley shows that he had a firm grasp of the limitedness of human understanding and was much opposed to any one individual or group claiming to have a corner on “the truth.” On the other hand, it is disingenuous for us to pretend that our significantly different perspectives can co-exist in the church without consequence. Rather than trying to prove one side right and the other wrong we need to start with the question of how to learn from one another and to apply the wisdom from all.
  

Questions We Need to Ask
(If you ask me)

1. What do we mean when we say that the mission of the United Methodist Church is “to make disciples for Jesus Christ?” Did the UMC settle on that mission statement precisely because it is ambiguous enough for everyone to assign their own meaning? Such ambiguity would be fine if we could leave it at that. But different meanings have significant consequences.

If your understanding of “making disciples” includes believing that Jesus is the one and only way to know God, and that our primary responsibility is to bring individuals into a personal relationship with Jesus this will have obvious ramifications. Likewise an understanding of “making disciples” that includes standing in solidarity with the poor and reaching out to the marginalized will have major ramifications. Each of these understandings will shape how we allocate church resources, what mandate we give to our general church boards and agencies and what we publish in our religious education curriculum. It is not surprising that those on the right have built up their own mission sending agency and publishing house.

2. How do we understand the role of doctrine? Conservatives claim that progressives err gravely in challenging church doctrines at various points. Progressives claim that conservatives are in danger of making an idol out of doctrine. These are no small claims. And they are genuinely held. How is it that conservatives see rigorous adherence to doctrine as serving God? How is it that progressives see reinterpreting various elements of traditional doctrine as serving God?

3. What constitutes "core doctrine" for UM Christians? Conservatives sometimes scoff when progressives ask them to delineate what they mean by "classical Christianity" or "core doctrine." Yet their answer, which often includes Wesley's forty-four sermons is less than satisfying. These sermons were not written to be used as core doctrine and should not be used as such. What standards will we use to make such decisions? Where do these questions get debated?

4. How do we treat minority voices in the denomination? For years conservatives have felt like a minority in the denomination that was not listened to. Due to a number of factors including superior organizing and a changed political climate in the country, conservatives have increasing power within the denomination. Will they learn from their own history of exclusion or will they seek to perpetuate the pain of the past?

5. Given our difference, can we remain together in one denomination? If so, what must we do to embrace our differences and work together for God’s glory rather than fighting with one another? If not, how do we go about moving in different directions? Inviting one another to leave the denomination is certainly no solution. The United Methodist Church is our joint heritage, a heritage we all share and to which we believe we are being faithful.

Facing these questions requires faith, commitment, courage and trust. From my observation we have faith and commitment in large supply. Trust is sorely lacking and we could use some extra courage. I’d suggest all of us get busy showing that we are worthy of one another’s trust. And that we all get down on our knees and pray for God to give us the courage.