Humpty Dumpty Cant Be Put Back Together Again
Editor's Note #1: Welcome Wesleyan Covenant Clan Readers! Nosotros've been linked by their recent blog post. If you'd similar to know more almost your system, click here for all of our writings on the WCA, including our massively pop articles like these:
- Selling "Confidence," the WCA reframes the UMC crisis they created
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Editors Annotation #2: Here'due south a counterpoint to the below commodity: By the Numbers: How the Resistance tin can Remain in the UMC.
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The post-obit is an original essay sent in by a United Methodist elder and seminary professor in Texas. Splitting or staying together is an emotional subject correct now, and I appreciated the breadth and depth of this treatment of the topic, even if I'chiliad not as firmly in the "we must carve up" camp equally this author is.
If this is too emotional a topic for yous correct now, feel gratis to come back to it later when it can be better digested. And if you lot take a counterpoint to the below, yous are welcome to submit your own commodity according to these guidelines .
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Humpty Dumpty Tin't Be Put Back Together Again: Why the United Methodist Church Must Separate
O. Wesley Allen, Jr.
Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics
Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University
The Full general Conference of the United Methodist Church has been arguing about homosexuality for about a half a century, nigh 20% of the time the Methodist church in America has been in existence. Every bit the years accept passed, the split up in the denomination has become deeper and deeper. Rumors and suggestions of schism bubbled up from fourth dimension to time, especially starting in 2004 when some conservatives suggested the possibility of an "amicable separation." At that fourth dimension I, as a progressive who represented no one but myself, wrote a short piece for the Christian Century agreeing with those voices in the Confessing Movement that the fourth dimension had come to consider such a possibility ("Let'south talk theology: How Divided are United Methodists?," June fifteen, 2004), but the vast majority of those on the left and in the denominational bureaucracy would not even engage in such a conversation.
In the 2016 General Conference, the division had become became so strong…and so ugly…and so dysfunctional…that no force practical past Robert's Rules of Gild could help the denomination become any real work done. Division (and not an amicable one) seemed inevitable, but the body tried to utilize ane last driblet of superglue to the denomination in the near desperate and unlikely of strategies: beg the bishops to pb the church into a way forrad.
So in good episcopal style, what did the Council of Bishops practice? They passed the buck. Maladapted to leading every bit a grouping, they formed the Committee on the Way Forward. The Commission spent months to nowadays iii models that anybody already knew were our basic choices (albeit details were spelled out in new ways): the Traditional, One Church, and Connectional plans. And then the bishops voted to back up the I Church Program…well, sort of. The bishops would non (i.due east., could non) do the piece of work of coming to a signal of full consensus to lead the church. The moment the Council of Bishops decided to bring all iii plans to the General Conference, farther disharmonize was inevitable. Then the moment the Judicial Quango determined other proposals on moving frontward could be submitted for consideration (ultimately adding a modified Traditional Plan and a Simple Plan to the mix), anarchy was inevitable. While the middle and the left of the denomination were filled with hope rooted in holy deprival, the right was organizing…to win and/or to leave.
Supporters of the I Church Plan voted for unity in the midst of disagreement. They (we) hoped information technology could be acceptable to all (or at least enough to hold the bulk of the denomination together) because it allowed persons, congregations, and conferences to make decisions about homosexuality at the "local," contextual level. Merely it could not be acceptable to those on the correct considering it still asked them to be in communion with gay ministers, churches performing gay weddings, and (most of all) a lesbian bishop. The centre and left came to St. Louis to vote for unity and inclusion (social holiness), but the correct came to vote for purity (personal holiness). Purity won the vote of the day, but, as nosotros shall see, it cannot win completely. So now split is not only inevitable, information technology is necessary.
A Demographical Argument for Splitting
Neither side tin win this battle in the fashion they want. The moderates and progressives may be a vast majority in the context of the United states of america, but in a global denomination, they are a pregnant minority. Some centrist and progressive voices keep lamenting how close the vote was, merely it really was not close at all. In today'south cultural climate, whatever political leader would dear to have the kind of margin nosotros saw at General Briefing (especially given that a number of international delegates were denied visas and likely would have added to the margin of victory). Moreover, the number of international delegates to future General Conferences will proceed to increase while U.S. delegates decrease. In no fourth dimension in the near futurity will the numbers add up to the moderates and progressives having enough of a majority to modify the denomination's stance on homosexuality. This is why the possibility of the Judicial Council ruling in Apr that parts of the Traditional Plan are unconstitutional does non actually diminish the victory the traditionalists won.
On the other paw, the conservatives practice non have enough support to attain the level of purity they seek either. They tin can keep the official language prohibiting homosexuality in place (and strengthen it or expand upon it) forever, merely they do not have a wide plenty majority to modify the constitution to put in place the kinds of accountability and penalties they are calling for. Thus, in no foreseeable futurity will they be able to strength the Western Jurisdiction to remove a lesbian bishop, Boards of Ordained Ministry to exclude homosexual candidates for ordination, or bishops to punish clergy for presiding at same-sex weddings.
We are left with the worst sort of stalemate: the Traditional Program is in effect in denominational law while in parts of the denomination the One Church Plan (or the Unproblematic Plan) is being skillful in dissimilar congregations, conferences, and jurisdictions of the church building in parts of the U.S. and Europe. All the while each side demonizes the other. Ecclesial disobedience volition more and more than become the new norm for the progressives, and the conservatives will cry foul with louder and louder voices. Meanwhile, congregations and conferences that are moderate and/or divided will lose members and likely become existentially distant from both the left and the right.
We must split.
A Hermeneutical Argument for Splitting
I believe the left has long misunderstood the correct when it comes to the current sectionalization (thinking of arguments virtually homosexuality only in terms of social justice), and that all have misunderstood what is really at the root of our electric current sectionalization. Sexual orientation and gender identity are not the root issues. As a straight, cisgender, progressive ally, I care securely about these bug and view the bigotry against and oppression of LGBTQIA+ persons as unjust and against God'southward will (e.g., see my work with Emily Askew, Beyond Heterosexism in the Pulpit {Eugene: Cascade, 2015}). But I must also recognize that my passion about the issue does not necessitate that it is the core upshot at hand. The church's debate about sexual orientation and gender identity is a symptom of a much deeper dissever.
One might immediately presume the root outcome, then, is biblical estimation. Some read the Scripture literally, others do non. Some read passages related to sex activity with people of the aforementioned gender as eternally relevant and others encounter them as outdated, based on their ancient cultural context.
Speaking more broadly, the hermeneutical separate is related, on the one side, to UM evangelicals calling for orthodoxy. By "orthodoxy" they mean adherence to classic, traditional expressions of the Christian faith equally literal (inerrant?) Truth—accented Truth with a capital T. Progressives, on the other manus, agree the aboriginal expressions of the religion as authoritative simply also as culturally-bound expressions that require translation into electric current idiom to be relevant and meaningful.
The conservative utilize of "orthodoxy" is pejorative in that information technology implies anybody else is heretical, and I am unwilling to accept that every theological position that follows the lead of Schleiermacher is in some mode or another outside of Christian faithfulness. I believe progressives and revisionists need to reclaim the language of orthodoxy—the early on, "orthodox" church was in a constant state of revising its theology equally the church grew and moved into new contexts. To be orthodox is to be about the chore of interpreting afresh. The vocabulary of orthodoxy aside, the hermeneutical differences show we United Methodists employ the Wesleyan Quadrilateral in radically dissimilar ways. Evangelicals see the progressives as making what they will of ancient Scripture and Tradition, and progressives run across evangelicals as denying the relevance of gimmicky reason and experience.
We must split.
A Theological Argument for Splitting
While hermeneutics is, to be sure, a deeper part of the issue than the debate apropos homosexuality, it besides is a symptom of something deeper however. As one biblically trained, I would like to think that exegesis shapes our theology, but in reality it is usually our theology that shapes our exegesis, and and then we work in a circular way within our complementary biblical interpretations and theological reflections, leading usa to predetermined stances on issues like sexual orientation and gender identity.
It is a bones difference in theological orientation that lies at the foundation of our current impasse. In Preaching and the Human Condition: Loving God, Self, and Others (Nashville: Abingdon, 2016), I debate that regardless of their theological orientation, preachers need to deal with all 3 dimensions of brokenness in the human condition: the vertical relationship between humans and God, the horizontal relationship between humans and humans, and the inner relationship between a homo and herself or himself. Merely I also recognize that i of these iii dimensions is theologically primary for each preacher (with the other two flowing out of that dimension).
That starting indicate makes all the deviation in the world, and the current divide in the UMC is shaped by two very different starting points. The traditionalists emphasize the vertical relationship characterized in the command to dear God with our whole heart, soul, strength, and heed. In traditional evangelical vocabulary, this is oftentimes expressed in terms of the importance placed on individuals having a personal human relationship with Jesus Christ. The result is an accent on private morality and devotion, with sin being viewed primarily as disobedience to the Sovereign God.
Progressives (and to a groovy extent, moderates), however, offset with the horizontal relationship. In this view, the command to love our neighbor equally ourselves is seen as the chief (peradventure even synonymous) expression of loving God with our whole being. The liberal theological programme of the mainline church of the concluding two and a one-half centuries, the social gospel movement, and more contempo liberation theologies abound out of this orientation in unlike ways. The result is an accent on social ethics, with sin being viewed primarily as systemic, structural, corporate evil in which we inescapably participate but against which the God of justice and peace calls us to struggle prophetically.
There is much overlap between these two positions (obviously conservatives care most social ethics and progressives care about private morality). Just with the dissimilar emphases, the depth and width of the chasm betwixt these vertical and horizontal starting points has go and so significant that at times the different UM camps seem to be practicing 2 dissimilar religions or Christianities, in spite of the vocabulary and practices nosotros share. Indeed, nosotros view the Missio Dei and the church building'south participation in that mission in radically different means on the two sides of the current split up.
Consider the dissever from this perspective: Post-obit the Reformation, the commencement divisions in Protestantism dealt to a great degree with differences in liturgical and especially sacramental theologies and practices. Consequently and over fourth dimension, differences in polity drove further wedges in the Protestant move. Now, afterwards a century of liturgical reform (and especially after Vatican II), worship across the and so-called mainline denominations looks very much the same. The flow of the liturgy and sacramental prayers are so close that most people in the pews couldn't tell the difference. Moreover, most laity are less committed to certain forms of polity and ecclesiastical structures than they in one case were. Instead today, the divide in Protestantism is very much in terms of right and left, vertical versus horizontal. Evangelicals in the UMC are more than at domicile with evangelicals in other denominations than with progressive United Methodists. Similarly, progressive (and moderate?) United Methodists are more at home with mainliners in other traditions that emphasize social justice than with conservatives in the UMC.
We must split.
Homosexuality as an Statement for Splitting
It is only when nosotros view the issue of inclusion of the LGBTQIA+ customs in the church through the lens of the hermeneutical and theological polarity described to a higher place that we tin run across why it is the symptom of our disharmonize that has garnered so much of our attention and passion and why neither position will or tin can budge. The two sides view the result from completely different angles of what they think is being true-blue to the gospel.
For evangelicals, who hold to a traditional hermeneutic rooted in a vertical starting point for understanding the human condition and God'south response to it, being gay and engaging in homosexual behavior is sinful and immoral. It is disobedience/an offense against God, whom we are to honey with our whole beingness, in ways alleged admittedly in the ancient Scripture and Tradition. The Church building'south ethical response to homosexuality is to maintain purity/holiness equally best as possible and call gay people to repentance so that they might meliorate live according to God's will.
For liberals, who concur to a historical-critical hermeneutic rooted in a horizontal starting betoken for understanding the human status and God's response to it, beingness gay is as natural and a God-graced gift every bit being direct. As informed by feel and reason (especially gimmicky psychology), being gay is healthy and normal. Instead of thinking of sexual activity as a moral issue in terms of whether sex partners should be of different genders (assuming a binary view of gender that many progressives would turn down), progressives view homosexuality through an ethical lens. They seek a sexual ethic that applies to all, request what level of consent, dearest, and delivery are required for sex to exist appropriate in terms of God's call for united states to love our neighbors equally ourselves. Apart from the question of individual ethics, the church's corporate ethical response to homosexuality is to be equally simply, inclusive, and loving as nosotros understand God to exist—calling all people, regardless of sexual orientation, to college ways of living according to God's will.
The differences between viewing the issue of sexual orientation (and by extension gender identification) through the lenses of a traditional hermeneutic versus a historical-critical 1, a vertical versus a horizontal starting indicate for reflecting on the man status, and a moral versus an ethical approach to sexuality leaves the bourgeois and progressive camps of the denomination in irreconcilable positions.
We must split.
Shifting Metaphors for the Argument for Splitting
I place where progressives, moderates, and conservatives seem to agree is how to label the possibility of the denomination splitting. The metaphors usually employed relate to divorce. This metaphor is appropriate in that it names the pain, grief, and antagonism at play in the current disharmonize.
Over the years since I wrote my piece arguing for amicable separation in 2004, I have shifted the metaphor of a possible dissever from the loonshit of marriage to the loonshit of siblings. Siblings are raised in the same household; and children growing up, leaving domicile, and going their dissever ways is a rite of passage to exist celebrated. And in spite of taking very different life paths and growing to hold significantly dissimilar values, grown-up siblings can all the same love and respect each other. They are and can still behave similar family fifty-fifty when not living in the same business firm: afar family unit is still family unit. Shifting the metaphor for a denominational split from divorce to siblings growing upwardly and growing autonomously allowed me to think of the denomination jubilant (fifty-fifty if the celebration had a melancholy tone to it) the potentiality of the futures of our different movements while we go on to exist in conversation around our mutual heritage and look for ways to share resources and join forces in certain kinds of ministry building (eastward.g., disaster relief) without demonizing each other.
The problem is that we take remained together in such deep conflict so long at present that the animosity and hurting are such loftier levels that the metaphor of siblings coming-of-age is flawed. A better image of our current situation is that of grown siblings whose parent has died. We are all mourning, and equally with many families in situations of grief, our worst sides come up out and we are not getting along well at all. But we have three tasks at paw that must be achieved. First, nosotros must lay our beloved parent to residuum, committing the past denomination's being into God's care. 2d, we must dispose of our parent's possessions, dividing them among the heirs. We can human activity out of our pain and anger and do this litigiously, or we can lay aside our brokenness for the moment and choose what each sibling gets with fairness and honey. Conservatives are already starting to talk publicly nigh financial resources held by the denomination also as influence over and command of church-related institutions (such every bit seminaries); progressives need to be having these same conversations or nosotros volition find ourselves in the situation of the moderates of the Southern Baptist Convention. And the 2 groups demand to be talking to each other. And, third, we must go on with our lives without our quondam denominational parent being in that location for u.s., leaning into God'due south time to come as new, discrete Methodist/Wesleyan movements of some sort or some other. Maybe (hopefully) we will find ways in the future to sit at a tabular array together for Thanksgivings or family unit reunions. Maybe not. But nosotros tin offer each other peace, love, and blessing equally nosotros go our dissimilar ways now, all children of the same parent, all sharing the aforementioned Wesleyan Dna.
Information technology is time to lay aside any denial. Fourth dimension to quit imaging the denomination every bit nosotros know it somehow salvageable. Time to quit being tolerant of existence together in ways that go along to inflict hurting in a multitude of directions. Fourth dimension to quit playing chicken to run across if the other side will leave. "All the king'south horses and all the rex's men couldn't…"
As with fifteen years ago, I identify with the progressive end of the United Methodist Church, merely I write equally someone who represents no one but myself. While I am pleased that and so many voices take arisen that speak loudly in support of our LGBTQIA+ members, I am dismayed that so many of those same voices continue to
Nosotros must divide.
O. Wesley Allen, Jr., is an elder in the United Methodist Church and the Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics at Perkins Schoolhouse of Theology, Southern Methodist University. Allen has published widely in areas of homiletics related to postmodernism, current social issues, theology, and the Synoptic Gospels.
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Source: https://hackingchristianity.net/2019/03/guest-post-why-the-united-methodist-church-must-split.html
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