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09 Sep 2022
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Response to GMC Pastor Letter

September 9, 2022

Recently I was featured negatively in a letter provided to pastors who want to motivate their members to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church (UMC) to join the Global Methodist Church. In this post I respond in the hope that United Methodists who receive it might have more accurate and balanced information. Initially I thought this was one letter from one pastor to one church. A short time after I received the first email, the same paragraph was sent to me by a member of another church. Their pastor had made a few additions, but otherwise quoted the first letter verbatim. This leads me to conclude that an organization aligned with the Global Methodist Church is providing the correspondence for pastors who want their congregations to leave our denomination. The following statement is taken directly from the first letter forwarded to me. The emphasis in bold and colored type was present in the text of the first correspondence as I received it.

 

The Centrist Tom Berlin on the “Virus’ of the Traditional Plan 

“When in 2019 the General Conference held its special session to finalize the human sexuality debate once and for all, centrist leader Tom Berlin said that the Traditional Plan (the plan that maintained our church’s current theology) would be like: “Putting a virus into the American church that will make it very sick.” For the delegates that disagreed, he asked those delegates to abstain from voting. He made the analogy of how many African nations had stopped Ebola by washing their hands and asked delegates to wash their hands and rid the church of this virus called the Traditional Plan. 

Berlin’s perspective here is striking for a couple of reasons. First, the Traditional Plan was the plan to uphold our current theology in the church. If he thought it was a virus, why did he ever take vows to uphold it in the first place? Second, it gives us a view of how he as a centrist sees the historic/traditional understanding of human sexuality upheld by the church for 2000 years. Finally, what’s SO important to realize is that in the spectrum of leadership that will remain in the UMC, Berlin is more theologically center; he’s not on the far theological left. He’s going to be more orthodox in his beliefs and he is going to at least express more of a desire to let there be a middle ground where there are differences. But, this doesn’t sound like much of a middle ground to me.”

I would like to clarify the following:

In a speech at the 2019 General Conference of the United Methodist Church, I encouraged delegates from the Central Conferences (those beyond the United States) to abstain from voting for the Traditional Plan. This legislation, proposed for inclusion in The Book of Discipline that governs the UMC, uniquely punishes clergy who perform same-gender marriages, as well as bishops who license or ordain openly gay clergy to ministry. It was primarily focused on the United States, where same-gender marriages are legal and therefore possible. (The Book of Discipline only speaks to matters related to lesbian and gay individuals. It is silent on other orientations and identities.) I used the metaphor of a virus to communicate that if the Traditional Plan was enacted, it would lead to the splintering of the United Methodist Church in the United States. Churches in Sierra Leone, Africa, helped rid their nation of the Ebola virus by teaching people to wash their hands of germs. I asked them to wash their hands of the Traditional Plan. I wanted these delegates to understand that our church would become sick if the legislation was enacted. You did not have to be a sage or prophet in 2019 to predict that the Traditional Plan would lead to a great level of conflict in our denomination and its congregations if enacted. The letter to which I respond today is a fine example of that conflict. My speech did not have the outcome I desired. The Traditional Plan was codified in the Book of Discipline.

The Traditional Plan is not a plan to “uphold our current theology in the church.” It is a plan to bring more severe penalties to clergy who perform same gender marriages and bishops who license or ordain openly gay persons for ministry.

The Traditional Plan is unlike the rest of The Book of Discipline because it removes the just resolution process bishops use when clergy do not conform to the boundaries of The Book of Discipline. The Traditional Plan has penalties that are both prescribed and severe. The legislation was written this way with the intention that all United Methodist clergy and bishops across the connection would conform to it.

The Traditional Plan is not a treatise of our “current theology.” Theology is a very broad term that includes the doctrine, confessions of faith of the UMC, and our distinctive Wesleyan focus on grace. The Traditional Plan only speaks to penalties related to officiating same gender marriages and the credentialing of openly gay persons for ministry. Our theology is found in Sections I-IV of The Book of Discipline. All United Methodists would benefit from reading the theology found there. You will find our foundational beliefs shared with other Christians, as well as our rich heritage as Wesleyan Christians.

I am a lifelong United Methodist and have spent my vocation as a pastor upholding, affirming, and teaching the theology of the Christian faith. I have written books and preached innumerable sermons that give clarity that I hold orthodox Wesleyan Christian beliefs. I would like a more inclusive church that would allow gay persons to be able to be married by their pastor if she or he is willing to officiate the service. Clergy have discretion over what marriages they officiate now. I think they should be trusted with that same discretion in the future. I have not violated my vows of ordination by seeking greater flexibility for persons in the church related to marriage and ordination. Like many, I have family members, church members, friends and neighbors who are gay. I believe this is due to their sexual orientation, not the desire to commit a sexual sin. This is the great divide in the conversation related to homosexuality. I would like gay people to be treated equally to others in the church.

I understand that some feel that being gay or gay persons being in a committed, covenanted, life-long marital relationship is a sin. Those who consider the practice of homosexuality a sin call their members to repent of such actions. To be consistent, this new denomination will need to also focus its time on other actions related to sexual misconduct, especially those in the heterosexual community which will be far more prevalent in their congregations. This will include fornication (having sex outside the bounds of marriage), the use of pornography, or other matters that are destructive to lives and relationships. They will need to speak with vehemence against heterosexual couples in their congregations of all ages who commonly live together without being married. Perhaps in the future denomination they envision, clergy and laity will be disciplined for such behaviors that they actually demonstrate rather than maintaining such direct focus on the practice of homosexuality.

Related to “middle ground,” which the group providing the letter believes I do not offer, I would remind the pastor that I was on the writing team of the One Church Plan. This was legislation that was, by a rather small voting margin, not approved at the 2019 General Conference. This legislation stated that clergy would never be required by a denominational official to perform a same-gender wedding and churches would not be required to hold such weddings if they did not desire to do so. It had provisions to allow Annual Conferences to ordain only those candidates they deemed qualified. It was written with a desire to create a broad middle ground for everyone. It permitted same-gender marriages for those who desire to officiate them. It provided the ability of conferences to credential openly gay clergy qualified to serve. This was done with the understanding that in a 12-million-person denomination, there will be differences of opinion about such marriages as well as the credentialing of clergy, just as there are differences of opinions among members of the local church about whether their gay members, friends, work colleagues, and neighbors should enjoy rites and rights of marriage and vocation. I think the future of the denomination that I and others envision has a great deal more “middle ground” to the average person than a denomination where such marriages and clergy credentialing are seen as so appalling as to require a special level of punishment.

A week after the first letter was shared with me, a second email was sent by a church member of a different congregation. Their pastor added these sentences:

Please note that this man was nominated this year for Bishop by the Virginia Annual Conference and will very likely be one of our new UMC bishops. If this is one of our new bishops, and here are his ‘centrist’ views, again, it’s hard to imagine (no matter what he says otherwise) that he truly wants to respect and make space for traditionalists. If our church’s theology is an illness we need to rid ourselves of, how could he fairly treat pastors and churches who actually hold those virulent beliefs? It’s hard to imagine that he would be able to treat those pastors and churches fairly.

I find the phrase, “no matter what he says otherwise” often makes respectful conversation difficult and Christian conversation rather impossible. I am an episcopal nominee, but not in the Jurisdiction where this church is located. If elected, I would not serve as their bishop. I did not say and do not believe that our church’s theology is an “illness.” I did predict that the Traditional Plan would make the church in America ill, a predication that has been fully validated.

Many United Methodists disagree on the inclusion of gay persons related to marriage rites and credentialing for ministry. In these conversations it remains important to avoid false accusations and misrepresentations. This is simply the way Christians are called by Christ to treat one another.

14 Feb 2022
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Bunce Island

February 14, 2022

I had one of those experiences where you see things clearly on Bunce Island, Sierra Leone, a few months ago. I have been travelling to Sierra Leone on a regular basis since 1997. Floris UMC, where I am the lead pastor, has supported the Child Reintegration Centre and Mercy Hospital, in Bo, Sierra Leone, since those organizations were first created by the Sierra Leone Conference of the United Methodist Church. I travel there to meet with our partners, see the impact of our collective work, and stay in touch with its impact. Over the years I had heard of Bunce Island, and what people there refer to as its “Slave Fort,” a series of buildings that were once one of the most lucrative trade centers of enslaved West Africans in the world. Bunce Island is located just a few miles north of Freetown on the Sierra Leone River. It is small island that is measured in feet rather than miles. In October 2021, a group I was with took a boat upriver to see how even the smallest bit of land can house the greatest of human misery.

If you ever want to gain a thorough understanding of the word “systemic” as it is used in the phrase “systemic racism,” I suggest that you visit Bunce Island. The historic marker that greets you at the dock helps you understand that Bunce Island was chosen because it was the furthest inland point of the river at which big ships could dock. These ships were large enough to hold hundreds of newly enslaved human beings and successfully cross the Atlantic to deposit their cargo in places like the West Indies, South Carolina, and Georgia. A short hike up the path leads to the edge of what once was a fortification. Eight cannons lay in the grass, some of which bear the royal cypher of King George III. If you have ever travelled to England, you have seen monograms similar to those I saw on these cannons. Looking at that seal the word “systemic,” which means system-wide, gained additional meaning. I was standing in a key reference point of the historic system of chattel slavery, which produced remarkable wealth for those who created and controlled the system that turned free West Africans into enslaved laborers in North America and the West Indies. Bunce Island was in operation for over a century, from about 1670 to 1807, when England finally made the sale of enslaved humans illegal. The Royal Africa Company and the later companies that operated Bunce Island were “Crown-chartered,” meaning that they were subsidized by the British Crown. This was a cooperative arrangement between the British monarchy, government, and merchants. It was a remarkably well-designed system of human enslavement and trafficking that included those who owned and operated the ships that traversed the Middle Passage to the American Colonies, plantation and farm owners who filled those same ships with goods for sale in England and Europe, as well as banks and other lenders who financed and insured the shipping trade and other aspects of enslavement.

The system allowed colonists in North America to steal knowledge about rice cultivation from West Africa so that they could grow the crop on their land. Enslaved persons from the “Rice Coast” of West Africa, whom colonists claimed as their property, had this expertise. The more skill and knowledge an enslaved West African had, the higher the price paid to their enslaver. As the Yale University website on Bunce Island notes, “African rice-growing know-how was essential to the prosperity of the American rice industry.”

Today leaders in business appropriately complain about trademark and patent violations, and other forms of intellectual property stolen by foreign governments or overseas competitors. Imagine if the countries and businesses that steal this intellectual capital, rather than doing so through hacking computer systems, came into our country, went to the headquarters or research facilities of these businesses, and through force of arms kidnapped their engineers and scientists. These men and women would then be taken to foreign countries where they would be forced to spend the rest of their lives doing their valuable work in servitude without wage or benefit. Further, they would be denied all relationships with spouse, children, family, or friends. If they failed to perform this work to the satisfaction of their overseers, they would be beaten or killed. If you can wrap your mind around that fictional modern scenario, you can understand the system that the people who ran Bunce Island, and those in the American colonies who facilitated the sale of enslaved West Africans, created. That system created tremendous wealth for most of those who controlled it.

Because it was a system of enslavement, the people in power knew each other. Richard Oswald, a principal owner of Bunce Island in the 1750’s, sent enslaved West Africans to Henry Laurens, a wealthy South Carolina rice planter and plantation owner who also sold enslaved persons to other planters. Oswald supplied the humans that Laurens sold, and this partnership rendered both men a fortune. These two men eventually partnered together to establish rice plantations in Florida that were staffed with skilled enslaved persons who flowed through Bunce Island.

Their partnership had even more significant ramifications at the close of the American Revolutionary War. By this time Henry Laurens, riding high on the profits of the misery of enslavement, was President of the Continental Congress. Richard Oswald became a participant in the British delegation at the Paris negotiations that led to American independence. These two Bunce Island business partners sat across from each other during the negotiations that recognized the United States of America as a sovereign nation.

Sometimes I meet white people who do not understand what the “systemic” in “systemic racism” means. Simply put, it means that the stubborn economic and power disparity between those of European and those of African descent that persists in the United States today was a part of the original system that created our nation. I live in Virginia and have been to several historic sites not far from my home that helped me understand that system. However, I have never experienced it as vividly as I did while walking through the ruins of Bunce Island.

Only the shells of past structures remain on the island today, including the fortified walls, the gunpower magazine, and the gate to the open-air yard where enslaved families were divided, one area for men and another for women and children. The walls of the merchant’s quarters are still standing. Our Sierra Leonean guide told us that the fireplaces there were used to heat irons that were used to brand the flesh of enslaved persons. The island was quiet and still, interrupted only by breezes flowing across the river. Our group of six were the only people on the island that day. After some words of explanation, our guide walked us past the tombstones that marked the graves of enslavers and captains of ships that sealed the fate of those taken from West Africa. We walked past the empty field where enslaved people who did not survive the ordeal were buried in unmarked graves. Our group was mostly silent. You could feel the heaviness of the place.

While some historical work has been done to stabilize and conserve the buildings on Bunce Island, I fear that the lack of resources available in Sierra Leone for this UNESCO World Heritage Site may lead to even greater degradation of the island’s important history. In the future, when I travel to Sierra Leone with teams going to work with our partners in Bo, I plan to make Bunce Island a first stop. If you want to understand the complexity of the history of Sierra Leone or the United States, it is a worthy starting place.

03 Dec 2021
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Boy Scouts of America Settlement Background

December 3, 2021

Many of my pastor and lay colleagues in Virginia are preparing for meetings this week related to the Boy Scouts of America settlement. Many of us will have members who come to those meetings with little background into the complexity of this discussion. I developed these slides to better inform those who attend our meetings about the background of the settlement. We will use this during our meeting on Sunday. Citations are provided for the information on each slide. If this helps, please feel free to use and no attribution is necessary.

Click Here for Powerpoint on BSA Settlement Background Info

03 Nov 2021
General Conference, Recent, Thoughts and Reflections Permalink

Large Church Gathering at Church of the Resurrection

November 3, 2021

The Large Church and Young Clergy events held at Church of the Resurrection last week left me with more hope in the future of the United Methodist Church than I have enjoyed in a long time. The impact of a global pandemic on our lives and the churches we serve has been difficult to say the least. A postponed General Conference has frustrated all of us. Those who want to leave the United Methodist Church are looking for other ways out while those who desire to remain have no way to make needed changes in the life of the church. It is not hard to understand why the feeling of hope comes as a bit of surprise.

 

Adam Hamilton has gathered the largest United Methodist Churches by worship attendance to learn from each other for years. The difference in this gathering is that it was comprised of those that plan to stay, or who are still actively considering staying in the church. Over 140 of these churches were present in October, bringing teams of clergy, staff, and lay leaders. Joining the conference was a gathering of clergy under 40, whose desire to see the church renewed and reborn impressed me. The hope I gained was not for The United Methodist Church as it currently exists. Most agree that our denomination needs a major overhaul in missional focus, global partnerships, sustainable financial health, and streamlined leadership and administrative structures. The conversations shared by those who participated in panel discussions in plenary sessions and by the over 700 pastors and laity at discussion tables focused far more on the hope found in the reign of God and far less on the bureaucracy of a denomination.

 

Here is what gave me hope:

 

  1. The bible is central

When you affirm the need for the church to include LGBTQ persons fully in its life and ministry, people will tell you that you don’t believe in the bible. I know this from personal experience. I found it renewing to hear people talk about the importance scripture has in our lives, the way it has changed our opinions and behaviors over time, and its role in our sanctification. People fully agreed that scripture is our primary source for faith and practice. We noted the continuing importance of interpreting scripture with the help of the tradition of the church, reason and scholarship, and in the light of our experience of the Spirit in our lives and community. No one questioned that the starting point of our theology and beliefs was the bible. Through it we meet Jesus, who is the greatest source of God’s revelation to humanity.

 

  1. Shared values

The top five responses to the question, “What do I value most about the UMC?” were:

  1. Emphasis on God’s grace.
  2. Passionate faith in Jesus lived by serving others.
  3. Theology shaped by Scripture interpreted with the aid of tradition, experience, and reason.
  4. A wide welcome for all people.
  5. A church for thinking people.

People were clear in conversation that the doctrinal standards found in the Book of Discipline continue to guide and inspire us. While some claim exclusive rights to the orthodox (“right belief”) faith, those gathered affirmed the Apostolic faith found in the creeds and Articles of Religion of The Book of Discipline. I was impressed how often people spoke of the desire to share our faith so that others could find the goodness of becoming followers of Jesus Christ. I was also pleased that I heard conversations about the need for racial equity and for the church to do the work of racial justice in a sustained manner that would sanctify our members and begin to change our society and world. Clergy and laity, in plenary sessions and table conversations, not only espoused the need for racial justice, they also shared what they were currently doing in their churches and communities to contribute to it.

 

  1. A generous character

Some Christians simply can’t stay in the room when they disagree with you on important questions in our lives like LGBTQ inclusion. The list doesn’t stop there, but since that item has some leaving the UMC, it has to be discussed. 94% of those present were “compatibilists,” believing we can remain in one UMC even if we have differing ways of interpreting scripture on same-sex marriage. That number may not be surprising given that this was a gathering of those who plan to stay in the UMC or those who are actively working through that question. This was not a gathering that many “incompatibilists” would attend. 94% of those present stated that they could compatibly be in the same church, when groups leaving the UMC indicate this to be impossible. I describe this as a generous space because when asked if clergy should be required, allowed, or forbidden from officiating at same-sex weddings, 92% said such weddings should be, “allowed but not required.” It has been my experience throughout the UMC that despite the fearmongering of some, no one seriously thinks you should or could require someone to perform a wedding they did not want to perform. Nor do couples getting married want frustrated or angry clergy officiating their weddings. What I observed in the room was a spirit of generosity toward others who may not agree on this issue but want to work in functional and loving ways with each other and those they serve in congregations and communities.

 

  1. A desire for real change

When given a list of options on what participants would most like to change in The Book of Discipline, the top four included:

  1. General Church Structure
  2. Inclusion of LGBTQ persons
  3. Apportionment formulas
  4. Creating a simplified Book of Discipline.

 

I wanted you to hear some of what happened at this gathering. Perhaps my experience of hope can be yours as well as we walk the months ahead together.

 

 

24 Aug 2020
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A Tribute to Bishop John K. Yambasu

August 24, 2020

Today is the birthday of my friend, Bishop John K. Yambasu, who recently died in an automobile accident in Sierra Leone. He would have been 64 years old today. In honor of the gift of his life and our 23-year friendship, I offer this tribute.

I met Rev. John Yambasu in 1997 when I took my first Volunteer in Mission trip to Sierra Leone in the midst of the country’s rebel war. Rev. Yambasu met us at the airport and secured our luggage and transportation to our accommodations. He was friendly, efficient, and joyful. He had a remarkable ability to engage people from anywhere in the world in ways that drew us into his circle of hospitality and friendship. During that trip we did repairs to the Guest House at Leicester Peak. We laid block that created new walls for the facility. I was impressed at the way Rev. Yambasu organized the work, motivated the young people who allowed us to join their work, and talked to contractors and building supply personnel to secure materials. It was obvious on that first trip that he was a man with natural leadership gifts and remarkable skills in motivating and managing people. He carried a deep desire to see the United Methodist Church become a blessing to his nation. It was Bishop John Yambasu who opened the United Methodist University in Sierra Leone in 2017 on this site. His ability to hold hope and patiently work to develop projects over long periods of time was a hallmark of his leadership.

Rev. Yambasu invited me to call him John and as the week progressed and I knew we would be friends. He invited us to have dinner with his family in his home. I met his children. We went to the beach together and enjoyed time talking and laughing. With John, there was always laughter. His sense of humor was excellent, and it demonstrated an underlying joy that he shared generously with others. I recall thinking that he carried the joy of the Lord. His faith in Christ enabled him to look on people and events with a great charity and grace. He was deeply grateful for anything large or small that made a day brighter and more pleasant. When I returned from that trip, I carried his application to the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, my alma mater, back to the United States. He was accepted and came to Candler in the fall of 1998 and spent Christmas with my family that year. Knowing there was war in his country and full security in mine, Karen and I worked to make Christmas simple that year. We soon realized that “simple” has different meanings in various parts of the world. As our children opened gifts and we visited in the homes of family and friends, our friend John, without criticism or judgement, helped us realize how fabulously rich we were. His presence and insights gave us new eyes on our lives and made us long to find new ways to follow Jesus’ calling to serve the economically poor in the world. He enabled me to understand issues of Christian stewardship that later impacted my work and writing as a pastor.

When rebels invaded Freetown in January 1999, John called me. He was frantic after hearing Millicent describe the rebels who had demanded all of their money and who promised to injure or kill her and their children if more money was not offered. He said that he had to gather funds to get his family to a refugee camp in Guinea and asked for my help. I asked members of Floris UMC for their assistance and they offered the funds that day. Once Millicent and their children were out of danger, I invited John to preach at Floris UMC so that he could share the story what was happening in his country. His sermon was so powerful that three months later church members were asking what we were going to do in response. In December 1999, Floris UMC took up a “Millennial Offering” to mark 2000 years of the Christian faith by partnering with Rev. John Yambasu, who returned to Sierra Leone as a missionary through the United Methodist Church. Our goal was $25,000. By January 2000, we received $150,000. The vision John cast was the reason people responded so generously.

Rev. Yambasu used these funds to start the Child Rescue Centre (CRC), whose initial mission was to care for children whose lives were severely impacted by the civil war. Rev. Yambasu gathered 40 children and began feeding operations that served many more. His work was driven by a deep calling of Christ to care for the vulnerable. He found it morally offensive that any child would have to beg for food, sleep without shelter, or lack proper care from adults. Further, he longed for every person to know the love of Christ and experience the gift of faith in him. His ongoing passion for this ministry inspired and convicted us to continue the work and sustain this vital ministry over the past 20 years. Later, as the Bishop of the Sierra Leone Annual Conference, he led the transformation of this ministry and renamed it the Child Reintegration Centre. It now serves more than 600 children in family-based care that offers education and medical care for future leaders of Sierra Leone.

Through the years of working in partnership with Bishop Yambasu, I was able to see him often in meetings held to develop the work of the CRC and Mercy Hospital. Each year he communicated new opportunities to develop Mercy Hospital in ways that would better serve its focus on child and maternal health. Over time our partnership added an outstanding laboratory, vehicles for mobile health clinics, and most recently, a surgical suite. It was a great moment for us all when Dr. Aruna Stevens, who grew up at the CRC, became the doctor at Mercy Hospital. Bishop Yambasu was a remarkable leader who built international ministry partnerships across the United States and Europe. His generosity of spirit, hospitality, and capacity to laugh at himself and others in ways that invited people into the circle of his care were key elements of his magnetic personality. He was honest and always responded favorably to the ongoing need for financial integrity and transparency. I learned that about him in 1997, when he refused my desire to leave money with him to buy block for the building. Instead, John took me to the quarry, let me buy the block, and had it delivered so that I could inspect it the following day. Transparency was an essential virtue that I found in his leadership throughout our 23-year ministry partnership, which enabled us to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in the ministries he envisioned in Sierra Leone.

Floris United Methodist Church realized it needed to start a separate non-profit to sustain our partnership with the Sierra Leone Annual Conference. Helping Children Worldwide was established in 2003 to assist other partner churches in the United States with the work of the CRC and Mercy Hospital. When John travelled to Virginia to meet with his partners at Helping Children Worldwide, he often stayed in our home. We called our basement, with its bedroom and bathroom and large living area, “the Bishop’s Suite.” I was concerned about the schedule Bishop Yambasu was keeping. He often showed up looking tired and road weary when I met him at the airport. We tried to offer him a quiet space where he could catch up on work, but also nap, read, and relax. It was always a pleasure when he joined us for meals or sat in our living room to catch up and share news of his ministry. I experienced Bishop Yambasu as a colleague and a friend. We knew that our mutual wellbeing was important to each other and to the mission partnerships we each represented. Our friendship enabled us to have candid conversations. We observed the cultural differences that were impeding the work of the larger leadership team for the CRC and Mercy Hospital. We problem-solved. We listened to each other. We challenged each other to do more and to do better for Christ in the world.

Rarely in a lifetime does one find a deep friendship with someone from another culture and continent whose deep love of Christ creates a commonality of perspective and purpose. Our relationship grew out of our ability to observe and be curious about differences. We taught each other about our cultures and the way the mission of the church uniquely expressed itself in our diverse missional contexts. We cared about each other, about our roles not just as clergy, but as husbands, fathers, and men. We learned to hold each other in grace, and to speak the truth in love to one another. We had differences, but our common love for Christ and the friendship that developed between us enabled us to live as people of peace with each other. I believe that we were fundamentally for each other and found John to be as dependable a friend as any I have known. He was a partner in the gospel. My friendship with Bishop John Yambasu was a means of grace to me. In my relationship with John, I found the truth of Proverbs 27:17, As iron sharpens iron so one person sharpens another.

We both experienced the tension of the fractious called 2019 General Conference of the UMC. There are diverse opinions on LGBTQ inclusion in the global United Methodist Church. While Bishop Yambasu understood the more progressive views I held and the missional needs of the community I serve, he carried the perspective and weight of leadership of an African Bishop in the Central Conference. We realized that we did not have to see eye to eye in order to speak heart to heart. His great desire to bring unity to the United Methodist Church made the conference difficult to bear. Like everyone, he was discouraged and stymied when he considered what might be done to keep the church together so that missional partnerships that unite our global church would continue. We talked often after that General Conference. He felt the Holy Spirit encourage him to understand the unique role God had put him in as an African Bishop in the UMC. He had the ability to call leaders together. While various parties might not accept the invitation of different interest groups who wanted to help the church move forward, everyone would accept his invitation if he was willing to lead in this way.

Bishop Yambasu brought together a global group of leaders in the United Methodist Church to create the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation in 2019. I was a part of that mediation team. The meetings spanned months of time and included a great deal of work as negotiations progressed. The mood was sometimes tense. Observing Bishop Yambasu, I was again able to appreciate the way my friend’s faith and leadership called us to do our best work in keeping with our shared love of Christ. There were times when his prayer enabled us to take the next faithful step in negotiations and envision a future full of ministry and free of the conflict that has so hampered the work of the denomination in recent years. While it is yet to be seen if the Protocol will be accepted by the delegates of General Conference, it is commonly agreed that it is the best hope for the UMC that he loved and served. This was another gift he offered to the church, and one that required remarkable energy and sacrifice on his part to coordinate and attend meetings in the United States.

It was after the last Protocol meeting in December that we ate what would be our last meal together. We had not planned this time, but both realized it would be nice to celebrate our recently signed Protocol. It was a meal shared by two old friends who had seen a lot of life together, even as we lived on separate continents. During that meal we laughed as we recounted so many things the Lord had called us to do together. We celebrated each other, our friendship, and the goodness of the church that brought us together. I count it a distinct blessing today that we left nothing unsaid.

In his life Bishop John Yambasu endured great hardship, sacrifice, and loss. Yet his faith never wavered. God gave him a vision that enabled him to start and develop project after project, as he worked to accomplish his “Vision 2020” for the Sierra Leone Annual Conference. Through it all he carried a deep love for his wife Millicent and for their children, and most recently his grandson. I will miss my friend John, who opened my mind to the calling of Jesus in Matthew 25  in a manner that was transformative. His friendship was used by God to further my sanctification, grow empathy and compassion, and find the joy of a deep and lasting friendship that I will treasure throughout my life, even as he has found his heavenly reward. I will miss the laughter that always accompanied his presence. He taught me that unity in the church is sometimes a halting and jarring journey, like the road I took to Bo, Sierra Leone, the first time we travelled there in 2002, but one that is ultimately used by God to sanctify those who may live a world away, but who daily walk together in the Kingdom of God.

01 Jun 2020
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Reflections on George Floyd

June 1, 2020

The most recent headline confirms what most of us suspected, that George Floyd died of ‘asphyxia due to neck and back compression.’ The article says this information is offered by an independent autopsy and appears to contradict information from the county’s initial exam offered to the police. Insult seems to be once again added to injury when an independent autopsy is required to detail what most people saw plainly on a video showing a police officer kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes as he pleaded for breath and life.

 

I have given a lot of thought to what I need to do as a result of this latest unjust and unnecessary death of a person of color. The long list of such deaths includes the recent actions of two self-deputized armed civilians in Georgia, who took the life of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man running on a public street in their neighborhood who they decided was guilty of a crime. The list includes Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African-American emergency room technician who was sleeping soundly in her home in Louisville, Kentucky, when police executed a “no-knock” warrant which allowed them to enter her home without warning or identifying themselves as law enforcement. After a brief confrontation in a dark room, they fired several shots, striking her at least eight times. The coroner in that case understood the cause of death without the need for an independent examination. It turns out that Ms. Taylor was not connected to the concerns listed on the search warrant that brought police crashing through her door. If you are wondering what people are angry about as you watch the news of protests in our cities, I am describing the barest tip of an iceberg of racial inequity and injustice in the United States that is 400 years deep and so wide that historians writing a multi-volume compendium could only begin to outline it.

 

I have tried to listen over last few days to allow the Lord issue some orders. I have done my study and learning. I know more than enough to understand why people of color and their allies are angry. I know enough about Jesus to feel both a lament for my nation and imagine the righteous anger he holds toward such injustice. If he overthrew tables and kicked the moneychangers out of the temple for their unjust business connected to the worship of God, what would he be doing in light of just these three deaths? I pondered my life and role as a pastor as I reflected on 1 Corinthians 4: 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. (NIV)

 

Let me be the first to say that I have secret places in my heart, and they include racism and bigotry that was cultivated there before I was even born. Set aside the possible white impulse to judge me innocent or tell me how good I am. The Lord and I both know what is in those secret places. He knows much more than me, but shows me another patch of ugly every year. While writing Reckless Love, I discovered that my family, in the 1800’s, included more than one branch which listed human beings in the “property” section of their census data. I was in my early 50’s and never knew that. There are some parts of the family history someone chooses to seal in the secret places of the heart. Growing up in a mid-size town in the Shenandoah Valley, I used racist language and carried bigoted constructs of the world in my childhood and adolescence. I have worked to deal with that secret place my whole life and imagine that I will need to turn that soil until I die. In the lives of many white people, racism is like an EPA Superfund site. You can work it your whole life and still not get all the poison out of the dirt where you stand.

 

About now you may think that I suffer from liberal white guilt. What I suffer from is a conviction of sin placed in my life by my Lord Jesus Christ that I wonder why more white Christians have not experienced. It is profoundly disorienting. My Lord has convicted me that our society has obvious racial sin that is not secret but is often completely ignored. I suggest that white people who are quickly angered when peaceful protests become expensive riots, but who demonstrate their acceptance of injustice through utter silence when a black man is asphyxiated before their very eyes, should seek the Lord. And don’t ask Jesus to pat your head and tell others to calm down. He is already a Savior who has died for your sins. This is no time for Jesus, meek and mild. Call upon the Lord and let him give you some marching orders. Let him open what the Apostle Paul says is hidden in the darkness so that he can expose the motives of the heart. If you are expecting commendations, you do not understand Christ or Christianity. Being a follower of Jesus Christ is a request to have Jesus remove every sin from your life, training and heritage that is unpleasing to Him and Him alone. He does not care about your opinion on racism. He cares that you become a person who loves others fully, inclusively and equally. It is apparent from the study of the gospels that Jesus is an anti-racist. He accepted, healed, stood up for, befriended, and died for everyone others rejected, harmed and killed.

 

I was hoping Jesus would tell me to read another book or sign up for another discussion. Books and discussion are essential if you want to become an anti-racist. If you have not done the work, now is the time to begin. But I have already asked the Risen Christ to help me take a good look at me. I will continue to do that work, but I knew I needed to ask again, Lord, what would you like me to do now?  I felt the Lord say, Now is the time to do something as a person and a pastor.  I began to do some things. Nothing earth-shattering here. But something done, nonetheless. Karen and I made some donations this weekend to organizations that work for racial justice. And we didn’t rob what we give other organizations. We gave more. We gave extra. I called a friend in my community who is an African American pastor to check in on him and ask what a group we helped initiate last year might get to work on now. I called my Church Council Chairperson and asked her if we could convene a meeting the following night and agree on actions we would take in light of systemic racism in our nation. Such actions will need to be ongoing and deliberate. We need to hear the marching orders our Lord has for our church, and not offer up events designed to make us feel better.

 

On Wednesday, we will offer a service of lament for the whole bucket of sorrow we are experiencing. We will pray for the over 100,000 deaths from COVID-19. Every one of these deaths is a tragedy, but it should be noted that the pandemic disproportionately impacts persons of color. We will pray for those who fear eviction and who struggle to feed their family due to the economic impact of the pandemic. We will also pray for the Lord to convict us personally and collectively of the systematic racism that exists in our country and call us to be agents of the Reign of God who work against evil, injustice and oppression. No doubt some who have read this far are thinking, There they go. ‘Thoughts and Prayers.’ Give me a break!  Take heart, at the end of this service, we will call our church to go and do what Christ calls them to do in this critical time. We will give them ideas that they can act on as individuals. And we will tell them plans initiated by our church leadership this week. Right now, our witness for Christ can be magnified and believed through action or it will be seen as the fraud is if we offer nothing but silence and inactivity. In both our personal and corporate lives, we must pray and act. Prayer is uniquely necessary when it is associated with our desire to seek the discernment of the Holy Spirit on how to act. Earnest prayer in such moments is the silence in the room as Jesus steps to the podium and issues his call to action. He expects us to be ministers of the gospel who work toward the healing of the nations rather than a fearful people seeking God’s protection as we tell others to be nice.

 

This is the work of a lifetime, but it has to begin and be continued. I believe I can hear the renewed call of God in this time. It is the call of the One who now desires to bring to light what is hidden in darkness and expose the motives of our hearts. Now is the time to simply do what Jesus is calling us to do: acts of servanthood, compassion, love, and by all means, justice. I can’t wait to hear what I will say on Wednesday. Join us if you do too.

19 Mar 2020
Lifestyle, Popular, Recent, Thoughts and Reflections Permalink

Guiding Values During the Pandemic

March 19, 2020

Right now, your church is writing a story that will be told months and perhaps years from now about your identity, and how that was uniquely expressed during a difficult time. I have met with some very creative pastors and church leaders by Zoom lately and have come away impressed at the way churches are both doing ministry and observing the no contact health guidelines our government calls us to observe relative to the COVID-19 pandemic. Churches are using social media and other virtual platforms to lead bible studies, host worship and offer content for kids and students. They are focused on working with schools and relief organizations in their communities to care for those who might be impacted from job loss or food insecurity. In so doing, they are writing the story of their identity. They are acting on values that their members hold to be true not just about the church, but the Christian life.

At Floris UMC, our church leaders and staff agreed on three key values to guide the story we are writing at this time:

  1. Keep People Healthy
  • We will conform our practices to the latest guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control, the Virginia Health Department and the Federal Government, whichever seems most beneficial
  • Our employees are being asked to work from home; those who do need to come to our facility are expected to practice social distancing
  • Clergy will be given wide discretion regarding hospital visitation out of concern for their children and family members
  1. Create a Vital Community
  • We will hold Sunday worship weekly via livestream, and will develop other means to share daily devotions and other occasions for prayer or worship
  • Life groups will be held virtually
  • We will proactively care for our members by enlisting volunteers to call them, with a goal of contacting all active members of our church to make sure everyone has the essentials they need.
  • We will find ways for our members to offer encouragement and resources to each other.
  1. Care for the Vulnerable
  • Working with our school and community partners, we will focus on food insecurity, especially for children
  • As the health crisis for all becomes an economic crisis for some, we will find the best way to help people care for essential needs of food and shelter

Like your church, Floris UMC is doing many creative things to share the gospel, care for its community and bless the world, especially those who are in the greatest need. By establishing these values, we are all pulling on the same rope in the same direction. It is exciting to see how much creative effort is being displayed by so many to share the message of Jesus’ love and the promise of new life found in Christ.

05 Mar 2020
Family, Lifestyle, Popular, Recent Permalink

COVID-19 Preparedness

March 5, 2020

Here at Floris United Methodist Church we have been talking about ways we can make our church a safe space relevant to the recent spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). With guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and local health departments, we developed a list of safe practices to help ensure that we are ready for whatever may happen. I would like to share our initial list with you, to help you create safe spaces in your communities.

  1. Talk to the Congregation
    • Demonstrate and normalize ways to greet people other than a handshake or other contact.
      • Elbow bump
      • Hand to chest with slight bow
    • Provide online worship options so that those who are sick can stay home. This may be as simple as Facebook Live.
    • Inform members about practices related to cleaning the facility, especially the nursery, children’s areas and restrooms.
    • Communicate with parents
      • Communicate practices for cleaning and expectations for nursery staff related to their health so that parents know your church is a safe space.
      • Ask parents not to bring symptomatic or sick children to church.
      • Share procedures for nursery and classroom cleaning, and guide volunteers on new cleaning practices during this time.
  • Serving Holy Communion
    • Tell volunteers to wash hands for 20 seconds minimum before serving Holy Communion.
    • Use hand sanitizer in front of the congregation before serving to validate the practice.
  • If communion is shared by intinction, give people options like crossing their arms before the cup as a sign of participation, especially if they are experiencing anxiety about receiving communion.
  1. Talk to Church Staff and Key Volunteers
    • Emphasize:
      • Respiratory etiquette (covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue)
      • Routine cleaning of frequently touched surfaces and objects.
      • Hand hygiene (washing hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds)
      • Stay at home when sick
      • Identify what symptoms count as stay at home criteria:
        • Active, persistent, hacking cough
        • Shortness of breath
        • Fever (must be fever-free and related symptom-free for 24 hours before return)
    • Consider what preparations need to be made now if people choose to work from home.
      • How would I do my job if I were not in this facility?
      • Help employees understand the difference between working from home and taking Paid Time Off if they are sick.
  1. Review Church Cleaning Practices
    • Ask staff and volunteers to clean surfaces and door handles after use in public areas.
    • Make hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies available in a child-safe location in classrooms and other areas where necessary.

A few years ago I learned from United Methodists in Sierra Leone that when the church takes precautions during a public health crisis, it can positively impact everyone in the country. Churches there asked their members to rinse their hands in a chlorinated water solution, refrain from handshaking and hugs and find new ways to greet and show care for one another that would not transmit the virus. Sierra Leone was dealing with an outbreak of Ebola, which is not something to be taken lightly. When faith communities took this initiative, its good practices quickly spread through the country, with a very positive benefit to public health. While COVID-19 is different from Ebola, church leaders who take the initiative can help people plan what to do to improve health and lower anxiety when people hear the word “pandemic”.

28 Feb 2020
General Conference, Popular, Recent Permalink

Talking About the Protocol

February 28, 2020

As a member of the team that worked with mediator Ken Feinberg to produce the Protocol on  Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation and Restructuring, I have received a lot of questions about both the Protocol and accompanying legislation. Leaders in the United Methodist Church who are Traditional, Centrist and Progressive worked together to overcome our impasse related to same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly gay persons for ministry. Our group included laypersons, clergy and bishops from our global church. We all had to listen carefully to each other so that we could offer the church a plan to move forward, and at the same time, help everyone get to the future they desired where they could reach others for Christ. It is a plan for separation, trusting God that all of us can find a future where we can serve Christ in ways that honor our common Wesleyan Christian heritage.

Reading legislation coming before the 2020 General Conference of the United Methodist Church is never an easy task. In this case it is over 60 pages and includes words like “indemnification.” I made this video to help pastors and lay people who wanted to understand the basics of this proposal and who asked for some help with presentations related to the protocol. There are three questions I am working to answer in this video that I hope will assist you:

  • Why are we still talking about this?
  • A basic explanation of the legislation
  • Why this matters

Take a look and if this is helpful, feel free to download it for your use or share it with others.

 

13 Mar 2019
Popular, Recent, Thoughts and Reflections 8 Comments Permalink

#1Church4All

March 13, 2019 8 Comments

Since the results of the called 2019 General Conference were announced, people at Floris UMC have been asking me how we will respond. Those in our church who are LGBTQ persons and family members felt hurt and rejected by the passage of the Traditional Plan. Many of us felt that our personal values were violated in the decision of the General Conference, the only body that is able to speak officially for the United Methodist Church. Some members captured what many were saying when they noted that for the first time in their lives, the cross and flame on the sign in front of our church reflected something they could not and would not support. They were not angered that they did not get their way. They were embarrassed to be associated with a decision that they did not know how to explain to their LGBTQ family members, friends, co-workers and neighbors. Most have children who are fully accepting of all people and who do not notice or exclude people due to categories of sexual orientation. Those of us who support marriage and job equity find the more stringent conditions of the Traditional Plan to be a movement away from the way of Christ. The simple reason for this is that we believe sexual orientation is a way a person is created by God rather than a sin they commit against God.

At Floris, I have also heard from members who support the traditional view of marriage and ordination found in the current Book of Discipline. Some of these persons were offended at the way their friends in the LGBTQ community were characterized by traditional delegates at General Conference. Some shared that matters in this debate are simply not pivotal to their church membership, or in need of enhanced measures of enforcement in the church.

As one of the authors of the One Church Plan, I returned from General Conference disappointed and tired. My two years on the Commission on a Way Forward were invested in the hope of a better outcome for the United Methodist Church than what I experienced. While I was saddened by the full victory of traditional delegates and the unwavering voting block of evangelical American United Methodists and members of many central conferences in other continents and countries, I knew I had a lot of work to do back home. In the conversations and meetings that followed at Floris UMC in the days after General Conference, God used two moments to galvanize what I was hearing from so many in our congregation.

The first was the feedback I heard from LGBTQ members of our church. They were among the most gracious and kind responses I received. I called to apologize to them and see how they were doing in the wake of the news. Before responding, they asked how I was doing and thanked me for my service. One woman spoke of her experience with her wife and children at our church. She said that after a few years at Floris, she had to admit that she was never really sure if her family was accepted or not. Did the people sitting around her welcome them or want them to leave? Would someone one day tell their children that their parents were sinful? It was apparent that she felt a great deal of insecurity long before the General Conference ever took place. This church member said that she would like to know that Floris wanted her family and people like her to be included so that together, we could get on with the important mission of our church. She said she loved seeing our church share Christ and grow as disciples. She celebrated the ways we bless the vulnerable and poor and bring the love and hope of Christ to those in difficult times. She said that she loved this mission. She was not looking for an LGBTQ church. She was looking for a Christian community where she knew she and her family were accepted, loved and included in that mission. While I was focused outwardly, frustrated by the outcome of General Conference, I was inwardly convicted by the Holy Spirit that we did not have our own community in order.

When we held a General Conference debriefing at Floris, God used another moment to help me understand our congregation’s way forward. More than 600 people came to the event, along with over 200 who joined online. At one point I asked those who experienced the outcome of the General Conference as something personal because they were LGBTQ persons, family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors or allies to raise their hand. I emphasized that we were not voting and that some would not raise their hands because they were taught never to raise their hand in church for any reason. Many told me later that they were shocked when, thinking they would be in the minority, they estimated that about 90% of those gathered had their hands up as well. LGBTQ members shared that it was a moment when they understood how many people cared about them. They could see that it was a safe and welcoming environment. All I could think of was Why on earth was this the first time we ever knew so clearly? I was convicted by my own complicity in this confusion and given a tremendous sense of clarity about the loving church we long to be.

Our denomination has a lot to sort out and it will take until the 2020 General Conference for anything to change. So does our congregation, and we don’t have that much time. It is clear to me that we want to be a broadly inclusive community. For several years we have worked to be a church that looks more like our community, inclusive of all ethnicities. Last year we included funds in our Dream Campaign to hire someone to help our church become more inclusive of people with disabilities. Now it is clear that we want to be intentionally welcoming and inclusive of the LGBTQ community as well. This is no longer something we think about. Our hands are raised to say that it is a personal value to us.

In the next three weeks, we will establish three teams to work for no more than six months to offer our church council actionable plans to become a more inclusive church in these three areas. For the next six months, and perhaps the time beyond, we will use the “1Church4All” graphic to remind us of our goal to welcome and include all abilities, all ethnicities and all orientations. Anyone who would like to use this graphic in a positive way in their church is welcome to do so. We think six months is important. Many of our members consider our church to be on probation. They want to know if what we say is real or just talk. They want to know if we are going to stand about and admire a problem of the past or step into an opportunity for our future. We will not find perfection in six months. But we can move to places of welcome and inclusion we have never experienced in our 126-year history as Floris United Methodist Church and show our community who we are in the midst of this difficult time in our denomination. That work will begin the long journey of congregational sanctification in the perfecting love of Christ.

In the 1980s, United Methodist Churches across the country decided to welcome people with physical disabilities. We talked about it, but the welcome was never real until we literally built accessibility ramps, widened doorways, redesigned bathrooms and made other critical adaptations so that people would actually be welcomed and included in our ministry. At Floris UMC we must do something similar in these three key areas. We need our content experts, people with disabilities, people of various ethnicities and LGBTQ members and friends to serve on these teams along with many others. We can design our community and ministry with God’s leading and with each other. All people are of sacred worth is a statement that did not change at General Conference. At this time, we will acknowledge that we are a broken and sinful community, but that we share a common aspiration to follow as God leads us to a deeper and more loving experience of the church.

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