Guest Column: Reborn Methodists

The United Methodist Church (UMC) has been reborn from a certain death, as moderates and conservatives have dramatically but quietly taken back their church. But the brethren should withhold their hallelujahs for now. The church’s future remains in question until it makes a very painful but necessary decision to prune itself of its parasitic left-wing leaders.

At its recent quadrennial governing general conference, more than 1,000 delegates voted to reaffirm and strengthen the church’s stance against homosexual practices. The importance of this historic vote cannot be overstated. The message was clear to the left-wing leadership, which has had the church in a 30-year chokehold: We’re not like the Episcopalians, so back off.

The delegates essentially voted to reaffirm existing church prohibitions against practicing homosexual clergy, same-sex unions in churches, and church funding of pro-homosexual advocacy. They also voted to uphold the church’s requirement that clergy be celibate if single and monogamous if married.

Suggested compromise language, which said that Christians disagree about homosexuality, was defeated in favor of existing definitive language calling homosexual practice “incompatible with Christian teaching.” Delegates also voted to give the full support of the UMC to civil laws that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

The delegates decided to put teeth in their pro-family votes by electing new moderate and conservative members to the Judicial Council, the church’s highest court, whose job it will be to uphold church policies on marriage and sex.

The secular left media ignored the event. (Of course, when the Episcopal Church upheld the media’s “enlightened” views a year ago by electing an openly gay bishop, there was no shortage of stories. Never mind that the rift in that church has become so severe that it may never recover.)

But the actions taken by the UMC is a huge story. Mark Tooley, a seasoned and knowledgeable Methodist critic and observer, described the United Methodist actions as a “sharp rebuke to those who claim the acceptance of homosexual behavior is culturally inevitable.” Tooley also grasped the true significance of the Methodists’ actions: “The vote against same-sex marriage by an often liberal-leaning denomination was especially noteworthy for showing that this issue is important to more Christians than simply the ‘religious right.’ ”

Middle America has finally spoken out against gay marriage, and you can’t get much more middle-American than a typical Methodist who goes to church every Sunday.

But the story of the UMC doesn’t end here. The Methodists closed their conference by approving a resolution affirming the unity of the church. That was a mistake. There is no unity in the church, and there never will be, until the liberals leave and form their own denomination. Conservatives did call for an “amicable separation,” and that’s fine. They can use whatever antiseptic words they want, but the fact is the liberals have to go.

Liberals have never represented the majority in the church, but they’ve weaseled their way into positions of leadership and have shamefully misrepresented the moderate membership. When the Rev. Karen Dammann got “married” to a woman recently, she should have been ousted from the Methodist church where she serves as a pastor.

The United Methodist Book of Discipline, which is the church’s “book of law,” specifically condemns Rev. Dammann’s actions. It says, “Self- avowed homosexuals are not to be accepted as candidates, ordained as ministers or appointed to serve in the United Methodist Church.”

But a jury of 13 Methodist pastors didn’t see it that way: “We searched the Discipline and did not find a declaration that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teachings.” They said the references to homosexuality in The Book of Discipline are not really a “declaration.” Perhaps they had seen the movie Pirates of the Caribbean one too many times, where the pirate captain Barbosa refers to the pirate code as something more akin to “guidelines.”

Liberals will never voluntarily separate from the UMC because they know their numbers are too miniscule to form a thriving church, but that’s really not the UMC’s problem. If the liberal remnant remains, the church will not survive. Under liberal leadership, church membership has seriously declined.

Typical Methodist parishioners don’t like to make trouble, so they tend not to confront their leaders. But while they may not be talking the talk, they are walking the walk…right out of their churches. Three million members have left in the last 30 years, which coincides with the rise of leftist leadership in the church. The UMC officially says it has more than eight million members, which is a stretch. Many observers contend the real figure is closer to three million.

If you take politics out of the mix, Methodist bishops should have been thrown out for bad management practices alone. Their only answer to the hemorrhaging membership is a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign called “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.” The costly campaign has done nothing to improve membership. (Perhaps it should be called “Open Wallets” for the poor members who have to pay for the mistakes made by their incompetent leadership.) To make matters worse, the spots never refer to Jesus because the marketing surveys showed that His name was a turnoff to nonchurchgoers.

Many conservative Methodists know in their hearts the UMC cannot go on as a divided house. The liberals, particularly those in the Western states, say they have been deeply wronged and feel they have the only true vision for their church. Maybe they do. Perhaps they should leave the UMC to pursue that vision, and they shouldn’t worry about being hit by the door on the way out. It is, after all, open.

The United Methodist Church (UMC) has been reborn from a certain death, as moderates and conservatives have dramatically but quietly taken back their church. But the brethren should withhold their hallelujahs for now. The church’s future remains in question until it makes a very painful but necessary decision to prune itself of its parasitic left-wing leaders.

At its recent quadrennial governing general conference, more than 1,000 delegates voted to reaffirm and strengthen the church’s stance against homosexual practices. The importance of this historic vote cannot be overstated. The message was clear to the left-wing leadership, which has had the church in a 30-year chokehold: We’re not like the Episcopalians, so back off.

The delegates essentially voted to reaffirm existing church prohibitions against practicing homosexual clergy, same-sex unions in churches, and church funding of pro-homosexual advocacy. They also voted to uphold the church’s requirement that clergy be celibate if single and monogamous if married.

Suggested compromise language, which said that Christians disagree about homosexuality, was defeated in favor of existing definitive language calling homosexual practice “incompatible with Christian teaching.” Delegates also voted to give the full support of the UMC to civil laws that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

The delegates decided to put teeth in their pro-family votes by electing new moderate and conservative members to the Judicial Council, the church’s highest court, whose job it will be to uphold church policies on marriage and sex.

The secular left media ignored the event. (Of course, when the Episcopal Church upheld the media’s “enlightened” views a year ago by electing an openly gay bishop, there was no shortage of stories. Never mind that the rift in that church has become so severe that it may never recover.)

But the actions taken by the UMC is a huge story. Mark Tooley, a seasoned and knowledgeable Methodist critic and observer, described the United Methodist actions as a “sharp rebuke to those who claim the acceptance of homosexual behavior is culturally inevitable.” Tooley also grasped the true significance of the Methodists’ actions: “The vote against same-sex marriage by an often liberal-leaning denomination was especially noteworthy for showing that this issue is important to more Christians than simply the ‘religious right.’ ”

Middle America has finally spoken out against gay marriage, and you can’t get much more middle-American than a typical Methodist who goes to church every Sunday.

But the story of the UMC doesn’t end here. The Methodists closed their conference by approving a resolution affirming the unity of the church. That was a mistake. There is no unity in the church, and there never will be, until the liberals leave and form their own denomination. Conservatives did call for an “amicable separation,” and that’s fine. They can use whatever antiseptic words they want, but the fact is the liberals have to go.

Liberals have never represented the majority in the church, but they’ve weaseled their way into positions of leadership and have shamefully misrepresented the moderate membership. When the Rev. Karen Dammann got “married” to a woman recently, she should have been ousted from the Methodist church where she serves as a pastor.

The United Methodist Book of Discipline, which is the church’s “book of law,” specifically condemns Rev. Dammann’s actions. It says, “Self- avowed homosexuals are not to be accepted as candidates, ordained as ministers or appointed to serve in the United Methodist Church.”

But a jury of 13 Methodist pastors didn’t see it that way: “We searched the Discipline and did not find a declaration that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teachings.” They said the references to homosexuality in The Book of Discipline are not really a “declaration.” Perhaps they had seen the movie Pirates of the Caribbean one too many times, where the pirate captain Barbosa refers to the pirate code as something more akin to “guidelines.”

Liberals will never voluntarily separate from the UMC because they know their numbers are too miniscule to form a thriving church, but that’s really not the UMC’s problem. If the liberal remnant remains, the church will not survive. Under liberal leadership, church membership has seriously declined.

Typical Methodist parishioners don’t like to make trouble, so they tend not to confront their leaders. But while they may not be talking the talk, they are walking the walk…right out of their churches. Three million members have left in the last 30 years, which coincides with the rise of leftist leadership in the church. The UMC officially says it has more than eight million members, which is a stretch. Many observers contend the real figure is closer to three million.

If you take politics out of the mix, Methodist bishops should have been thrown out for bad management practices alone. Their only answer to the hemorrhaging membership is a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign called “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.” The costly campaign has done nothing to improve membership. (Perhaps it should be called “Open Wallets” for the poor members who have to pay for the mistakes made by their incompetent leadership.) To make matters worse, the spots never refer to Jesus because the marketing surveys showed that His name was a turnoff to nonchurchgoers.

Many conservative Methodists know in their hearts the UMC cannot go on as a divided house. The liberals, particularly those in the Western states, say they have been deeply wronged and feel they have the only true vision for their church. Maybe they do. Perhaps they should leave the UMC to pursue that vision, and they shouldn’t worry about being hit by the door on the way out. It is, after all, open.

Author

  • Dave Berg

    Dave Berg, a former methodist, is a columnist and a television producer in Hollywood.

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