As part of preparing for the Iowa Annual Conference, I’ve been thinking and praying a lot about the United Methodist Church. And, doing so has brought up fears and hopes.
In this article, I wanted to share with you some of those fears and hopes I have been experiencing.
I don’t know about you, but for me, as a Pastor called by God to shepherd God’s people, currently in Harris and Lake Park, I feel that I should always be more accountable to God than to anyone else.
And, the Bible is the only guide to help me do that.
Everything we decide to do or vote on, this annual conference, has some ramifications on what we each believe to be God’s calling in our lives. And, according to our shared Christian statements of faith, soon and very soon, Jesus Christ will come back, and this time, to judge the quick and the dead.
And, you may agree with me on this. I honestly don’t want to be found unfaithful in the end when I stand before God’s throne.
Before sharing some of my fears and hopes, let me first give you some perspective on my background.
I grew up Methodist in a mining town, Kolwezi (Democratic Republic of Congo). With my family, we attended one of the largest United Methodist Churches in the city, Jerusalem (in Cité Manika).
As a teenager, I was so curious about most of the greatest Christian leaders, which included John Wesley and the others. I was so fascinated in the way John Wesley lived out his life: prayer, Scripture searching, accountability, and serving God and the people.
Those are things, and since that day, I have been holding on, and which have also made me a proud Methodist.
Eventually, and many years fast forward, I would choose to do intensive research on John Wesley, his life and ministry, which was part of my Doctor of Ministry’s final project through the University of Dubuque in 2016.
And, my love for Methodism, as one of the expressions, keeps growing, primarily because I am where God has placed me to serve God and God’s people.
What’s happening though within our denomination creates fears in me and, I believe, in many others out there, Clergy and Laity. I, however, experience hopes in spite of the uncertain future where we all, United Methodists, are now walking.
My fears and hopes as I think about and pray for the United Methodist Church come out of all the struggles we have around the full inclusion of our LGBTQIA brothers and sisters.
As you may have noticed, I am on the nominations list of delegates to the 2020 General Conference (here in the Iowa Annual Conference).
The desire to have my name out there is to hopefully be one of the people who will help our Church not only articulate the fears we currently face but draft a path that will enable each group, represented within our Church remain, to faithful to the way they read Scripture.
Here are my fears as I think about and pray for the United Methodist Church
As you may have seen on social media and other places on the internet, the divide on the full inclusion of our LGBTQIA brothers and sisters keeps getting deeper.
What was supposed to be our way forward on this issue through the Special General Conference (in Saint Louis, MO) last February didn’t help either.
Groups are drafting plans to resist from within our denomination. An increasing number of annual conferences are willing to go against the outcome of the Special General Conference to protect our LGBTQIA brothers and sisters. Many Pastors have demonstrated the willingness to violate the decision that the Traditional Plan is our way forward.
Some U.S. conferences and congregations are cutting down on their support toward missionary work in Asia, Africa, and other places where people support a traditional view of sexuality and gender.
The list can go on and on.
But, all of this creates a sense of fear in me and a lot of our United Methodists across the board.
1. Fear of an Amicable Schism
I have attended two General Conferences in the past as a translator, and last February, I was at the Special General Conference as an observer.
All these conferences have led me to the conclusion that we are indeed a very divided house. If for over forty years, we have not agreed with the Biblical understanding of human sexuality and marriage, my first fear is that of amicably separating.
Even though John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, hated schism, it could still be a healthy manner to continue doing mission together instead of always fighting and hurting each other.
As painful as this may be, a schism has been in the news since before the 2016 General Conference, and even before that. However, if this is what United Methodists consider doing, it will come with lots of consequences, which represent my other fears.
2. Fear of Losing our connection as United Methodists
Everything will be very different and new. These changes will bring about concerns around how to structure ourselves locally, regionally, and globally.
Not only we will have to learn how to restructure ourselves again, in whatever shape the outcome may be, but it will also financially cost our denomination to rethink what these groups (two or more) will look like, as a result.
The strength of our denomination for over a century has been grounded in our connection. We are stronger when we are together.
You may have heard of this saying from Africa, “Go alone, and you will go fast. Go together, and you will go far.”
It’s not about going fast, but how far we want to go. Also, it’s not just about how far we want to go, but “are we willing to go together?”
Going together is important. But we have to agree on a lot of things to do so.
That’s where lies the forty-year-long debate, which led to the Special General Conference last February, which, unfortunately, looked much more like a way back to square zero.
“Togetherness” means more just agreeing to disagree, like you, and I may have heard from lots of our local, regional, and global Church leaders.
There are many ways to define the word “togetherness.” Of course, if you go to the Bible, we are many members as part of one body. Paul talks a lot about that in 1 Corinthians 12 and his other letters.
What I’ve come to find out is that the reading of the Bible is at the root cause for much of our disagreement around the full inclusion of our LGBTQIA brothers and sisters.
The Bible contains God’s Word, which should frame our individual and corporate worldview. If we, as the Church, can’t agree on that, the fight and hurt will never stop.
All groups (progressive, centrist, traditional) in our denomination use Scriptures that justify their stand, which makes it even harder for us all to go together.
What some refer to as diversity and inclusion do not have to do with the way we read Scripture. It should have to do with the ways we apply our shared reading of Scripture, as God’s Word, to every area of our lives.
Togetherness is what holds us under one covenant (displayed through our Book of Discipline), which some of us have already violated and continue to do the same, especially following the Special General Conference.
The Book of Discipline represents our shared way of reading Scripture in the U.S., Asia, Europe, Africa, and everywhere else around the world, as United Methodists.
It’s how we, United Methodists, understand the Bible and apply it to our everyday living.
3. Fear of its impact on local Churches
A lot of decisions that take place in the United Methodist Church happen during Charge, District, Annual, and General Conferences.
Less than 10% of our congregants attend most of these gatherings. Also, we aren’t that good at communicating the decisions we take in these meetings with our congregants. Are we?
Probably just like you, I’m also learning how to better communicate those kinds of information with the people I serve.
But, the question then is: “With whatever is going on or likely to happen, how much impact will that have on our local Churches?”
First, local Churches may lose trust in offices beyond their local ministry area. The idea of district superintendents and bishops may change.
Next is that the appointment system may take a different shape. What that means is the local Church may likely be more involved in deciding who should be their Pastor than ever.
In the case of the local Church, and as a result of schism if that happens, the weight of searching for a pastor will most likely be on the local Church.
So, now think of these little Churches in rural Iowa. How will they be likely to get a better pastor on their own?
Last, even if they want a pastor, by themselves, it may be financially challenging for them to afford to get one.
4. Fear of its impact on Ethnic Clergy
My last worry is the impact a possible schism or if the current tension, on full inclusion of LGBTQIA continues, will have on ethnic Clergy.
I am originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, as I said it earlier. And, therefore, I am also an ethnic Clergy.
Even with our current and excellent appointment system, there are still some white Churches that still will not easily accept an ethnic Clergy to be their Pastor.
According to research, and when it comes to job opportunities (including working as Clergy), most white employers (and white Churches) are more likely to hire a white man to work for them. Research also says that a white man, even if they come from jail, is more likely to get a job than a person of color.
However, I know a lot of Churches in Iowa have made lots of progress welcoming ethnic Clergy as their Pastors. They do all their best to support them in their ministry.
In the Iowa Annual Conference, we have cross-cultural workshops to help local Churches and their ethnic Clergy partner well in ministry.
If things change the way we can’t certainly articulate at this point, the question will still be: would ethnic Clergy have the same level of chance for getting a better appointment like their colleague white Pastors?
That’s my fear amid so much progress we’ve made to accommodate and support ethnic Clergy so that they can best do ministry with white Churches.
Here are my hopes as I think about and pray for the United Methodist Church
As Christians, the Bible reminds us again and again, never to fear. Even though fear is a human feeling, but we don’t have to let it take over us and how we conduct ourselves.
1. The Church is God’s
A Scripture that I use a lot as a reminder both to me and my congregations I currently serve is Matthew 16: 18.
In this story, Jesus Christ says to Peter these words: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
My point here is that Church, our United Methodist Church, and including all the other denominations, belongs to God. And, it is Christ, Himself, who builds His Church.
We are only vessels God uses to accomplish God’s redemptive work in the world.
Jesus said it to the people in the first century, “I tell you that out of these stones, God can raise up children for Abraham” (Matthew 3:9).
No matter what we decide to do, whether it pleases God or not, God will always raise a generation of people who choose to serve God and do it better than what we do today.
I, therefore, want to be on the side of the people who, not because of human demands or needs, choose to change what the Bible says concerning human sexuality, marriage, and gender.
I hope that no matter what if you and I choose to be on God’s side, we will always be a part of the Church Christ never stops building. Out of whatever may be left of us, be it a schism or anything else, Christ’s Church will always stand.
That’s the kind of the Church where I want to belong, and that gives me hope!
2. We can always do mission together
Whether we stay together or not, I believe we can still serve in mission together.
The reason why I bring this up is the fact that being where I am today has to do so much with the United Methodist Church and what it represents for the vulnerable.
I know God showed me, in a dream, a while ago (2001). In this dream, people standing outside a rural area Church were calling my name and asking me to serve them as their Pastor. They were all white and speaking English with the “American accent.”
That’s how I knew that someday I would be serving where I am. And, that became possible through the help of our United Methodist Church. Then, I was in Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of Congo) getting ready to go to Zimbabwe and attend a university, I had no idea how I would have paid for my schooling.
With no financial means of getting my education through Africa University and later Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, a Church from Illinois adopted a very good friend of mine, who has become a brother to me and me.
With no intention of serving full-time as a Pastor, and in the U.S., God made it all possible, and now here I am. Even though my goal was to get a Ph.D. and be able to teach back home, but now it’s been 14 years, and I’m still here.
Children, youth, and adults have helped me become who I am today. My point is that no matter what we end up becoming, let’s continue changing, improving, and healing lives through mission we should do together.
Mission gives me hope!
3. God will show us a better way
You may wonder how things will come into place as we move forward with whatever we choose to do, either together or separately.
God knows the way. Not only does God know the way, but Jesus Christ, Himself, is the Way (John 14: 6).
God can show us a better way to continue to be God’s Church even when we get to the point of deciding not to be together as one United Methodist Church.
We will all continue to move towards perfection, knowing that no one is perfect!
We find our way through Scripture. It is the primary way God speaks to us.
Unfortunately, that’s where we don’t agree on how the Bible should frame our lifestyle, which also may make it even harder to agree on the other ways God can reveal Himself to us (Job 33: 13).
Based on that, it’s becoming inevitable that, from my perspective, at least two branches to come out of the current United Methodist Church.
No matter what happens next, and in spite of what side we all end up on, let’s open up to God. If we do that, God will show us how, even though belonging to potentially separate groups, we can still serve together in mission.
That gives me hope, and my prayer is it does the same for you.
In Conclusion
I don’t think I have much more to say rather than encourage us to stop hurting each other to the point of losing focus. With what I’ve seen, we can’t agree to disagree, and the only way forward isn’t to try to force each other’s hand. There should be a better way for us all to remain faithful to our reading of Scripture, and how we should use it to frame the kind of lifestyle we think is Christian.
