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Renewing hope: Evangelicals focus on critical issues Robin Russell, Nov 2, 2007
UMNS PHOTOS BY KATHY L. GILBERT; UMR PHOTO BY ROBIN RUSSELL
The Rev. Maxie Dunnam (left) introduces speaker Les Longden at the Renewal and Reform Coalition Conference in Memphis.
By Robin Russell Managing Editor
MEMPHIS, Tenn.—Conservative groups within the United Methodist Church are working to make sure General Conference delegates have what they need to align their votes with an “evangelical, orthodox” perspective.
At the 2007 Renewal and Reform Coalition Conference, held Oct. 26-27 at Christ United Methodist Church in Memphis, Tenn., six conservative groups gave presentations on what they consider will be the most critical issues at the churchwide gathering April 23-May 3 in Fort Worth, Texas.
The coalition—which includes the Confessing Movement, Good News, UMAction, Lifewatch, RENEW and Transforming Congregations—says the denomination has gotten off course because it believes United Methodist bishops, boards and agencies have strayed from a Wesleyan mandate to be faithful to Scripture.
And that, they add, has created all kinds of problems—including a hemorrhaging membership.
“You don’t have to have a sense of direction as bad as mine to know that the United Methodist Church is going the wrong way in its doctrine and commitment to the core beliefs of the orthodox church,” said the Rev. Rob Renfroe, pastor of discipleship at The Woodlands UMC near Houston, Texas, and board president for the Confessing Movement.
The conference drew some 250 laypersons and clergy from surrounding states—Ohio, Missouri, Virginia, Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee—as well as a clergy member from Liberia and a layperson from Finland.
Ninety-eight delegates, including alternates, had registered for the Memphis event, organizers said. Staff members from several United Methodist boards and agencies also were present.
The Rev. Marc Brown, a Virginia district superintendent, said he came to hear fellow United Methodists and to report back to his own delegation. “I heard pretty clearly concerns about the Council of Bishops and the boards and agencies,” he said. “But I also appreciated hearing that we are called not to demonize others, [but instead] to disagree without being contentious and to treat everyone with respect.”
That sentiment was intentional, said the Rev. Bill Bouknight, former pastor of Christ UMC. “The idea was not to do a hard sell,” he said in an interview, “but to present the evangelical, orthodox view and then to dialogue. We disagree—and we can’t compromise on that—but goodness knows we ought to treat one another as brothers and sisters. If we don’t do that, we’ve failed.”
But that doesn’t mean delegates will find common ground, Dr. Bouknight added during his opening sermon. When push comes to shove, he said, even the apostle Paul “did not argue that unity was more important than truth."
Conference speakers said the church has become too layered in bureaucracy and takes on issues that are at odds with its own mission: to make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. They targeted the denomination’s boards and agencies, in particular, along with the United Methodist Council of Bishops, the church’s most visible leadership.
“You know, we’ve got a lot of people in the church who’ve never accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior—and that’s caused a lot of problems in the church,” said retired Bishop William W. Morris of Gallatin, Tenn., who led a Bible study on “A Hope and a Future Through Our Wesleyan Heritage” at the conference.
“We’ve got a lot of folk who are riding on the coattails of others. They don’t know Jesus, and it shows up on the administrative board meeting and the council meeting, because Christ is not in them.”
Dr. Bouknight said some church leaders were hypocritical. For instance, he said, United Methodist boards criticize the U.S. government but stay silent about dictators elsewhere. “Wouldn’t it be refreshing for the Board of Church and Society to recognize at least once each quadrennium that freedom’s best friend on earth is the United States of America?” he asked.
Hypocrisy also abounds, he added, when the church is more concerned about apportionments than winning converts, when it spends more on boards and agencies than helping suffering people, when bishops say helping children is one of their priorities yet fail to protect the unborn, and when church leaders make “majors out of minors”—such as condemning sports mascots—when genocide is taking place in Darfur.
Episcopacy and clergy
Bishop Morris said United Methodist episcopal leaders have failed in their calling to guard “the apostolic faith as it is expressed in Scripture and tradition”—a mandate given them in Paragraph 414.3 in the Book of Discipline.
“I don’t think we have done that well as leaders of the church,” he said. “Our task is to guard and protect the faith, not to apologize for guarding the faith and apologize for being evangelical.”
Dr. Bouknight argued that many United Methodist bishops and clergy are preaching a “false gospel” that reduces the message of the cross to, “God loves you, and we’re trying to.”
“That message reeks of cheap grace or sloppy agape,” he said. “If this false gospel is accepted, lots of United Methodist essentials are forfeited,” including the doctrine of original sin, Jesus’ birth and resurrection, the uniqueness of Christianity.
Dr. Maxie Dunnam, a longtime leader in the Confessing Movement and former president of Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., described the Council of Bishops as “dysfunctional” in recent years.
“Most glaring,” he said, “is the agenda-driven elections in some jurisdictions. How long has it been since the Western Jurisdiction elected a bishop that supported our church position on homosexuality? We have bishops being elected in other jurisdictions than where they spent their ministry.”
He praised some bishops’ efforts toward increased accountability, and said the Council’s work in leading the church toward a unified focus deserved support. But that’s still overshadowed by a “doctrinal plurality [that] is part of the ethos of present-day United Methodism,” he said.
“It’s clear to me that the time has come to talk about term limits on the episcopacy and the ineffectiveness of guaranteed appointment."
Judicial Council
Decisions about whom to select as Judicial Council members “are the most important ones you will make,” District Judge Roy Enns of the Northwest Texas Annual Conference told delegates, because the denomination’s high court is “the only group that can hold a bishop accountable.”
“Five people on the Judicial Council can change church law,” he said. “It’s imperative that we elect evangelicals to the Judicial Council.” He added that he was glad he didn’t live in the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference, where a bishop’s decision to reassign a transgendered pastor to a United Methodist congregation has been upheld by the Judicial Council.
“We need to pray for that conference,” Judge Enns said.
Doctrine, accountability
The most crucial legislation at General Conference, said Dr. Dunnam, will center on issues of accountability and leadership. He lamented the state of United Methodist higher education, saying more students are coming to seminaries from Wesley Foundations at secular universities than from Methodist colleges and universities.
“As goes the seminary, so goes the pastor. As goes the pastor, so goes the local congregation. As goes the local congregation, so goes the entire church,” Dr. Dunnam said. “We have the responsibility to hold accountable those to whom we give the task of preparing our folks for ministry.”
Dr. Dunnam said the church motto of “Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors.” would be appropriate if it reflected orthodox beliefs. United Methodists need to invite people to come as they are, he said, because “the love of Jesus Christ will accept them as they are, but will not leave them as they are.”
Global church
Dr. Eddie Fox, world director of evangelism for the World Methodist Council, said the global church needs to be fully represented as decisions are made for the next quadrennium.
He said a proposal by United Methodist bishops to allow the U.S. to become a Central Conference could have unintended consequences. That proposal would require changing the church’s constitution, something Dr. Fox cautioned against.
“In Appalachia, we do not open the gate until we know what’s coming through the gate,” he said, referring to the region where he grew up. “If now one-third of Methodists live outside the U.S., why establish national identities? Now’s the time for everyone to be present.”
Membership standards
Church membership standards need to be vigorously upheld, speakers said. Several urged support for petitions that would strengthen the pastor’s role in discerning whether someone is ready to accept the vows of the church.
The Rev. Gregory Stover, district superintendent of the Cincinnati District in Ohio and a Good News and Confessing Movement board member, warned against changing the wording in paragraphs 214 and 225 of the Discipline from “may become members” to “shall.”
“That lodges the decision for membership completely with persons seeking membership,” he said. “That has never been the case in the history of Methodism. There’s very little opportunity or ability for pastors to respond.”
In Wesley’s eyes, he added, “justifying grace always included sanctifying grace” and was associated with repentance. Membership, he said, was then a step toward maturation in the faith, and usually involved a trial period before a person was fully accepted.
Dr. Les Longden, professor of evangelism and discipleship at Dubuque Seminary and a Confessing Movement board member, said the debate over membership shows “there are two contrasting theologies at work: acceptance and redemption. You can hear the strains of these two vying for acceptance.”
United Methodists need to decide, he said, whether membership is merely “affirming tolerance” or “commitment to a community of repentance and holiness.” It’s not a new struggle, he added. Since the time of John Wesley, there’s been controversy over “the practice of watching over each other in love.”
“Even Wesley had to battle the notion that you should keep your sins to yourself and you should not inquire into the state of your soul,” Dr. Longden said. “We have lax membership-formation habits. In baptismal vows you promise to be in covenant relationship with others who help form your journey.”
Resources
The Renewal and Reform Coalition will provide additional resources for delegates during the 2008 General Conference, said the Rev. Tom Lambrecht, board chairman for Good News. Briefing breakfasts will include analysis of petitions and recommendations for delegates, reports of the previous day’s activities, prayer support, speakers and resources to help understand the legislative process.
Audio and text from the conference are available at the Christ United Methodist Church Web site, www.cumcmemphis.org.
Name: The Confessing Movement Founded: 1995 Purpose: Affirms the apostolic faith that confesses Jesus Christ as the Son, the Savior and the Lord, according to the Scriptures. Membership: 1,532 congregations, 5,298 pastors, 679,000 members Officers: Rob Renfroe, president/Indiana State Sen. Pat Miller, executive director Web site: http://www.confessingumc.org
Name: Good News Founded: 1967 Purpose: To serve as a voice for evangelical and historic Wesleyan concerns within the UMC, committed to being a voice for repentance, an agent for reform and a catalyst for renewal within our denomination. Membership: n/a Officers: James Heidinger, president and publisher; Tom Lambrecht, board chairman Web site: http://www.goodnewsmag.org
Name: Renew Network Founded: 1989 Purpose: A support network for evangelical, orthodox women within the UMC and a voice for renewal and accountability on the part of the Women’s Division, the denomination’s official women’s organization. Membership: 15,000 Officers: Faye Short, president Web site: http://www.renewnetwork.org
Name: Lifewatch Founded: 1987 [formerly, Taskforce of United Methodists on Abortion and Sexuality (TUMAS).] Purpose: To create esteem for human life at its most vulnerable, including abortion prevention. Membership: 4,000 on mailing list Officers: Cindy Evans, director Web site: http://www.lifewatch.org
Name: Transforming Congregations Founded: 1988 Purpose: To promote sanctified sexual relationships and healing for sexual brokenness. Membership: Support groups are linked with Exodus International Church Network. Officers: The Rev. Karen Booth, executive director Web site: http://www.transformingcong.org
Name: UM Action (division of Institute on Religion and Democracy) Founded: 1981 Purpose: United Methodist division of IRD, which promotes reform of America’s mainline churches, with a special focus on their political activities. Reform agenda is on Web site. Membership: n/a Officers: Mark Tooley, executive director Web site: http://www.ird-renew.org
UMNS PHOTOS BY KATHY L. GILBERT; UMR PHOTO BY ROBIN RUSSELL
Conference speakers said the church has become too layered in bureaucracy and takes on issues that are at odds with its own mission: to make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. They targeted the denomination’s boards and agencies, in particular, along with the United Methodist Council of Bishops, the church’s most visible leadership. 
