UMNS PHOTO BY MELISSA LAUBER Members of Lifewatch joined a 2002 protest in Washington against legalized abortion.

By Bill Fentum
Staff Writer

A number of special-interest caucuses—politically active groups with no official ties to the United Methodist Church—will be present throughout the 2008 General Conference. 

They won’t be speaking on the legislative floor, but they will set up lobbying efforts near the convention center, urging delegates to support their causes when it comes time to vote. The groups usually forward petitions to General Conference through individuals, local churches or annual conferences. 

Six caucuses are members of the Renewal and Reform Coalition, formed to represent conservative evangelical United Methodists during General Conference:

The Confessing Movement Within the United Methodist Church (www.confessingumc.org), supports adherence to church law and apostolic faith lived out in Christian discipleship. Confessing Movement members will support legislation to retain current language about membership standards in the United Methodist Book of Discipline. The Rev. Rob Renfroe, pastor of discipleship at the Woodlands UMC near Houston, Texas, is president of the movement’s board of directors. Current membership includes 1,535 congregations, 5,355 pastors and 681,825 individual United Methodists.

Good News (www.goodnewsmag.org), founded in 1967, describes itself as a “voice for repentance, an agent for reform and a catalyst for renewal within the United Methodist Church.” Since 1980 the group has led conservative efforts at General Conference, hosting breakfast briefings to preview daily legislation, analyze petitions and offer resources to delegates. Good News is led by the Rev. James Heidinger, a United Methodist clergyman and a leader in the Christian evangelical movement since the 1970s. The group, based in Wilmore, Ky., publishes the bi-monthly Good News Magazine.

RENEW Network (Resourcing, Enabling Network for Evangelical Women, www.renewnetwork.org) is the women’s program arm of Good News. Faye Short, a former local, district and conference officer for United Methodist Women, has served as president since the network was started in 1989. It calls for reform and accountability in the Women’s Division of the denomination’s General Board of Global Ministries. RENEW works closely with the Mission Society (www.msum.org), an independent missionary society within the United Methodist Church; and a conservative political group, the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD, www.theird.org).

UMAction is the United Methodist division of the IRD, which also keeps tabs on other mainline denominations. The division is led by Mark Tooley, a United Methodist layman and a former operative for the Central Intelligence Agency. The IRD’s Web site says the group works to “reform the social and political witness of American churches, while promoting democracy and religious freedom at home and abroad.”

Lifewatch (http://lifewatch.org)—formerly the Taskforce of United Methodists on Abortion and Sexuality—works “to create... esteem for human life at its most vulnerable, specifically for the unborn child and for the woman who contemplates abortion.” The pro-life group is supporting petitions from two annual conferences to amend the Discipline’s Paragraph 161J, affirming abortion only when the mother’s life is in danger. It also supports calls from five conferences for the UM Women’s Division to withdraw from association with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.

Transforming Congregations was started in 1988 to “offer transformational healing to those struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction and behavior,” according to its Web site at www.transformingcong.org. The group believes homosexuality is a sin, and hosts “Compassion Without Compromise” workshops to help local churches “welcome sexual strugglers into the life of the congregation” and develop “sexual healing ministries.” It supports petitions to General Conference urging development of similar programs at the denominational level.

Representing another perspective, the Common Witness Coalition includes three organizations:

Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN, www.rmnetwork.org), has more than 227 member congregations and 28 campus ministries across the country. According to its Web site, the group exists “to enable full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of the United Methodist Church, both in policy and practice.” RMN launched two related groups in 2002, United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church and the Parents Reconciling Network.

Affirmation (www.umaffirm.org), started as the United Methodist Gay Caucus in 1975, advocates full inclusion in the church of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. The group led demonstrations at the 1996 and 2000 General Conferences. It founded RMN in 1984 in reaction to a Discipline amendment barring self-avowed, practicing homosexuals from serving as ordained United Methodist clergy. The group has also had a policy statement since 1991 against war.

Methodist Federation for Social Action (www.mfsaweb.org), founded in 1907, “unites activists within the United Methodist Church to take action on issues of justice, peace and liberation in the church, nation and world.” MFSA projects include sponsoring “Creating a Culture of Peace” seminars for training in nonviolent activism; supporting the rights of workers to make a living wage; and advocating for better housing, healthcare and education. The Rev. Kathryn Johnson leads the group, based in Washington, D.C.

Racial-ethnic caucuses will also be present at General Conference, working together through the denomination’s Interethnic Strategy Development Group:

Black Methodists for Church Renewal (BMCR, www.bmcrumc.org), represents more than 2,400 African-American congregations throughout the denomination. During General Conference, members will support petitions to fund an African American Methodist Heritage Center in Atlanta; and to increase denominational support for the Black College Fund and Africa University in Zimbabwe.

National Federation of Asian American United Methodists (NFAAUM), urges full inclusion of Asian Americans in leadership, programs and administration of the United Methodist Church. It represents 10 ethnic groups in the church, including Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Formosan, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Lao, South Asian and Vietnamese. Led by executive director Ascension “Inday” Day, NFAAUM publishes a quarterly newsletter and supports Asian-American ministries through its endowment fund.

Native American International Caucus (NAIC), was the first Native American church-related group in the U.S. to receive funding from President Bush’s faith-based and community initiative program. The funding was used in 2006 to co-sponsor Native P.R.O.U.D., a conference for Native American youth on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. In 1983 NAIC created the National United Methodist Native American center, housed at UM-related Claremont School of Theology. The Rev. Alvin Deer, a former pastor in the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, is executive director.

Pacific Islander National Caucus of United Methodists (PINCUM), represents United Methodists of Chamorran, Fijian, Hawaiian, Samoan and Tongan descent. Based in Los Angeles, the group drafted a petition to General Conference to approve a study of Pacific Island ministries in 10 regional areas of the denomination. Executive director is Monalis Tuitahi, a Los Angeles attorney.

A resolution from Methodists Associated Representing the Cause of Hispanic Americans (MARCHA), will urge General Conference to support a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the U.S. Congress. Another resolution endorses Daniel Ivey-Soto, an attorney in Albuquerque, N.M., as a lay candidate for election to the denomination’s Judicial Council.

bfentum@umr.org

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