It was a most painful, painful day at General Conference, as we can’t own up to the truth that we have differences as Christians with the present language in the Book of Discipline regarding homosexuality. Many see the present statement’s tone and intent deeply contrary to God’s love for all!

Our Board Chair, Adam Hamilton and our Commencement speaker for 2013, Mike Slaughter, offered most thoughtful, graceful, and truthful language to parse our situation to a divided church. However, the body rejected the suggested amendment by a vote that fell short 60% to 40%. The General Conference decided to hold on to language, which begs the truth of our divided opinions on the subject, and offered back our original terse words of exclusion and condemnation.

In reflecting on this day I offer to all the biblical words I  shared yesterday:

“Do not be astonished, brothers and sisters that the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. All who hate a brother or sister are murderers . . . Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action . . . There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear . . .The commandment we have for him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sister also.” 1 John 3:13-4:21.

The last word on the subject has not yet been spoken. There is more work to be done, and God is not finished! God’s incredible, remarkable, unspeakable love is ready and available to all. May we not forget it, and may we always live it, in the midst of pain and forever more.

It is beginning to feel that the church I love is becoming a bit unrecognizable to me, as I have moved through the long evenings and the early mornings of General Conference over these last several days.

Yesterday it was the guaranteed appointments. On the surface it sounds fine an exit strategy for “ineffective pastors,” cloaked in the garb of wanting to rid ourselves of the ineffective pastors. These are some of the questions that I have not been able to figure out in this sea change for our denomination:

• Haven’t we always had a way of exiting problematic, unproductive pastors if we had courage to navigate proper procedures?
• What does this mean for freedom of the pulpit?
• Open itinerancy?
• Prophetic preaching?
• Older pastors?
• Female pastors?
• Pastors whose experience levels don’t measure up to the appointment?
• Pastors who serve cross-racial appointments?
• Pastors who might have a different opinion from those who have the power of appointment making?
• What if a pastor has an illness that temporarily diminishes their capacity to perform their duties with excellence for a period of time?
• Will younger persons be willing to go to school for three years or more, incur debt, and navigate the Board of Ordained Ministry process to risk all to be left flying in the wind?

We believe at this writing that a new structure for the United Methodist Church has been established. It is interesting to me that two African-American women who head the two Commissions of our church concerned with values training and advocacy for persons in our church that have been historically unrepresented find themselves marginalized on the sideline in the new structure. As we traverse a world and a church that often needs to be reminded that God loves all, how tragic it is that we are “taking the teeth” out of these historical commitments! How can we offer leadership to divided communities and keep people talking and working at the same table? How do we be leaders in a society where we are rapidly moving to be a nation with no racial majority?

Tomorrow I will hear further divisions in the General Conference as we deal with issues of human sexuality. Some of this will no doubt be painful, just like the debate earlier this day about Israel and the Palestinian people.

It is also interesting to me that over the last two weeks as I have followed the lectionary readings as part of my daily devotions the words from the epistles in 1 John are re-echoing in my mind:

“Do not be astonished, brothers and sisters that the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. All who hate a brother or sister are murderers . . . Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action . . . There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear . . .The commandment we have for him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sister also.”               1 John 3:13-4:21

Even with my questions, my concerns, and disappointment in the way some of these pieces of legislation have circulated, been adopted, and/or interpreted, I’ve been reminded this day, and every day, that God is still on the throne. God is about love. God is about living out our values every day in spite of what others do. May you this day be reminded too!

Last Friday evening, the General Conference was reminded of some of our not-so-nice history with Native peoples in an “Act of Repentance toward Healing Relationships with Indigenous Peoples.” The journey that led us to this place is unfortunately consistent with many other chapters of horrible atrocities inflicted upon people throughout the centuries led by “the good church folk.” Yes, even our beloved United Methodist Church and its antecedent bodies have nurtured some of the prime perpetrators and leaders to that which we readily see now as vile and despicable. Some of our members’ behaviors can border on the barbaric, as it has left whole tribes and nations homeless, hopeless, and helpless. No, we may not have been there or been around, but we have benefited greatly from the largess of their booty.

We can’t pretend or forget that history ever happened! We dare not send the victims of such hurts into blissful oblivion; we need to repent and live differently. 

Our speaker Dr. George Tinker, a citizen of the Osage Nation, and a member of the faculty at Iliff School of Theology said, “There’s a lot of history that has been concealed; and you have to go dig it up.” He went on to say, that “it was too early to talk about reconciliation. . . Apologies don’t do anything.” And, “Repentance is not something done once.” Repentance must become a way of life.

How appreciative I was of this service; a life’s work of repentance will go on with me!

Today, May 1^st, we celebrated work completed the previous day in a legislative section that went to the consent calendar dealing with Pan-Methodist (AME, AME Zion, CME, UAME, and the AUMP Churches) Full Communion. These several denominations all came out of the Methodist part of our lineage, and their separations were all linked to issues of race and discrimination. We held a service of repentance for this unfortunate history probably three General Conferences ago. This service marked the first–fruits of an enlarged commitment to really being a partner in sharing and living the gospel of Jesus Christ in the world.

In both of these recaps the questions are, how will we share these steps made in Tampa throughout our church systems?  How will it marinate our personal lives and ministries? May you and I immediately embrace these new ways of seeing our neighbors.

On Tuesday evening of last week our Board of Trustees Chair, Reverend Adam Hamilton made a most passionate presentation of the “The Call to Action ” proposal  which outlined a series of sweeping recommendations that came to General Conference from The Connectional Table, and the Council of Bishops. The recommendations spoke to countering the present decline of the church in the United States both in terms of membership and money with new initiatives, and a much reduced bureaucratic structure. Unlike most items that come to the General Conference most of the delegates have some knowledge and feelings about this legislation. Also, unlike most of the other legislation items coming before the body there are alternatives to The Call to Action proposed legislation with less sweeping change proposed.

One thing I think everyone can agree on at least is that the United Methodist Church needs to undergo change of some kind in order to link with reality. What has worked before is not even addressing our present let alone our future. Do we die slowly or will we implement change to make possible a future?

Last Sunday, on the plane ride to Tampa I read how Kellogg, the cereal company from Battle Creek, Michigan was entering the new snacks foods market because U.S. eating habits have changed. On the same ride, I also read a Kodak board member’s reply to an inquiry of why Kodak, going through bankruptcy, had not thought about the idea of Instagram which was recently bought by Facebook for $1 billion dollars. The reply was most telling, “It’s like asking why Hasbro didn’t do Farmville, or why McDonald’s didn’t start Whole Foods.”  

As the United Methodist Church figures out its change and as we at Saint Paul figure out ours there are lessons we can learn from Kellogg and Kodak.

It is the middle of the first week of the General Conference, and it is marked by demonstrating most intensely the slowness by which the church often moves. Much of the morning after my 7 a.m. breakfast meeting seems crippled by debates that began the night earlier which deals with the “Plan of Organization and Rules of Order for 2012 General Conference.” Indeed we need “Rules for the Road,” but many seem fearful of change. Others seem to be extremely cautious as if they had been burned by some other prior experience. General timidity is evident, and some no doubt are just faithless in contemplating a journey with too many unknowns.

Our hesitation to navigate the unknown makes doing church business more often than not a slow grind.  

Yes, we always want church business carried out thoughtfully and thoroughly. We want church business conducted with love, care, patience, listening, and respect for all persons. We want our highest convictions and values displayed and in sync at all times.

However, slow paced grinding can cause many to shut-down, slip away, stop completely, or slow any future experiences of working with the church. I felt such pain too often today!

In the afternoon officers and elected legislative leaders were elected with the efficiency of our snail paced presidential election cycle. This of course, means a time frame of being at the starting line of a ski jump. I ask you, why do we waste time making minor decisions, while possibly running out of time for the major ones? 

Members of the Association of United Methodist Theological Schools (AUMTS) met with a smaller group of Bishops who shared with us their hopes for greater cooperation between seminaries and them. We discussed in great length a plethora of issues that needed our cooperation both now and in the future:

Bishops Discuss Hopes

• Importance of walking with graduates of our schools throughout the duration of their ministries in a seismic shifting environment.
• Giving our students even greater intercultural sensibilities to navigate a much changed world.
• Educating students who are able to navigate issues of conflict and lead in stewardship.
• Having faculty and staff members who will serve on Boards of Ordained Ministry.
• Producing graduates who claim being in the “public square” as vitally essential in their ministries.
• Producing graduates who can lead in a time when 3 out of every 4 churches are identified as being merely stable or in decline.

These are some of the same things we are concerned about and talk about at Saint Paul.  I really believe all of us in the academy and leaders of the church must partner increasingly closer together as we navigate a landscape that is grossly changed and changing.  

Over the last day and a half, members of the Association of United Methodist Theological Schools (AUMTS) did some assessment of our individual and combined United Methodist faculty, senior administrators, and UMC ordained graduates.  We spent a great deal of time figuratively “counting fingers and toes” while wondering how this sufficiently addresses having a Wesleyan identity.  We of course lamented the fact that our latest Ministerial Education Fund (MEF) formula negates the importance of what we do ecumenically, globally, with laity, in Course of Study programs, and while addressing ourselves to issues of inclusivity. We at Saint Paul have experienced in recent months the ill effects of such short-sightedness as our MEF allotment dropped a drastic 25% with this new focus on actual numberof persons being ordained rather than looking at the ethos of an environment in which our graduates are educated and formed.  With such metrics some in the church have adopted, the larger schools will always be rewarded with the “lion’s share” of the MEF dollars.  Needless to say the heads of schools like ours (free-standing) had some rather warm exchanges with our University-based seminaries which shamelessly benefited from our inability to compete with such mission-less metrics.  When all was said and done we all came out committed to standing up for the values and the missions of our collective schools and not buy into the short-sightedness of some who would want to see some of our schools close.  We also came out thinking we needed to revisit our present MEF formula.

We can never let our metrics trump our mission!  However, we cannot fully perform our mission without having the necessary dollars.

Saint Paul Doctor of Ministry students working in theological education overseas: Kimba Kyakutala, Yatta Young, Guy Mande Muyombo

It is already late after a long day of meeting with colleagues of the Association of United Methodist Theological Schools (AUMTS), the 13 United Methodist seminaries in the U.S. as we make final preparations for General Conference.   The name of our group still bothers me deeply as it betrays the fact that there are United Methodist seminaries in other parts of the globe.  However, we dare not risk renaming ourselves or we risk “opening up a can of worms” in the Book of Discipline which spells out our relationship to the church and the funding that is available to us.  On Sunday evening, myself and other colleagues of the Association of United Methodist Theological Schools (AUMTS), the 13 United Methodist seminaries gathered for dinner after journeying to the site of United Methodist General Conference in Tampa.  However, the dinner quickly turned into “a meeting before the meeting” as we discussed legislation dealing with Central Conference Funding for Theological Education.  This was indeed something we all supported, but I had chided some of my colleagues for trying to make suggestions to the proposed legislation that bordered on continued U.S. domination.  You know what happens when you question or make suggestions?  You get an assignment.  Spending more than an hour with three others we came up with the following statement of support for a piece of legislation on United Methodist theological education funding in Central Conferences.

AUMTS SUPPORT FOR GLOBAL THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION

Petition Number: 21086-CC-¶800-!-G

 

1. 1.      Support for central conference theological education: The United Methodist theological schools in the U.S. unanimously support the proposal coming forward to create a new­ fund committing $5 million for theological education in the Central Conferences. Our own experience in collaborating with many of these schools and in educating many of their faculty and leaders leads us to urge passage of the increased support to $5 million for the coming quadrennium.

 Why do we speak? We have faculty and students from around the world, who return home to teach, preach, and serve. One of our former students is President of the United Methodist University of Liberia. One is initiating indigenous theological education in Cambodia, having previously served as Dean of Union Theological Seminary in Manila. One is engaged in AIDs ministry with orphans to reconnect children with their families in Zimbabwe. One was the first Chancellor and one the first Vice Chancellor of Africa University. Our own contribution of $10-$12 million in the past quadrennium will continue, and we urge that the Church add the additional $5 million to support theological education more fully in the Central Conferences.

 

1. 2.      Partnership in the connection: With the deepening of the global UMC connections, the leaders of our schools in the U.S. seek to strengthen these relationships with our UM partners across the world. The world is too small for us to think that education in one part of the world is unrelated to that in another part. We are a connectional church, and theological education needs to be connectional. We need schools in every part of the world in which the indigenous leadership is strong, as well as the global witness. The United Methodist Schools of the U.S. work to that end by sponsoring students from across the world, engaging in exchanges and other partnerships with Central Conference schools, and supporting a global student body with a global ethos. We witness similar commitments in our theological partners in the central conferences, and we want to support that fully. The future is in partnership; thus, we urge that we strengthen the central conference schools while continuing to build partnerships across the connection. 

 

1. 3.      Support for new funds and long-range planning for central conference theological education. We strongly support the creation of a new fundraising process and the development of a future-looking plan for theological education in the central conferences. We heartily agree with the language of the petition that “there is a growing need for contextually relevant theological education outside theUnited States.” We also agree that “the general Church should have a stable and on-going way of funding theological education in Central Conferences.” This can only happen with new support, built on what the Central Conference andUnited States schools are already doing. It can only happen if the Church supports the Central Conference schools and programs generously and supports those same schools and programs to plan for a stable and vigorous future, based on traditional supports and adding new ones.

 

The point I’m making is that the church is always in the process of changing.  Some things we change sooner rather than later.  Other times change needs to come in stages.  We change as faith deepens, conditions change, and we gain greater clarity in living out our values.  Sometimes you and I must step up through our convictions in helping others recognize changing conditions and terms.

Kimba Kyakutala, a Saint Paul Doctor of Ministry student from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was the elected secretary of the legislative committee dealing with Central Conference Concerns.  During the Committee session Dr. Kah-Jin Jeffrey Kuan, Dean of the Theological School of Drew University, an elected delegate, was able to read the document he and others from AUMTS prepared the night before. I’m told that after the document was read many of those present, including Kimba, applauded joyfully as the statement was read.  The legislative item we supported with many Central Conference delegates passed unanimously and was sent to the consent calendar.