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By James V. Heidinger II, GOOD NEWS PERSPECTIVE – No. 18, April 24, 2008 Welcome to this special General Conference issue of Perspective in Fort Worth, Texas. We hope you find it helpful and informative. Please feel free to forward it to family, friends, or persons in your local church who might be interested in receiving General Conference updates. To subscribe, send your e-mail address to: perspective@goodnewsmag.org. E-mail addresses will not be sold or shared. General Conference 2008: Today we invite you to meditate on John 13:34, the text offered in our General Conference Prayer Guide. “So now I’m giving you a new commandment. Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.” Along with many others, Good News deeply appreciates the gifts and sacrifices of prayer during this General Conference season. We know that you are present in spirit through prayers and intercession. In this we are blessed. We had a spectacular crowd at our first Briefing Breakfast at the Hilton Hotel. As Wes Putnam led in worship and Tom Lambrecht presented helpful information, more than 300 delegates and observers enjoyed warm fellowship and a good breakfast. At the conclusion of the breakfast, delegates gathered with others according to legislative committees to get acquainted with other committee members. Many international delegates have traveled at least two or three days to arrive at Ft. Worth. Some have attended before; some have not. Pray for relief of jetlag and culture shock. Also pray for translators laboring to communicate clearly, and those depending on them. Voting will take place today on committee chairs and vice-chairs. This is a crucial time in which leadership will be selected and the steering of committees determined. More than 1,500 petitions and resolutions will pass through these committees. Pray that petitions that do not foster the flourishing of the church will fall to the wayside; pray that proposals working for the good of the church will pass. Throughout this process, chairs and vice-chairs will have significant influence, and so these roles will bear far-reaching fruit. Today we celebrated our Africa luncheon, a time in which we met with our central conference brothers and sisters and learned about Methodism as it exists in other countries. Pray for our featured speaker, District Superintendent Jerry Kulah from Liberia, as he continues to bring us close to Liberian congregations.
On Holy Conferencing Bishops and others working with General Conference are to be commended for urging a new tone of civility in the debates leading up to and during General Conference. In a nation where political, social and religious discourse is becoming increasingly ugly, could the United Methodist Church serve as an example of respectful dialogue and debate? A good place to start is in the way we speak of each other. Evangelicals and/or those who call themselves conservative would do well to refrain from language which accuses others, or even their ideas, as “apostate,” “unregenerate,” “blasphemous,” or “heretical.” Those who call themselves progressives would do well to refrain from labels such as “homophobic,” “racist,” “fundamentalist,” and “sexist.” All of us should stay away from labels such as the “radical left” or the “religious right.” Language which assumes one knows the motives (“they are out to destroy the church”) or the sincerity (“they only want power”) of others should be avoided. Unfortunately, we are not necessarily off to a good start. For example, when Bishop Janice Riggle Huie opened up the worship service last night by pejoratively mocking “special interest groups” within United Methodism for a smattering of crowd giggles, she was not helping in the cause of holy conferencing. Some have said they will boycott worship because the worship leaders are vocal supporters of the Reconciling Ministries Network. Boycotts are not helpful and often cause more harm than good. A video circulating which is a frontal attack on UMAction (and which includes comments from bishops which makes it doubly offensive) is ugly, misleading, and uncalled for. A look through the Advanced Christian Advocate reveals petitions condemning Soulforce, and the Church within a Church movement. Two different petitions, which were even supported by annual conferences, attack (and that is the proper word), the Institute of Religion and Democracy. Perhaps the most troubling of all is a resolution that asks the General Conference to “censure” a member of the Judicial Council, Dr. James Holsinger, for a complicated situation involving a hospital in Kentucky. Holsinger, a candidate for the country’s Attorney General position, has also been defamed by several annual conferences for decisions made by the Judicial Council. All of us, regardless of our ideological and theological positions, need to distance ourselves from falling into the trap of inflammatory speech and actions. Our Lord, as well as the church, demands better of us. By Riley B. Case, a retired member of the North Indiana Conference, assistant executive director of the Confessing Movement, and a lifetime member of the Good News Board of Directors. He is also the author of Evangelical and Methodist: A Popular History (Abingdon). Living shabbily, praying meagerly …Spiritual work is always taxing work, and Christians are loath to do it. True praying involves serious attention and time, which flesh and blood do not relish. Few people have such strong fiber that they will make a costly outlay when inferior work will pass just as well in the market. To be little with God is to be little for God. It takes much time for the fullness of God to flow in the spirit. Short devotions cut the pipe of God’s full flow. We live shabbily because we pray meagerly. This is not a day of prayer. Few Christians pray. In these days of hurry and bustle, of electricity and steam, men will not take time to pray. Prayer is out-of-date, almost a lost art. Where are the Christ-like leaders who can teach modern saints how to pray and put them at it? Do we know that we are raising up a prayerless set of saints? Only praying leaders have praying followers. We greatly need somebody who can set the saints to this business of praying! E.M. Bounds was a Methodist preacher and editor of the St. Louis Christian Advocate. He is most well-known for his books on prayer such as Power Through Prayer, Prayer and Praying Men, and Purpose In Prayer. Please pray for our Daily Briefing Breakfasts at 7:00 a.m. in the Hilton Hotel. Also, be sure to pray for the Transforming Congregations Lunch on Friday and for the speaker, Dr. Mark Yarhouse, Professor at Regent University, Director of Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity, author of “Homosexuality: The Use of Scientific Research in the Church’s Moral Debate.” On Saturday, Renew will be hosting a lunch featuring Dr. James Heidinger, Dr. Tom Thomas, Mrs. Kathryn Kiser, and Mrs. Faye Short will discuss the new book, Reclaiming the Wesleyan Social Witness: Offering Christ.
Awaiting protest Prior to arriving in Fort Worth, we were reminded that the 2008 General Conference coincided with the tenth anniversary of Soulforce, the interfaith protest organization that likes to “take it to the streets” for “gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.” As has become their recent custom, the Rev. Mel White and his colleagues will continue their “history of resisting injustice within the United Methodist Church with a direct action at the 2008 General Conference in Fort Worth.” According to the Rev. White: “We are there to liberate United Methodists from the burden of their intolerance. We will stand vigil at the front doors of that Convention Center…” In the past, our General Conference has attracted outside agitators such as the Rev. White and Fred Phelps who clamor to gain media limelight from our deliberations. They represent two extremes that United Methodism has wisely rejected. According to Mel White, “Soulforce will support the Reconciling Ministries Network, Affirmation, and other LGBT Methodist groups who are working tirelessly to end the injustice within their denomination.” We urge these United Methodist groups to use their influence to implore Mel White and his colleagues to simply stay home. This conversation should be within the United Methodist family, free from outside protestors. The United Methodist position on homosexuality is both compassionate and redemptive. It is a balanced and nuanced position that affirms the “sacred worth” of all persons even while acknowledging that as Christians we cannot affirm every expression of human sexuality. After all, there are certain sexual practices that contradict biblical standards and as faithful disciples we must be willing to declare them to be incompatible with Christian teaching. United Methodism must continue to endeavor to do that with mercy and grace extended to all of God’s children. ____________________________________________________________ |
Become a Good News Partner today! Make a generous
Become a Good News Partner today! Make a generous investment for renewal and reform in
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