For our future

The heart of United Methodism

Ilong for the United Methodist Church to make the same kind of difference in lives of people today that it has for me over the past 50 years.

It can, but only if we are serious about welcoming the millions of moderates and traditionalists around the globe and in the United States who are still part of the church. The reason is simple. Moderates and traditionalists need — and are needed in — the United Methodist Church.

Some will dismiss this as an attempt to keep the institution alive, a compromise that tries to keep everyone happy or a Big Tent in which people simply co-exist. It is none of these. Rather, it is a United Methodist Church that reflects the “Heart of United Methodism.”

While we will welcome everyone, it cannot be a church for everyone. There will be some for whom it is not conservative enough and others for whom it is not progressive enough.

But it will be exactly the place for all who want to be part of the broad middle, a place for those who long for the fighting to cease and desire to focus on carrying out the church’s mission in a world that desperately needs transformation.

Hoping it happens is not enough. We must move beyond aspirational feel-good talk and enter into deep conversation about six important dynamics. It may be hard and painful at times. But what’s at stake makes it worth it.

First, the United Methodist Church will embrace Jesus’ imperative for “complete unity” articulated in John 17.

Second, we will intentionally welcome moderates and traditionalists, along with their beliefs and convictions. At the same time, moderates and traditionalists will need to respect the attitudes and opinions of progressives and centrists in the same way they wish to be respected.

Third, we will stop weaponizing orthodoxy and, instead, join together to let the rich trove of orthodoxy robustly form us. Sadly, there will be United Methodists who are outliers when it comes to Christian orthodoxy, but when faith begins to resemble Unitarianism or new-age spirituality or some expression of fundamentalism or Christian nationalism, it must be addressed.

Fourth, the United Methodist Church must successfully address matters of human sexuality. This will not be accomplished by focusing on which particular stance the church should embrace. It will happen only if the denomination crafts a new and faithful way to live with our significant differences.

The United Methodist Church currently is accountable to The 2016 Book of Discipline as amended by the 2019 General Conference concerning matters of human sexuality. This may well change at some point in the future because a new dynamic is rapidly emerging, at least in the United States.

While many moderates and traditionalists continue to embrace traditional Christian beliefs, they also are increasingly willing for others in the denomination to address human sexuality in a different way. They just ask that nothing be mandated for them or their congregation that forces them to act contrary to their conscience. This is why “may” and not “shall” language is essential.

It is wrong to assume that finding something that works in the U.S. context will settle the matter for a church that is truly global. United Methodist leaders in western Europe and the United States will have to enter into a relationship with these brothers and sisters to jointly explore what the church will do about this and a multitude of other matters if a new form of colonialism is not once again to be imposed.

Fifth, we will be uncompromisingly connectional, but the connectionalism as we know it will be turned upside down. It will no longer be imposed structurally from the top down as codified in the denomination’s Book of Discipline, but will grow organically from the ground up. This is a gift because very diverse members of local churches have figured out how to be connected through worship, study and mission at the same time our denomination is ground zero for division.

Sixth, the United Methodist Church will be shaped by our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. One task in particular will need to be at the forefront of our work: dismantling the sin of racism and building God’s reconciliation. Regardless of theological perspective, United Methodists will band together to address this sin that continues to eat at the soul of our life together.

We have a choice. We can be like almost every other mainline historic Protestant denomination and simply split so that traditionalists and moderates go, and progressives and centrists stay. Or we can choose a different future — one filled with hope because we claim our identity as the “Heart of United Methodism.”

That’s not only good for United Methodists, it’s exactly the sort of thing a broken and polarized world needs as well.