There Are Facts and There are Facts

The knowledge thus provided is more than the facts about the problem – it also includes the facts about the self-interest of the various parties affected by the situation.

Managing Transitions, William Bridges and Susan Bridges

You probably guessed that I’m a pastor. After all, it’s kinda in the web address. What you may not know, if you don’t know me, is that I’m a United Methodist pastor. For those who aren’t familiar with the United Methodist world right now, well…. it’s a mess, and that’s putting it nicely.

There is a sizable group who are splintering off to form their own, more conservative denomination. The problem is that there hasn’t been an official meeting of our General Conference (a group of delegates from around the world that make official policy and statements on behalf of the denomination) since 2019.

We typically meet every four years. 2019 was a special case. The regular meeting was scheduled for 2020, and you know what happened and why the world shut down. The last couple of years have seen postponements, and now the next official meeting is going to be in 2024 for a whole variety of reasons that I’m not going to get into right now.

We have two United Methodist churches in our town. The leadership in one is pushing very hard to leave the denomination. If you look on their website, there are all kinds of resources (including a couple of articles from the pastor) about why they should leave the denomination. They are knee deep in the necessary work to make it happen.

Personally, I am of the opinion that we should wait until something actually happens in the denomination instead of forcing the issue. I’m a person of extreme patience. I can wait a couple of years and see what the official position is. Frankly, how people are doing ministry in Oregon or Florida doesn’t really have a major impact on the ministry I am trying to lead in southwest Indiana. As far as I’m concerned, they can do ministry in a way that is most effective for their context, and I’ll do the same. Not everybody feels the same.

Last Sunday, we had a Town Hall meeting (and a pitch-in lunch – I did say we are Methodists!). At this meeting, I gave a history of what got us to where we are today as a denomination, and laid out what is going on right now. I talked about decisions that some churches are making right now, and why I think those decisions are premature. I tried to present and even, unbiased point of view, while also making it clear that there is no need for us to make any kind of decision right now. Fortunately, those in attendance, who are on very different sides of the argument, understood what I was saying and there was a consensus about staying where we are for the time being.

Eventually, there will have to be a time for more discussions about the future of the church and direction of the denomination, but now does not have to be that time.

Here’s the thing about leadership: leaders, your opinion matters. What you have to say matters. Certainly, we all have our preferences, but as leaders we have a responsibility to share with those we lead the whole of situations, not just our particular perspective.

The fact of the matter is that there are people on both sides of the United Methodist debacle that aren’t acting with full integrity. For some, the reasons are justice related. They believe that the current position of the UMC is wrong, intentionally exclusive and harmful. Therefore, they are going to be contentious objectors, especially if abiding by the letter of the law is going to harm those entrusted to their care. For others, they feel duty bound to the law and their interpretation (key word here!) of Scripture. There’s no real attempt to understand what the other side is thinking (and I think we can argue that this is true for both sides).

I feel like a good exercise would be for each side to write up a defense of the other side. And not a strawman argument. But an actual, good faith, attempt to understand and articulate what the other side has to say. It’s too late for something like this to salvage the denomination as a whole, but it would perhaps bring the temperature down a little. Because, frankly, it’s getting a little to hot in here.