What's next for The United Methodist Church? UM-Insight is carrying two perspectives, one by retired bishop Michael J. Coyner, and the other by Adam Hamilton, pastor of the Church of the Resurrection in Leeward, Kansas, and one of the organizers of next month's gathering at that church. Bishop Coyner asks a number of intriguing questions, while Rev. Hamilton reports on the interest and excitement of two recent gatherings, which "included traditionalist and progressives, evangelicals and liberals, pastors of small churches and pastors of some of our largest churches, members of the LGBT community, people of color"--all opposed to the outcome of the General Conference and interested in the future of the UMC.
Bishop Coyner says,
- ...only by electing different delegates will there be different results. So, will the delegations in 2020 consist of younger persons or persons more open to change? Or will annual conferences continue to elect the same persons who have served in the past?
- we will likely see two diverging trends: More delegates from outside of the U.S. voting for traditional policies and more delegates from within the U.S. voting for change. Which trend will prevail?
- Will the “center” of our United Methodist Church continue to organize in the future? Since most of that group supported the One Church Plan, will they bring forth similar plans to the 2020 General Conference?
- our church has a history of voting “no” to many new ideas the first time, but then later adopting them. Will that prove to be the case with some or all of the proposals from the commission?
- ...lack of decorum, spreading of gossip and rumors, and uncivil behavior ... have enough people been embarrassed by that kind of behavior (and the attention it gained in the national media) to move toward a more civil style of interaction?
- Will our United Methodist Church look for ways to organize itself to be a global church in the midst of a “flat” world?
- Given how the speeches and statements at the 2019 General Conference reflected very different understandings of Scripture, will our United Methodist Church be able to bring some consensus to those understandings?
- A family systems therapist would likely diagnose our current preoccupation with the issue of homosexuality by saying we have made LGBTQ persons into our “identified patient” as a way of avoiding other issues like heterosexual abuse, polygamy, child neglect, racism, sexism, etc.
- Will the finances of our general church remain strong?
- Will the United Methodist Church continue to be united or will it unravel? ...will we remain stuck in the conflicts of a political convention model like the 2019 General Conference?
You will want to read his entire analysys!
Adam Hamilton summarizes the results of two recent, invitation-only 6-hour meetings in Dallas and Atlanta regarding the future of the UMC. UMNS has this story about this and the next meeting to be held May 20-22. Hamilton expresses hope and interest in the movements of those who were excited to be a part of forming a new Wesleyan movement, and those who were interested in staying to reform the current UMC. He writes:
There was some genuine excitement about the possibility of reinventing United Methodism for the 21st century, retaining the Doctrinal Standards, the Theological Task and the Social Principles (while removing the incompatibility language), holding together the evangelical and social gospel, the Wesleyan emphasis on grace and sanctification, and a passionate pursuit of both evangelism and social justice....
These two, six-hour meetings ended with an agreement to convene a much larger conversation about what’s next for the UMC to help shape and create the next Methodism—a Methodism defined by Wesleyan theology, a missional focus, evangelism and social justice, and being a church that fully welcomes LGBTQ persons and their families and friends in the life of the church.
You will also want to read this entire report.