Rev. Jeremy Smith of Hacking Christianity writes about "the struggle for the perfect plan," and warns against making the perfect the enemy of the good.
The struggle for the perfect plan for The United Methodist Church
by UMJeremy
August 27, 2019
The Impossible Task?
In Greek Mythology, Sisyphus was given a hopeless task: push a boulder up a hill, and no matter how hard he tried, it would always roll back down to where it began, and Sisyphus would have to start again.
It’s an appropriate image to use to describe The United Methodist Church as it struggles for its future: whatever “plan” that comes forward has to navigate so many considerations across so many cultural boundaries and overcome the power imbalance and colonialism baked into its polity that it is often seen as a hopeless task.
But is it? Let’s walk through the tensions and see what needs to happen in the last month for legitimate plans for The United Methodist Church....
Most of the plans have to do with one of four directions:
- Unity: a better form of unity for the Church (often consequential but incremental changes).
- Division: A “wheel and spokes” model whereby there are some shared structures and name, but division along ideological and geographic lines as far as governance goes.
- Dissolution: The UMC goes away and is replaced by two or more entities.
- Expulsion: one side packs it up and leaves, leaving the other half as the legal successor to United Methodism up to this point.
[Continue reading his excellent analysis and reflections.]