United Methodists look back on year of conflict, successes

Dec. 13, 1999 News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville,

Tenn. 10-21-28-30-71B{668}

A UMNS Feature

By Tim Tanton*

The close of the 20th century finds United Methodists engaged in ministry

all over the world.

Work teams of volunteers are building homes, operating clinics and schools,

and providing ministry to victims of natural disasters and war in Africa,

Europe, Central America and the United States. United Methodists are

advancing children's concerns, fighting gambling, advocating civil rights

and affirmative action, trying to save family farmers.

The church is growing in membership in Africa and Asia, despite a continuing

decline in the United States and parts of Europe.

At their best, United Methodists still exemplify the spirit of John Wesley

by spreading the Gospel of Christ and ministering to the world around them.

However, as the church rounds the corner on a new millennium - whether the

year is 2000 or 2001 -- United Methodists seem more divided than ever on

issues such as homosexuality and Scriptural authority, liberalism versus

orthodoxy.

Homosexuality

The church's struggle with homosexuality was a big story again in 1999. The

issue that roused passions on the General Conference floor in 1972 was

equally divisive this year, with all sides as polarized as ever, if not more

so.

The year began with more than 150 United Methodist pastors participating in

a same-gender union ceremony for two women in Sacramento, Calif., on Jan.

16. Charges were filed against the clergy members, including a group of 69

pastors in the California-Nevada Annual Conference. The Cal-Nevada group,

which has decreased to 67, is awaiting a hearing before an investigative

committee in early 2000.

Meanwhile, the Rev. Greg Dell of Chicago was convicted by a jury of his

peers on March 26 in a clergy trial for violating church law by performing a

same-sex union. Less than a month later, the Rev. Jimmy Creech performed a

similar union in North Carolina, and charges were filed against him as a

result. Creech, who was acquitted narrowly in a church trial in 1998, was

found guilty this time and punished with the loss of his ministerial

credentials on Nov. 17.

While Creech's trial was under way, a United Methodist agency was sponsoring

"In Disagreement Charity, A Conversation on Homosexuality" in Chicago.

During the Nov. 16-17 event, clergy and lay people from both sides of the

issue gave their perspectives in a civil dialogue. A few weeks earlier, the

Council of Bishops issued a pastoral letter urging United Methodists not to

be distracted by the issue when General Conference meets in May 2000.

The homosexuality issue had other plot lines as well, including a

controversy over whether a church-related campground in Northern Illinois

had discriminated against a gay couple, and a debate over whether

homosexuals should be allowed to serve as leaders in the Boy Scouts.

The Boy Scouts issue took on an odd twist, as two United Methodist agencies

adopted seemingly opposite viewpoints. The Commission on United Methodist

Men spoke in support of the Scouts organization being able to set its own

guidelines, which currently exclude homosexuals from leadership roles. The

Board of Church and Society issued a statement calling on the Scouts to

allow homosexuals to serve in leadership positions. Lost in the confusion

was the fact that the United Methodist Church itself has no stand on the

issue. Only General Conference can speak for the entire denomination.

Meanwhile, the Judicial Council added local congregations to the list of

official church bodies that may not adopt labels identifying themselves with

unofficial movements, such as Reconciling Congregations or Transforming

Congregations. Those and other groups represent different sides on the

homosexuality issue.

The division over homosexuality was evident at a Dec. 7-9 consultation

sponsored by the United Methodist Board of Discipleship and the churchwide

Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns at Scarritt

Bennett Center in Nashville, Tenn. Biblical scholars and other church

thinkers disagreed about Scriptural authority and how it addresses

homosexuality.

General Conference

Churchwide boards and agencies, along with caucuses and other groups, spent

much of 1999 gearing up for General Conference by drafting legislation and

planning strategy. The denomination's top lawmaking body will meet May 2-12

in Cleveland.

One of the most important items of business for the General Conference will

be consideration of an act of repentance for racism. Several annual

conferences repented for individual and institutional racism during their

yearly summer meetings. Past acts of racism led to the splintering of the

Methodist Church and the creation of the three historically black Methodist

denominations, the African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal

Zion and Christian Methodist Episcopal churches. United Methodists continue

to be in dialogue with the kindred churches on the topic of possible union.

General Conference also will consider a report from the Connectional Process

Team (CPT) addressing the future of the denomination. The CPT was formed

through a mandate by the 1996 General Conference to come up with a

transformational direction for the church. CPT members spent 1999 discussing

its work with boards, agencies and other groups in the church.

Another major item will be United Methodist Communications' request for

support for its proposed "Igniting Ministry" campaign. The media campaign

would be aimed at increasing the public's awareness of the United Methodist

Church and renewing commitment to it. UMCom will ask General Conference for

$20 million that would be spent on buying ad time on nationwide TV cable

networks. UMCom would fund other parts of the campaign.

Membership and finances

Average Sunday attendance in United Methodist churches increased slightly in

1998, while the 30-year decline in membership seemed to slow down, according

to the denomination's General Council of Finance and Administration (GCFA).

The agency's data run a year behind.

Attendance in United Methodist churches in 1998 was 3,495,641, an increase

of almost 13,000 or 0.37 percent, according to GCFA.

Lay membership dropped 40,727 to 8.36 million. This represents a decrease of

0.48 percent, one of the smallest drops ever. The addition of clergy members

and military personnel who are not members of a U.S. congregation brings the

total U.S. membership to 8.4 million. The church has an estimated 1.2

members in Europe, Africa and Asia, and growth is strong in Africa and Asia.

Income at the denominational level for the first 11 months of 1999 was up 3

percent over the same period the year before, according to GCFA. That

includes all the apportioned funds and the six Special Sunday offerings.

That doesn't include local church and conference giving.

The financial picture had other bright spots also. United Methodists were

generous in giving to church-related work at Africa University in Zimbabwe

and to ministry in other parts of the world. Some annual conferences and

church agencies got a boost from the disbursement of money related to the

resolution of the Pacific Homes bankruptcy case. The Board of Pension and

Health Benefits made progress with its turnaround while posting strong

investment returns.

Relief work and social action

The church responded swiftly and generously in situations of disaster in the

United States and around the world. The denomination provided relief to

earthquake victims in Colombia, Turkey and Taiwan. Victims of hurricanes,

tornadoes and floods throughout the United States continue to receive aid in

the form of money, supplies and volunteers. The United Methodist Committee

on Relief and Volunteers-In-Mission teams were all over the globe.

United Methodists also acted to provide relief and the peace of Christ in

war-torn areas. Specific ministries helped refugees and victims of the

violence in countries such as Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and

Sierra Leone, to name a few.

During the Kosovo conflict, the Rev. Jesse Jackson led an interfaith team of

clergy members, including United Methodist Bishop Marshall L. (Jack) Meadors

Jr., to Serbia to win the release of three captive U.S. soldiers. After the

hostilities, a delegation of bishops' spouses visited Kosovo to observe

UMCOR's work and to develop strategies for church relief around the world.

Children's concerns and ministries continued to be a focal point for the

church. During annual conference sessions, church members raised money for

the Bishops' Initiative on Children and Poverty and the Hope for the

Children of Africa appeal. About 9,000 young people attended Youth '99 in

Knoxville, Tenn., for worship, fellowship and deepened commitment to God.

The need for addressing the problems of children and youth was driven home

by the shooting of more than a dozen students at Columbine High School in

Littleton, Colo., as well as acts of violence against kids elsewhere. In

those situations, and during tragedies such as the collapse of the bonfire

at Texas A&M, United Methodist clergy and lay people ministered to the

victims and the traumatized communities.

Acts of violence shocked the church and the nation throughout the year. A

white supremacist from Indiana went on a Fourth of July weekend shooting

spree that left several people wounded or dead. Among the dead was Won-Joon

Yoon, who was shot as he walked to church in Bloomington, Ind. Church

leaders raised their voices in denouncing the violence.

The church became more outspoken in 1999 on the crisis facing family farmers

and rural communities in the United States. Events were held around the

country to hear testimony from people and to develop strategies for dealing

with the life-changing problems facing these areas.

Efforts to legalize or expand gambling in several states met with resistance

from church organizations. United Methodists campaigned against gambling,

which is discouraged by the denomination's Social Principles. Church members

went into action on other issues also. Those included supporting efforts to

ban the use of Native American logos in sports and to halt U.S. Navy target

practice on Vieques in Puerto Rico.

United Methodists were in ministry throughout Africa during the year. Work

included erecting new buildings at Africa University and providing an

endowment for a university press; providing support to AIDS orphans in

Zimbabwe; supporting schools in Mozambique; planning church expansion in

Uganda and East Africa; and placing missionaries throughout the continent.

Church growth continued in Russia, Estonia and elsewhere in the former

Soviet Union.

More than 500 United Methodists gathered in Dallas during August for the

National Hispanic Consultation. This meeting, the second of its kind in 20

years, brought together Hispanic Methodist church leaders from the United

States, Puerto Rico, Cuba and elsewhere to celebrate their past and focus on

the future.

Ecumenism

United Methodists provided leadership during the World Council of Churches'

Eighth Assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe, in December 1998. The council acted on

a wide range of issues, including debt forgiveness for impoverished

countries and women's rights. The United Methodist Board of Global

Ministries contributed $1.5 million to endow a chair in mission at the WCC's

Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland.

A sizable contingent of United Methodists participated in the World

Methodist Council's Executive Committee meeting in Hong Kong during

September. Two months later, United Methodists joined with other members of

the Wesleyan family to celebrate Jesus Christ as the hope for the new

millennium at a WMC event in Houston.

The National Council of Churches celebrated its 50th anniversary in

November, barely a month after a United Methodist agency halted funding

support because of concerns about the NCC's budget problems. On Nov. 12, the

Rev. Andrew Young of the United Church of Christ was elected president of

the NCC, and the Rev. Robert Edgar, a United Methodist academician and

former congressman, was elected top staff executive. Both take office Jan.

1.

The Consultation on Church Union, which includes the United Methodist Church

and eight others, adopted a new name and hired two staff executives. The

member communions voted to enter into a new relationship, "Churches Uniting

in Christ," which would be celebrated in 2002.

Obits

Methodism lost key figures during 1999 and the last weeks of '98, including

Lord Soper, 95, familiar fixture in London's Hyde Park, Dec. 22, 1998, in

London; Carrie Lou Goddard, 87, Christian educator, writer, and teacher,

Feb. 25 in Nashville; Harry Blackmun, 90, retired Supreme Court justice,

March 4 in Arlington, Va.; Roy Fisher, 80, former newspaper editor and

former director of United Methodist Communications, March 25 in Evanston,

Ill.; Jorge Gonzalez, 66, clergyman and educator, April 7 in Atlanta;

Lawrence Lacour, 92, former staff executive of the former General Board of

Evangelism of the Methodist Church, May 3 in Tulsa, Okla.; Richard Reeves,

79, key supporter of Africa University, June 2 in Springfield, Ill.; Leon

Hickman, 98, former Judicial Council member, June 10 near Pittsburgh;

Also the Rev. Tullulah Fisher Williams, 45, leader in Black Methodists for

Church Renewal, June 20 in Evanston, Ill.; the Rev. Allen M. Mayes, 79,

former staff member of the church's Board of Pension and Health Benefits who

led opposition to South African apartheid, June 26 in Beaumont, Texas; D.W.

Brooks, 97, businessman whose service to the church earned him the title

"Mr. Methodist," Aug 5 in Atlanta; W. Maynard Sparks, 92, former Evangelical

United Brethren Church bishop, Aug. 17 in Sacramento; Don Holter, 94, the

oldest United Methodist bishop, Sept. 11 in Prairie View, Kan.; and the Rev.

Frank Baker, 89, leading authority on Methodism, Oct. 11 in Durham, N.C.

# # #

*Tanton is news editor for United Methodist News Service, based in

Nashville, Tenn.

*************************************

United Methodist News Service

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