c. 1996 Religion News Service
(RNS)-Baptism, ordained ministry and ecumenical accords will top the agenda when the United Methodist Church convenes its General Conference in Denver next week. And while abortion and homosexuality will not necessarily dominate this year’s discussions, tensions will be evident among liberal and conservative members of the 8.6 million-member denomination.
The quadrennial 10-day General Conference-the top decision-making body of the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination-will bring together 996 official delegates and more than 3,000 family members, visitors and observers for the sessions, which begin April 16.
Abortion and homosexuality will not be absent from the deliberations, but they are expected to be overshadowed by internal church matters and ecumenical relations as delegates work their way through 3,009 petitions and resolutions offered by individuals, local congregations, annual conferences and church agencies.
Shadowing the delegates’ debate on the specific petitions is a theological confrontation between conservatives and liberals in the denomination.
In 1995, a group of prominent conservative pastors and theologians issued a three-page”Confessional Statement of the Confessing Movement within the United Methodist Church,”charging that the denomination”suffers from private versions of the faith that do not find their root in Scripture.” They are urging delegates to vote on issues that mirror those views.
The”confessing movement”is calling for a return to orthodoxy in theological matters, the condemnation of homosexuality and abortion, and a denunciation of experimentation”with pagan ritual and practice.”The latter is a reference to United Methodist participation in the 1993 feminist”Re-Imagining Conference,”which sought alternatives to traditional masculine ideas of God. At the conference, some participants engaged in a ritual using milk and honey in place of bread and wine.
The”confessing movement”has been challenged by a group of liberal United Methodists who have issued their own 12-page critique of the conservative manifesto.”There is a difference between confession as a way of confirming one’s faith, and confession as a litmus test for orthodoxy,”said the Rev. E. Dale Dunlop, professor emeritus at St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Mo., and one of the authors of the rejoinder.
The liberal statement charges that the”confessing movement”is divisive and”un-Wesleyan”(Methodist) and will”lead inevitably to the kind of conflict and disunity that strangles the church’s attempt to witness faithfully to the Gospel.” The General Conference is organized much like the U.S. Congress. The delegates-equal numbers of clergy and laity-will spend most of the first week in 10 legislative committees, working their way through the petitions before bringing any legislation to the floor for a vote by the whole body.
The most important items on the agenda are likely to be a report from the Council of Bishops calling for changes in the ministry, and a proposed new statement on baptism from the Board of Discipleship.
How the church understands ministry and the ordained clergy has been debated at every General Conference since 1944. The current study began in 1984.
The Council of Bishops proposal affirms the ministry of all Christians but also calls for local churches to establish an elected office of”lay ministry steward,”to”work along with ordained ministers to enable the local congregation to respond faithfully in ministry.” The bishops’ proposal also calls for creation of a permanent order of deacon, to be ordained by a bishop”to a lifetime of servant leadership”and as a preliminary step to ordination as an elder. The denomination’s current office of”diaconal minister”would be phased out.
On baptism, the denomination is being asked to reaffirm its practice of infant baptism despite a growing movement in the Methodist and other churches to practice adult baptism, also known as”believer’s baptism.””We respect the sincerity of parents who choose not to have their infants baptized, but we acknowledge that these views do not coincide with the Wesleyan (Methodist) understanding of the nature of the sacrament,”the proposed statement says. “The United Methodist Church does not accept either the idea that only believer’s (adult) baptism is valid or the notion that the baptism of infants magically imparts salvation apart from active personal faith,”it says.
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Among other issues coming to a vote before the General Conference are:
-The covenant of the Consultation on Church Union, a nine-denomination church-unity effort. If approved, Methodists would recognize the ordination of other denominations’ ministers, and Methodists could receive Holy Communion in other member churches.
-Establishment of a commission to draw up a plan of union with three predominantly black Methodist denominations.
-A proposal to move the denomination’s Board of Global Ministries from New York to Reston, Va.
-A proposed”hold-the-line”national budget of $183.5 million for the quadrennium.
Although abortion and homosexuality issues are not likely to be as prominent this year as in past General Conferences, they are still expected to attract considerable debate.
Abortion opponents are leading an effort to have the General Conference eliminate any support for abortion from the denomination’s Social Principles and end the denomination’s involvement in abortion-rights groups.
Delegates will confront a wide range of petitions on the homosexuality issue. Currently, the church considers homosexual activity”incompatible with Christian teaching”but supports basic human rights and civil liberties for gays and lesbians.
Among the petitions the delegates will vote on are calls for deleting the phrase”incompatible with Christian teaching”from the denomination’s Book of Discipline. On the other side, the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry is proposing to deny ordination to any person”proven with clear and convincing evidence to be a practicing homosexual.”
MJP END ANDERSON
