{"id":12387,"date":"2016-05-06T23:20:32","date_gmt":"2016-05-07T06:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=12387"},"modified":"2016-05-06T23:22:14","modified_gmt":"2016-05-07T06:22:14","slug":"bishops-president-believe-church-can-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/bishops-president-believe-church-can-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishops\u2019 president: Believe church can change"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Heather Hahn<\/strong>
\nMay 6, 2016 | PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS)<\/p>\n

Growing up in the still racially segregated Methodist Church, young Warner Brown Jr. knew the denomination had churches where he as an African-American would not be welcome.<\/p>\n

\"Bishop
Bishop Warner Brown
Photo courtesy of the\u00a0Council of Bishops<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI remember that there were times within our church where it was impossible for some to see the image of our God when they looked in my face,\u201d he said, recalling his Baltimore childhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut God is patient, loving and gracious, and has caused a work to be transformational in the life of our church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Brown serves not only as a bishop in the now increasingly geographically and ethnically diverse United Methodist Church but also as president of the denomination\u2019s Council of Bishops.<\/p>\n

Brown testified to God\u2019s transforming power in his final address to his bishop colleagues as their president. He spoke late on May 5, just days before the start of the 2016 General Conference<\/a>, the denomination\u2019s top lawmaking body, where many United Methodists are hoping to change the\u00a0church in various ways.<\/p>\n

Many observers<\/a> anticipate the most fervent debates at this General Conference will be over how the church ministers with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.<\/p>\n

The United Methodist Book of Discipline<\/a>, the denomination\u2019s governing document, since 1972 has proclaimed that all people are of sacred worth but the practice of homosexuality is \u201cincompatible with Christian teaching.\u201d The denomination bans the performance of same-gender unions and the ordination of \u201cself-avowed practicing\u201d gay clergy.<\/p>\n

Many United Methodists see these policies as biblically mandated while others see them as unbiblically discriminatory.<\/p>\n

The bishops in Brown\u2019s audience have varied views. They included many advocates for the church\u2019s stance, especially African episcopal leaders<\/a>, as well as others who challenge it \u2014 including retired Bishop Melvin Talbert who recently defied church law to officiate at a same-gender celebration again<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Talk about church challenges<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Brown, who today leads the San Francisco Episcopal Area as Talbert once did, never explicitly mentioned the church\u2019s ongoing debate in his brief address.<\/p>\n

Instead, he focused on God\u2019s work in helping the church work through its challenges, especially practices widely seen today as discriminatory.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy story is a piece of a longer story that began centuries ago when people genuinely desiring to serve God and to proclaim Jesus Christ had not yet fully understood what Jesus taught about who is our neighbor,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThe ability to marginalize some and privilege ourselves was common.\u201d<\/p>\n

He spoke of how Methodists and other Christians plundered indigenous peoples in North America and elsewhere \u2014 acts the church will remember and repent of at this General Conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brown also spoke of the colonial attitudes Americans took toward their African and Asian brothers and sisters in Christ \u2014 acting more like conquerors than friends.<\/p>\n

Today, he said, United Methodists \u2014 with God\u2019s guidance \u2014 are working toward overcoming the wicked deeds of the past.<\/p>\n

The denomination\u2019s Africans, Asians, Americans and Europeans now work together more as equal partners in ministry, he said.<\/p>\n

‘Poised to be an inspiration’<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Bishop Benjamin Boni of C\u00f4te d’Ivoire told United Methodist News Service he agreed with Brown that United Methodists in the U.S. are shedding a colonial outlook. \u201cTo serve God, we have to work together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In addition, United Methodists in the Philippines \u2014 including the nation\u2019s three bishops \u2014 are taking the lead in protecting farmers, many of whom are\u00a0indigenous people,<\/a> facing persecution from the Filipino government.<\/p>\n

Bishop Ciriaco Q. Francisco<\/a>, who despite threats<\/a>, has provided shelter for indigenous people, known as Lumads, told UMNS he is determined to continue that work.<\/p>\n

Toward the end of his address, Brown said he continues \u201cto believe that our church is poised to be an inspiration for God\u2019s people and especially for the people called Methodists.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pointed out that Methodists were among the protesters who risked violence and worse in the U.S. civil rights movement. Likewise, one of the most ardent segregationists, Alabama\u2019s Gov. George Wallace, was also a Methodist. Brown suspects that many of the police officers and firefighters who turned firehoses and dogs on civil rights protesters were Methodist too.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Wallace and others eventually repented of the harm they did to their neighbors.<\/p>\n

That progress was evident at the memorial service for bishops and bishop spouses that preceded Brown\u2019s address. Among the United Methodists celebrated was Bishop William Wesley \u201cBill\u201d Morris<\/a>, who helped officiate at Wallace\u2019s funeral in 1998. Morris, who died this January, was the first African-American bishop in the Alabama-West Florida Area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill we ever all see things together?\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, he said, God\u2019s grace has blessed United Methodists with power not to be bound by past sins.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay the God of endurance and encouragement give you and all of us the attitude toward each other similar to the attitude of Christ Jesus,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThat way we can glorify God and follow our Lord Jesus Christ together with one voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hahn is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Heather Hahn May 6, 2016 | PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS) Growing up in the still racially segregated Methodist Church, young Warner Brown Jr. knew the denomination had churches where he as an African-American would not be welcome. \u201cI remember that there were times within our church where it was impossible for some to see the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":12388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[449,3],"tags":[136,270,483],"class_list":{"0":"post-12387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-conference","8":"category-umns","9":"tag-council-of-bishops","10":"tag-gc2016","11":"tag-umcgc"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/bishop-brown-addresses-cob-1-690x331.jpg?fit=690%2C331&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-3dN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12387"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12391,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12387\/revisions\/12391"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}