{"id":12747,"date":"2016-05-14T16:32:52","date_gmt":"2016-05-14T23:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=12747"},"modified":"2016-05-14T16:32:52","modified_gmt":"2016-05-14T23:32:52","slug":"it-was-time-and-its-time-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/it-was-time-and-its-time-again\/","title":{"rendered":"It was time and it’s time again"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rev.\u00a0<\/strong>Mary K. (Sellon) Huycke<\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/h4>\n

\u2018It seldom happens that the Church is wise to know her day of visitation.\u00a0<\/span>When God would have her move forward and take up some new enterprise, it usually happens that he has to beckon often and long before he is obeyed\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Bishop James M. Thoburn,\u00a0<\/span>My Missionary Apprenticeship<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

My grandmother\u2019s uncle wrote those words in 1884 as he reflected on the work of women in the church.\u00a0<\/span>As a young Methodist missionary in India frustrated by his inability to be in ministry with women in that culture,\u00a0<\/span>he\u2019d written home to his sister, Isabella, and off-handedly suggested she join him. To his utter dismay, she promptly accepted.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Once she arrived and he saw the fruit of her work, he quickly discovered his mistake in thinking women unfit for the work.\u00a0<\/span>Recalling a colleague perplexed at \u201cthe curious phenomenon\u201d of the great numbers of women wanting to serve as missionaries, Thoburn wrote, \u201cIt did not once occur to him, it did not then occur to any body, that the presence of a conviction so strong and general was an indication of the will of God.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Among the many pieces of legislation that we will discuss and vote on at General Conference will be some on removing exclusionary language around LGBTQ persons in the life of the church.\u00a0<\/span>This is as disconcerting to some as the idea of women in ministry originally was to my ancestor. <\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll talk and pray and ultimately, vote.\u00a0<\/span>Ideally, our intent will be to determine, as best we can, God\u2019s will — looking for what Quakers call \u201can opening of way.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>And yet\u00a0<\/span>I imagine,\u00a0<\/span>like me, the vast majority of delegates arrived with a firm idea in their minds of what the \u201cright\u201d answer is. <\/span><\/p>\n

I am supportive of removing exclusionary language in the Book of Discipline<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span>Even as I commit to engage all the legislation in a discerning spirit, I have a hard time imagining what would change my mind. Even the question, \u201cwhat if I\u2019m wrong?\u201d leaves me convicted that it would be for the right reasons \u2013 my belief in God\u2019s all pervasive love and a denominational history of continually expanding the idea of who\u2019s included. I believe that the Church has been slow to know her day of visitation.\u00a0<\/span>I believe it\u2019s time.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, as I\u2019ve spoken with colleagues from Africa I\u2019ve learned how certain language, were it included in our Book of Discipline, could put them in danger from their government and would impede their work.\u00a0<\/span>Our delegation committed before arriving to hold the welfare of the world as as guide. <\/span><\/p>\n

These conversations have strengthened my sense that removing exclusionary language is the wisest course.\u00a0<\/span>This would allow for contextual interpretation both outside and within the United States, without endangering the ministry and in some places the lives of colleagues working in other countries.<\/span><\/p>\n

Isabella Thoburn said \u201cyes\u201d to a call when others ridiculed it. Her brother and other denominational leaders opened the door,\u00a0<\/span>believing there could be fruit.\u00a0<\/span>Her one-room girls school grew in her lifetime to be the first women\u2019s college in India. Today, Isabella Thoburn College is associated with Lucknow University and offers both bachelor and master\u2019s level degrees.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are persons today experiencing genuine calls; others are longing for hope and healing and finding none.\u00a0<\/span>Ministry calls. It\u2019s time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mary K. (Sellon) Huycke works as a leadership coach for clergy, congregations and judicatory bodies navigating change and transition. She has served as a DS and as pastor in settings ranging from new church start to redevelopment and co-authored several books, the most recent being Pathway to Renewal.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rev.\u00a0Mary K. (Sellon) Huycke \u2018It seldom happens that the Church is wise to know her day of visitation.\u00a0When God would have her move forward and take up some new enterprise, it usually happens that he has to beckon often and long before he is obeyed\u201d Bishop James M. Thoburn,\u00a0My Missionary Apprenticeship My grandmother\u2019s uncle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":12748,"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":[449,5,485],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12747","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-conference","8":"category-pnw-delegation","9":"category-voices"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/thoburn-blog.jpg?fit=1100%2C574&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-3jB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12747","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=12747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12749,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12747\/revisions\/12749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}