{"id":7458,"date":"2014-05-22T15:47:01","date_gmt":"2014-05-22T22:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=7458"},"modified":"2014-05-22T15:47:20","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T22:47:20","slug":"amicable-breakup-of-umc-needed-pastor-group-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/amicable-breakup-of-umc-needed-pastor-group-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Amicable breakup of UMC needed, pastor group says"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sam Hodges |\u00a0<\/strong>May 22, 2014| DALLAS (UMNS)<\/h4>\n
A group of United Methodist pastors and theologians is calling for an amicable split of the denomination, saying differences over homosexuality and other issues are irreconcilable.The group describes itself as traditionalist and says its ranks include more than 80 members, including pastors of some of the larger United Methodist congregations.\u201cAre we not at a point where we can acknowledge, after years of dialogue and debate, the depth of our differences and together, progressives and traditionalists, give each other the freedom to pursue our understanding of God\u2019s will?\u201d the group said in its\u00a0statement.<\/a><\/p>\n

The group makes clear its support for the\u00a0church\u2019s current official positions on homosexuality<\/a>, including that marriage should only be between a man and a woman, but says its disagreements with \u201cprogressives\u201d go farther, including to whether the Bible is the infallible word of God.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think we will ever agree on the issues that deeply divide us,\u201d said the Rev. Chuck Savage, president of the Georgia United Methodist Foundation, in a\u00a0press release<\/a>\u00a0accompanying the statement. \u201cHowever, it is my hope that we will agree on a plan of separation that will serve both traditionalists and progressives well. My opinion is that if we can reach agreement on such a plan both progressives and traditionalists will emerge stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talk of a breakup of the United Methodist Church is not new, and discussions at the 2004 General Conference\u00a0led to passage<\/a>\u00a0of a unity resolution.<\/p>\n

But the Rev. Tom Harrison, part of the group releasing the new statement, said recent clergy defiance of church law by performing same-sex unions convinced him that going forward as one denomination isn\u2019t realistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t play that way,\u201d said Harrison, pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church in Tulsa, Okla., in a phone interview. \u201cIt\u2019s chaos. My argument really is rooted in the violation of our covenant together, the Book of Discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initial reaction to statement<\/h4>\n

The group\u2019s statement has just begun to circulate, but was met with dismay by the Rev. James Howell, pastor of Myers Park United Methodist Church in Charlotte, N.C.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe manage to disagree on a great many things, as we do within our very own families, and we can still love and stay together,\u201d said Howell, who offered an unsuccessful \u201cagree to disagree\u201d measure at the 2012 United Methodist General Conference in Tampa, Fla. \u201cNo such division will be a win-win. The fissures will be within congregations, and we will thus be irreparably weaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rev. Scott Campbell, an outspoken advocate of changing the Book of Discipline regarding homosexuality, also expressed reservations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I appreciate the tone of their statement, I am saddened that we have not tried every alternative that is available to us,\u201d said Campbell, pastor of Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church in Cambridge, Mass. \u201cSeveral proposals to restructure the church to allow greater autonomy within differing ministry contexts will be coming before General Conference in 2016.\u00a0 I believe these are worth seriously considering and perhaps even attempting to implement before we take the drastic step of separation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group calling for a split has had conference call talks, but has chosen no name and elected no leaders. Some members of the group are currently unwilling to be identified, but one who is, the Rev. Larry Baird, said he hopes a list of participants will be published this summer.<\/p>\n

Baird thinks the next step is for the group to meet in person to begin to talk about how an amicable split might happen. He said he hoped that would lead to discussions with the other side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI, for one, would like to avoid the kind of situation that some of our other sister denominations have gone through\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/em>the bitter splits,\u201d said Baird, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Grand Island, N.Y. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be able to do better than that, in my opinion. At least, I pray so.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the Rev. Bonnie Beckonchrist, board\u00a0chair of Reconciling Ministries Network, an unofficial caucus which favors full inclusion of LGBT persons in the United Methodist Church, said even an amicable breakup would be costly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe people, individuals and congregations, will be hurt by such a split,\u201d said Beckonchrist, a retired United Methodist pastor. \u201cThe differences we are talking about are located not only in our denomination, but within individual families and congregations. Sitting in the same pew are folks who differ on many things, but in healthy families and congregations grace abounds and love is what ultimately unites them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group advocating a split has turned to Good News, an unofficial caucus that supports the church\u2019s current stance on homosexuality, for help with communications.<\/p>\n

But the group is not part of Good News and does not carry its endorsement, said the Rev. Tom Lambrecht, Good News\u2019 vice president and general manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are definitely intrigued by the whole process,\u201d Lambrecht said. \u201cWe\u2019ve heard from various sectors of the church express the sentiment that separation may be the only way to resolve the deep division that\u2019s in the church today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s statement notes that division over homosexuality extends to the Council of Bishops.<\/p>\n

San Francisco Area Bishop Warner H. Brown, Jr., president of the Council of Bishops, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the group\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n

Bishop Mike Lowry\u00a0of the Central Texas Annual (regional) Conference, said, \u201cWe are struggling with transformation into a new form of connectionalism. All of us would do well to remember the promise ofJeremiah 29:11.<\/a>\u00a0I respect the integrity of those who have issued the statement as well as those who disagree. I call on all of us to prayerfully seek God\u2019s guidance in matters of deep division.\u201d<\/p>\n

*Hodges, a United Methodist News Service writer, lives in Dallas. Contact him at (615) 742-5470 or\u00a0<\/em>newsdesk@umcom.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sam Hodges |\u00a0May 22, 2014| DALLAS (UMNS) A group of United Methodist pastors and theologians is calling for an amicable split of the denomination, saying differences over homosexuality and other issues are irreconcilable.The group describes itself as traditionalist and says its ranks include more than 80 members, including pastors of some of the larger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":7459,"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":[32,3],"tags":[27,337,361,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-7458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-umns","9":"tag-division","10":"tag-human-sexuality","11":"tag-schism","12":"tag-umps"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/church-leaders-talk-split-final-582x388.jpg?fit=582%2C388&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-1Wi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7458","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=7458"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7460,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7458\/revisions\/7460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}