#35 Splitting - The United Methodist Church
While I no longer agree with the conclusions of this article it is still of value to consider and refute. My heart is for the unity of the Church as a whole. Yet we must reject those who we believe are blatantly sinning.
The United Methodist Church (UMC) should not split over LGBTQIA+ issues for the following reasons: the UMC has a theological history of uniting where theological agreements can be found, Methodists believe they are united to all Christians through communion, and all Christians are united through the continuing spread of the gospel. The reason that the UMC wants to split is practically irrelevant to whether or not the UMC should split. Because It is better to focus on agreements rather than disagreements. Individual Churches have the responsibility to decide how to respond to the Church split on the ground level; of particular importance is communion. Whether or not the UMC should split has been framed as political or theological, or both. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Paul outlines how those with different spiritual leanings should be a part of one body which is the Church.
It is better to focus on agreements rather than disagreements. The UMC was founded upon the theological idea of unity. The UMC was created in 1968 when the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church united to be called the UMC. There were many disagreements including the ordination of woman that provided setbacks in the uniting process. But they chose to unite anyways. Since then the UMC has undergone many efforts to unite with other denominations. In 2006 the UMC and the Episcopalians “approved interim Eucharistic sharing.” (United Methodist-Episcopal Dialogue n.d.) This has been repeated in many ways with many other denominations. Even before the formation of the UMC the Methodists were committed to being a force for unity. Such as in 1939 when three Methodist denominations united. (Hahn 2018) The UMC has chosen to continually unite with other denominations despite disagreements in order to say, “Lord of the church, we are united in thee, in thy church, and now in The United Methodist Church. Amen.” (Hahn 2018) John Wesley wrote a sermon called Catholic Spirit. The major claim of this source is that you should love your enemy as yourself. Wesley Draws this claim out to support numerous arguments. The first point of the sermon is that we obey people who we may not agree with. The second point is that loving your neighbor includes walking hand in hand, not necessarily in agreement. The third point is that to have a catholic spirit you must be set in your beliefs but ready to listen. A major claim that is relevant is when Wesley says, “ask not, therefore, of him with whom I would unite in love, Are you of my church.” (Wesley) The idea is that if someone is of the same church it carries the connotations of belief and practice, we should not require all to follow our Church’s mode of worship and practice. On a macro level this means accepting that there are different denominations. While on the micro level that it is acceptable to have disagreements of practice and belief in different Church’s even if they are of the same denomination. The unity of a denomination can be based on theology or on polity. The United Methodists should focus on union through polity rather than theology. This can be expanded to say that by focusing on polity Methodists can realize what is uniting them together rather than dividing them.
Individual Churches have the responsibility to decide how to respond to the Church split on the ground level; of particular importance is communion. The Book of Discipline, which governs the UMC, talks about communion as an affirmation of the Christian life. Communion is considered a basic affirmation that someone is a Christian. Here and in other places in the Book of Discipline, communion is used as a unifying force to unite Methodists with other denominations; such as with the celebration of world communion day. There is a section that begins with affirmations of what our communion has in common with other communions. Things that all Christians have in common are, faith in the mystery of salvation through Jesus Christ, the movement of the holy spirit in individuals and communities, being part of the universal Church, and the belief that God’s reign is present and future. The section concludes by saying in essence that our communion is nourished by our common Christian roots. The argument of this section is that the Methodist understanding of Communion leads to unity of different communions. The claim of this section is that having the same historical foundation of communion unites Christians in community. The warrant is not clearly stated but should connect the idea that the same historical foundation can mean one communion today. The warrant would be that a denomination or sect’s beliefs is built up as an inverse pyramid. At the bottom is the Bible, built on this is the ecumenical creeds, then the historical Christian authors, and every Christian denomination. By having the same foundations, we all accept the Bible and the ecumenical creeds as true and are thus of one communion, everything else that we believe on top of this is coincidental to these same foundations. One sentence of importance says, “Our avowed ecumenical commitment as United Methodists is to gather our own doctrinal emphases into the larger Christian unity, there to be made more meaningful in a richer whole.” This can be further applied within the United Methodist Church to create a more meaningful community. (The Book of Discipline page n.d.)
Whether or not the UMC should split has been framed as political or theological, or both. Whether or not the issue is political or theological should be determined by morals. In the City of God, Augustine claims that there are two cities the city of God that is moral and the city of Man which is immoral. Augustine argued that the Roman republic was corrupt, that it was without morals; whereas the Christians had morals. Furthermore, Martin Luther thought that the gospel should be applied to “all the people in their offices and stations before the world, that is, in all institutional life. Both kingdoms were God’s, according to Luther, and the individual was responsible to God in both.” (Wright 2010) This would mean that even if you thought of this issue as political it is most definitely a theological issue. Politics are an unavoidable subject to the study of theology. Cole and Raschke say that, “political theology is unavoidable and indispensable for the Christian and the Church alike. It is unavoidable because Scripture invites reflection on politics, everyone lives under some form of political authority, and Christian Churches occupy public space.” (Jonathan Cole, Carl Raschke 2019) Thus, this is both a political and theological issue, which ought to be approached by Christians from a theological point of view.
In 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Paul outlines how those with different spiritual leanings should be a part of one body which is the Church. Verse 13 says, “for we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” This is to say that even if we don’t think we need each other we are still a part of the same body. The Church can’t split even if outwardly it tries to split. So, it is unbiblical for Churches to split in anyway. Although this is not to say that some Church splits like the reformation shouldn’t have happened. Romans 14:2-23 also says that some have faith that it is okay to eat certain foods while others have faith that they ought not to eat certain foods. In either case Paul argues for this is to not cause contention as in either case they are praising God. Paul goes on to say, “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” This means that even if you believe what another Christian is doing is wrong, they may still be righteous if they are doing what they do for the Lord, are peaceful, and take joy in the Holy Spirit. I believe Paul was using this to argue that the Church in Rome ought not to split between the Romans and Jews who were both Christian. An induvial may have been in contention and disagreement with the whole of the Church in Rome but this was never a reason for the whole Church to separate.
The Commission on a Way Forward wrote a paper entitled Commission on a Way Forward's Report to the General Conference (CWFRGC). This paper outlines the issue at hand sexuality in the UMC. Then it outlines the three main approaches being considered by the UMC. This is followed by several appendixes addressing the conversations and concerns with each approach. The three plans are the One Church Plan, the Connectional Conference Plan, and the Traditional Plan. The One Church Plan attempts to maintain unity in the UMC by allowing Churches and conferences greater freedom to make the decisions they see fit. The Connectional Conference Plan elevates the role of each conference to the equivalent of a denomination and retains unity. While the Traditionalist plan holds all Churches to the Book of Discipline as it currently stands. The CWFRGC is a great resource in answering the question of what will happen as one of these plans will likely be the one that the UMC adopts. The One Church Plan seems to be in standing with the UMC’s theology and all that has thus been written.
In conclusion, The United Methodist Church (UMC) should not split over LGBTQIA+ issues. I have shown that the UMC was founded in Unity and has its identity in unity. The Book of Discipline has shown that communion within denominations that are different from each other is part of the UMC identity. That the theology of Wesley should lead us to stay united. This is an issue the Church must address, furthermore the Bible shows that even if the Church wants to split it can’t truly become un-united. Finally of the three proposed responses that the UMC has proposed to the issue of LGBTQIA+ inclusion the One Church Plan offers the most unity and room for differences in theology.
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