Pastor Mark Williams

Delegate Reports

Afterward

My plane ride home took me from Pittsburgh to Dallas, where I caught a connecting flight to Seattle. On the leg of my trip from Pittsburgh to Dallas, there were a lot of familiar faces on the plane. I recognized many people who I'd seen in and around General Conference for the past two weeks, including two bishops. When I boarded the plane, just as I reached my seat, I noticed that one of the conservatives in the Church and Society legislative committee was seated directly in front me. As I passed him, he looked up and smiled politely.

I'm certain that he didn't recognize me. He may not have made any connection at all that we'd sat in the same meetings for two weeks. In that moment, I was just a stranger who he treated with polite kindness. The real nastiness and shaming he saved for people who were fellow United Methodists. His impatience and rudeness that I'd witnessed in the legislative committee was reserved for people in the family of faith. To strangers, he appeared to be a polite, gentle and kind person.

Now that I'm a couple thousand miles away and a couple days beyond General Conference, I feel oddly hopeful. It's undeniable that there were several key legislative defeats for progressives. The Social Principle dealing with homosexuality is pointedly no more moderate, and it recognizes no diversity of opinion or respectful disagreement within the denomination. The list of chargeable offenses in the Discipline is very much more specifically aimed at those who are LGBT and those who offer their blessings in ministry to LGBT persons. For the first time, we added to the list of chargeable offenses the performing of marriages for same-sex couples. We supported the definition of marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman. There's clearly plenty to grieve in the legislation that is now part of our church law and policy. We almost completely eliminated Western Jurisdiction representation on general boards and agencies.

But although the General Conference passed some of the most restrictive and conservative legislation regarding sexuality and sexual orientation, they did so with the smallest majority. The chargeable offenses legislation passed by only ten votes. Even with increasing the representation to Southern and Central Conferences delegations at the expense of the Western Jurisdiction and Northeastern Jurisdiction, the votes were closer than in previous years on key social topics. There was movement in the voting patterns from four and eight years ago, and the movement is in the right direction, even if the legislation continues to go in the wrong direction.

But what gives me even more hope, I think, is the progressive legislation that did pass. I somehow pictured General Conference as an irrepressible force of conservative Christianity. I had imagined that the conservative delegations were so well organized and of such a majority that they could and would completely undo every progressive ministry within our denomination. But far from it, they couldn't get some key petitions passed that they were clearly throwing their full weight behind. The legislation that would have given the church the right to appeal a trial court ruling was killed on the floor of the plenary session. The vote was incredibly narrow - only sixteen votes made the difference. But even with folks like Maxie Dunham arguing for the legislation in floor debate, they couldn't prevent the petition from being postponed indefinitely.

The organized effort to de-fund the General Board of Church and Society failed with several different petitions offering the opportunity for the General Conference to take action. The more subtle, but clear effort to remove United Methodist Women as the primary women's ministry in our churches went down in solid defeat. Both the Board of Church and Society and the Women's Division had been named as targets by the conservative caucuses over a year ago. But they just didn't have the votes to get their way.

The progressive legislation to support our denominational support for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice passed solidly. A new petition to provide ministries of support for teenagers who studies show are more susceptible to suicide because of their sexual orientation passed. Three of the four new Judicial Council members were at the top of the progressive movement's short list of candidates. The Taco Bell and Mt. Olive Pickle company boycotts passed in support of the rights and fair wages for farmworkers.

The denomination has not been "taken over." And, in fact, the balance of power seems more even and uncertain than it has in quite a while.

All the talk of schism and the fiasco of how it came before the 2004 General Conference has changed the tone of debate, I think. It's been made explicit that the schismatics are coming from the conservatives. Conservative voices are the ones recommending carving up our denomination. Progressives are the ones calling for the full inclusion of everyone. Progressives are the ones who recognize that we ought to be able to disagree respectfully in Christian community, while remaining united in our common ministry on behalf of Jesus Christ. Progressives won the public relations campaign at General Conference, in my opinion.

In the past couple days, it has occurred to me that any time the church chooses to speak with a prophetic voice to a particular socially controversial topic, the church is accepting the reality of schism. When we adopted the boycott of Mt. Olive Pickles, we deeply upset many of the United Methodists from North Carolina. Many United Methodists, including some who are employees of Mt. Olive whose jobs are now in jeopardy, may very well decide that they can no longer remain part of the connection because of the stand that we took. But we took the stand recognizing our call to prophetically speak on behalf of social justice for the poor. We accepted the cost of being prophetic, and we spoke anyway.

The same is true of the homosexuality debate. No matter what we say about it, someone will be so upset that they will decide that they can't remain within the family of faith any longer. By choosing to speak to such a controversial social topic, we accept the cost that some will be turned away and many will leave the church.

Unfortunately, for the past 32 years we've decided to weigh in on the homosexuality debate on the side that alienates our LGBT members. By continuing to speak words of condemnation for the lives and loves of LGBT persons, we have caused such pain that many LGBT persons and their families and friends will leave the church feeling wounded. If (and when) we side for inclusion and de-stigmatization of homosexuality, we'll see many conservatives leave feeling disenfranchised and wounded. We choose to turn away some everytime we speak to a topic of social justice, no matter what side of the debate we come out on.

The debates and the confrontations seem to me to be part of the "holy conferencing" that the bishops have reminded us is part of our Methodist heritage. We disagree because we are diverse, and thus great disagreement is a sign that we are a body of great diversity. I don't blame those who condemn the practice of homosexuality. I don't hate those who argue against our full inclusion into the life and ministry of the church. I think that they're wrong, and I will continue to work to convince them of their error, but disagreement isn't a sign of brokenness or unfaithfulness, it seems to me.

But the hypocrisy, the lies, and the manipulations that I saw over the past two weeks are a different matter. There are those who play the political game of the church with a disregard for ethics or justice. The individual who gave an interview to Christianity Today claiming to be Bishop Galvan was a liar. Those who were caught voting more than once on empty voting pads next to them were actively choosing to subvert the democratic principles upon which we rely in order to be about the work of discerning God's will for our denomination. The people who actively intimidated delegates, cornering them and even threatening them for their positions in debates, are bullies. The reports of bribery of delegates in order to secure votes on particular issues is shameful. The system of governing a denomination of over 10 million members is compromised by these political manipulations that disregard the ethics of Christian community.

I feel a little jaded, now that all is said and done. But I remain hopeful. The laws of our church change every four years, without fail. Our policies and Discipline are revisited and in small and big ways rewritten every quadrennium. Change is guaranteed in our polity. This change can take us farther down a path of exclusion and condemnation, but it also offers us the possibility to continue the momentum of changing hearts. Perhaps we should keep reciting the Igniting Ministry Campaign slogan, not because it's true now, but because if we say it enough, perhaps we will live into our claim to have "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors." "Preach it until you believe it," one progressive young adult argued from the floor of General Conference this past week. God's will be done.

In conclusion, I want to offer my deep appreciation to Ellensburg United Methodist Church, and especially to Jean Lofy and Ed Gellenbeck who have been posting these daily reports. I also thank the dozens of individuals from all over the country who have sent their comments and encouragement as they've read these reports. Wherever I have made mistakes, I apologize and appreciate the compassionate efforts at correction. Wherever I have been less charitable than I ought to have, I ask for forgiveness. But wherever I have provoked, upset, or confronted the faith and certainty of those who see things differently, I offer no apology. I just pray that we will all be part of the same family of faith in four years, struggling together and learning from one another still.

Signing off.

Mark Williams
Pacific Northwest Conference Delegation
First Alternate Delegate

The First United Methodist Church of Ellensburg

Delegate Reports

Afterward