The Pursuit of Happiness

464

The United Methodist Church isn’t united anymore. Methodist Bishops presented a “One Church Plan” at a special conference two weeks ago that allowed local congregations to marry LGBTQ people within the church and to become Methodist ministers. Delegates to the conference rejected it in favor of a “Traditional Plan” which affirmed the denomination’s teachings against homosexuality.

Methodist Bishops are the church’s administrative leadership. Their “One Church Plan” was a strategic effort by “management” to avoid a divorce between progressive churches and conservative churches. It failed. The church’s kids are grownups – the median age for Methodists is 60 – and they’ll self-determine who gets custody, but there’s property to be divvied up and the Bishops will decide who gets what. What every Methodist gets is the chance to stand in line with Sears and JC Penney and myriad other transitional and expiring institutions with “Going Out of Business” signs hanging around their necks.

This isn’t news. Progressive mainstream churches lost membership for supporting civil rights during the ‘60s, and for being against the War in Vietnam during the same period – and they’ve never recovered from being on the right side of history, common sense, and common decency. Their support of LGBTQ people continues to express that pattern of moral and theological rectitude, and while they will certainly lose members, there are worse things than going out of business. They could stay in business and never understand why Jesus wept.

What happens next is the Methodist Judicial Council will issue a ruling on the constitutionality of the “Traditional Plan” passed at the conference. It’s likely the Council will reject it, causing conservative Methodists – primarily from Africa and Asia, but from the US and Europe too – to take a hike. Conversely, if the Council doesn’t uphold the “One Church Plan,” progressive Methodists will say adios.

Meanwhile, the Methodist Church – and all Christian denominations, conservative or progressive – needs to figure out how to touch the hearts and minds of a new generation of prospective Christians who exist in a disposable culture where the over-arching goals in life are to buy lots of crap and make consecutive payments on $50,000 pickup trucks.

I wish them luck.

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