Online Archives

BY SHANNON SULLIVAN

I had never heard of the United Methodist Student Movement (UMSM) before my pastor asked me if I wanted to go to Tacoma, Wash. I went without knowing what to expect; but there, I discovered holy conferencing.

The UMSM meets every year at the denomination?s Student Forum. On May 24-27, approximately 400 students from all over the United States were in Tacoma to fellowship with one another while learning about how we can stimulate the growth of The United Methodist Church.

Usually at the Student Forum, the students pass resolutions detailing United Methodist students? stances on issues in the denomination and other concerns that impact their lives. This year, however, was proclaimed a Year of Jubilee; so no resolutions were passed. Instead, the forum focused on 'holy conferencing.'

Before I describe what holy conferencing is, it is important to understand what kinds of issues were discussed at the Student Forum this year. Students are often even more politically active than the rest of the church. The Student Forum is very politically focused.

Each year, there are workshops in which we discuss ways we can be more active on campus and in the church on issues of social justice. The three workshops I attended were on genocide in Darfur, the war in Iraq, and homosexuality in The United Methodist Church.

There were also workshops about entering ordained ministry, living with a roommate of a different religion, corporate responsibility and peer leadership, among others.

As students in The United Methodist Church, we are very conscious of the political situations in the world and the church today.

One of the major issues in the church today is our response to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. We know we need to love all people and welcome them into our church, but knowledge often conflicts with reality when many people still view homosexuality as a sin.

In the Book of Discipline, homosexuality is labeled as incompatible with Christian teachings, though it is also acknowledged that all people are of sacred worth.

With knowledge of this debate in mind, the topic of holy conferencing this year was human sexuality.

Michael James and Sarah Barron spoke about sexuality, saying that before we can understand the debate around homosexuality, we need to understand our own sexuality. The church, as opposed to popular culture or the government, should be the place we learn about beautiful and healthy sex.

Neither speaker discussed specifically what we need to do about homosexuality as a church, although the implications were very strong that we need to change something.

However, as one of the students in the small-group discussion that followed the speakers said, taking away the ambiguity of issues, the gray areas, robs people of the power to make their own choices. God gave us the freedom of choice because God wants us to use it.

The Scripture that the Student Forum was based on this year was Isaiah 58: 1-12, about the importance of loosening the yoke of injustice and setting the oppressed free. The Student Forum tried to equip young United Methodists with the tools we can use to change ourselves, the church and the world, so that we can better follow Christ.

While I am not sure the forum succeeded entirely, the seeds were planted. The Rev. Telley Gadson?s benediction, after giving the message at the first night?s worship, was: 'Go in peace. Change the world. Shine.'

Shannon Sullivan is a student at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of the Rev. Melissa McDade, pastor of the Norrisville Charge.