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BY MELISSA LAUBER

Members of the Baltimore-Washington Conference are an integral part of the General Conference, the quadrennial meeting of The United Methodist Church, being held April 23 through May 2 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Altar shrouded in face of divisions

On the day following heavily debated legislation that retains the denomination’s current stance on homosexuality, some members of the Baltimore-Washington Conference delegation participated in a witness on the floor of General Conference seeking inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the church.

Those participating in the witness, including Mittie Quinn of Dumbarton UMC, Jen Ihlo of Dumbarton UMC, Ralph Williams of Foundry UMC, and Kathryn Johnson, who leads the national Methodist Federation for Social Action, filed into the auditorium dressed in black. They sang to the delegates and shrouded the altar table in black fabric.

Many of the delegates stood in solidarity with the protesters and responded to an invitation to participate by draping their own strips of black fabric on the altar table.

Twelve of the bishops acted in a pastoral capacity and stepped down from the stage to stand with the protesters. Bishop John R. Schol stood with members of the Baltimore-Washington Conference delegation.

The legislation these delegates were hopeful might pass, would have removed the statement that “homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching,” from the Discipline and replace it with the words: “Faithful, thoughtful people who have grappled with this issue deeply disagree with one another; yet all seek a faithful witness.”

This petition was not adopted. Fifty-seven percent of the delegates voted to retain the church’s current stance on homosexuality.

In a sermon on the morning of May 1, Bishop Hee Soo Jung addressed the division in the church around the issue of homosexuality.

This church, “which began as a small fire in John Wesley’s heart,” is torn between those who want the church to be more open and extend biblical hospitality and those who want the church to be more pure and embrace biblical holiness, said Bishop Soo Jung.

“Both are biblical values and both are right,” the bishop said. “We are invited to live in the tension of holding both values.”

It is difficult, he added cautioning, “this is not about being theologically correct. It’s about following Jesus. At the heart of it all, will you follow Jesus?

Deaf choir performs

“They are a gift to the church,” the Rev. Peggy Johnson declared as members of Christ United Methodist Church of the Deaf choir performed in worship at General Conference May 1. “The body of Christ is not complete without them.”

Lasandra Saunders, director of the choir, agreed. “We are a gift,” she said. “It’s important for the entire church to recognize deaf people, deaf culture and deaf worship. God loves all people.”

The nine members of the choir from Baltimore signed the words of hymns in American Sign Language as a large drum beat out a rhythm and Carol Stevens, of the Deaf Shalom Zone, voiced their words to the 1,000 delegates. They also performed at a concert during the lunch hour.

“We want to thank the conference for their help and support,” Saunders said. “Our church loves and depends on the people of the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

The conference provides financial support to supplement the ministries of Christ UMC of the Deaf, which draws deaf people from throughout the region, who are not able to attend other hearing churches.

Saunders worries that a proposed freeze in next year’s conference budget will create a shortfall of $8,000, which will necessitate cuts in important programs for the deaf, she signed through an interpreter.

The music of the deaf church is not about the ears, said the emcee who introduced them at the concert. “It’s about the heart.”

United Methodists could eradicate malaria

Mike McCurry of St. Paul’s UMC in Kensington is an enthusiastic supporter of the Nothing But Nets Campaign to prevent malaria. On May 1, he helped to host Bill Gates Sr., co-director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates addressed the General Conference, speaking about the foundation’s $5 million contribution to The United Methodist Church to help fight malaria in Africa.

There is a major difference among the 1,000 delegates at the convention, Gates told them. Those from North America have probably never seen malaria. Those from Africa see malaria everyday. They see children struggling with the disease that “turns a mosquito bite into a death sentence.”

But through the Nothing But Nets campaign, which provides insecticide-treated nets to children in Africa for only $10 a net, The United Methodist Church has the power to wipe out malaria and “turn tragedy into triumph,” said Gates.

He applauded John Wesley, and the people of the church Wesley founded on their believe that the world is their parish.

“Pennies add up and can buy nets and antiviral drugs, but the real power of The United Methodist Church, is that it teaches children, from Nebraska to Zambia, that they belong to the same father,” Gates said. “That is your gift and it will end malaria.”

Bishop Eben Nhiwatiwa offered thanks to Gates on behalf of the church.

The bishop, whose daughter died this year of malaria, shared how he had personally distributed nets with Bishop John Schol and a team from the Baltimore-Washington Conference last spring.

The bishop also thanked the people of The United Methodist Church. Our heading hand, he said, has already reached in all corners of Africa. “We feel that compassionate hand.”

United Methodist Men celebrate 100-year anniversary

When the Methodist Brotherhood was formed in Baltimore 100 years ago, President Teddy Roosevelt was about to embark on a safari, Model T’s had begun to roll off the assembly line and a postage stamp cost two cents.

This anniversary was celebrated by General Conference April 29. Baltimore-Washington Conference United Methodist Men President Sherman Harris, who is a delegate, is looking forward to a renewal of men’s ministries.

Currently, 43 churches in the Baltimore-Washington Conference report having men’s ministries with more than 40 members.

Harris hopes to expand this number by offering a number of teaching churches that will resource men and allow them to share skills and learnings about mission and ministry.

On May 17, the United Methodist Men will begin a long-term service project, working to clean and restore the historic African-American Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Baltimore.

Pastor speaks out for urban ministry

Many Baltimore-Washington Conference clergy and lay people are volunteering their time to serve at General conference. The Rev. Michael Armstrong is working as a page. The Rev. Sandra Demby is writing for The Urban Times, a newsletter of the denomination’s National Urban Strategy Council.

In the May 1 issue, Demby writes: “I am excited to hear the moving, inspiring preaching from our bishops. I was especially excited to hear Bishop Joao Somane Machado of Mozambique say, ‘To transform the world, we must be transformed ourselves.’

“This statement resonated with me because I clearly believe that if a change or transformation is to occur in my life, it has to start with me. If the church is to be transformed it must start with those who sit in the pews Sunday after Sunday.”

Celebrating Shalom

 

Bishop John Schol applauded the United Methodist Communities of Shalom initiative for the work it has done over the past four quadrennium to provide training in how congregations and communities can work together in seeking health, wholeness and well-being.

 

At a celebration April 25, Bishop Schol recounted the beginnings of the Shalom ministry, which was born at General Conference in 1992 as a response to rioting in Los Angeles sparked by the police beating of motorist Rodney King.

The initiative has a new organizational look. Shalom is now a partnership ministry between the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries and United Methodist-related Drew University Theological School, Madison, N.J.

“This is one of the most exciting partnerships in the church right now,” said Bishop Schol, who chairs the National Shalom Committee and was one of the first people to work with Communities of Shalom when it began.

“Out of deep tragedy and deep pain, something very lasting began,” Bishop Schol said. “We are indebted and grateful to the people of Los Angeles because of what has happened.”

More than 5,000 people have been trained with the Communities of Shalom model in the United States and around the world.

“Shalom happens because of people in the community,” the bishop said. “Shalom happens because of the trainers who work with community members. Shalom is more than on the loose. It’s something that lives deep within the bones of The United Methodist Church.”

Several Baltimore area churches are beginning Shalom training next month.
For more information, visit www.communitiesofshalom.org.

 

Seeking retirement with dignity

 

The Rev. Joan Carter-Rimbach of First UMC in Hyattsville rose to the microphone on the floor of General Conference April 27 to deliver a plea that the clergy in the United States personally assist pastors in the Central Conferences so that all might have retirement with dignity.

The day before, General Conference delegates heard in a report on clergy pensions that for many pastors in Africa, the Philippines and Eastern Europe, retirement often becomes “a transition into homelessness.”

Bishop Benjamin Chamness, of the Fort Worth Area, reported that a denominational initiative has raised $7.8 million but needs $20 million to fully fund pensions for retired pastors in areas outside of the United States.

Carter-Rimbach requested that the 28,000 clergy people in the in the United States consider giving $1,000 from their own pensions to assist their Central Conference counterparts.

She acknowledged that such gesture may be “just a drop in the bucket,” but it is also, she said, “a sign of hope. …“We are one of them and they are one of us. We want tot do more than affirm. We want to act.”

General Board of Pension officials reported that such a measure would not be allowed by the Internal Revenue Service.

 

Transformational from the pew to the pavement

 

Repeating the word “transformational,” time and again, delegates at General Conference voted April 27 to fully support the 12-year-old initiative, known as Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century (SBC-21).

The initiative pairs struggling black churches with successful ones and takes revitalization from “the pew to the pavement,” said the Rev. Dorothy Watson Tatem, a member of the SBC-21 team.

This support was celebrated by the Rev. Joseph Daniels of Emory UMC, which has served as a teaching church, helping between 40 and 50 other congregations to become revived.
Daniels credits Emory’s success to the “radical hospitality of its people,” which extends into the community in a myriad of ministries.

There are more than 2,400 African-American churches and 432,354 African Americans in The United Methodist Church in the United States.

 

Remembering segregation

 

A pioneer in the Civil Right movment, W. Astor Kirk, of Foundry UMC in Washington, D.C., participated April 27 in a recognition of the anniversary of the dissolution the former Central Jurisdiction.

The Central Jurisdiction, was formed in 1939 as a segregated place for black Methodists in the merger of the Methodist Protestant Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. It was dissolved in 1968.

“For Methodist blacks, the creation of the racially segregated Central Jurisdiction was a humiliating disappointment,” Kirk told General Conference delegates. He was a member of the Committee of Five, which sought the dissolution of the Central Jurisdiction.

However, Kirk said, “many resourceful men and women used the organization as an instrument for empowering Methodist blacks.”

Bishop Forrest C. Stith, retired and chair of the African-American Methodist Heritage Center, also spoke. “We especially grieve that in 1939 hundreds of thousands of African Americans were marginalized. … We are thankful for thousands of African Americans who chose to stay in the church.”

The history of some of these people will be preserved in the African-American Methodist Heritage Center, which conference delegates voted to give $100,000 per year during the next quadrennium. The center gathers stories, artifacts and other historical items of African-American Methodists from the mid-18th century to the present.

Closing the celebration of the dissolution of the Central Jurisdiction, Stith prayed, “Now we remember, reflect and rededicate our lives as we praise you, oh God, for it was 40 years ago that our Methodist Church crossed the difficult divide in a series of decisions that eliminated the Central Jurisdiction. Now we boldly move toward the kingdom promised by Jesus Christ, even here on earth.”

 

A prayerful protest

Miriam Wood, a United Methodist who attends American University in Washington, D.C., knelt outside a committee room in the Convention Center in Fort Worth, praying for the delegates of General Conference to repent.

As part of a more than 100-person protest of prayer April 26, she knelt for her sister, who is a lesbian and denied acceptance in The United Methodist Church.

“My family is the body of Christ for me,” Miriam said. “How can I stay silent when the church does not welcome the entire body of Christ?”

Earlier, at a rally, Joey Heath, who was denied membership in The United Methodist Church by his pastor in 2004 because he was a gay man, spoke to the protesters.

United Methodists, he said, have contradicted their official slogan. “It is a church of closed minds, closed hearts and the door was closed on me,” he said.

Many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people believe the church doesn’t want them, that God doesn’t love them,” Heath said. “We are going to have to stand before God and explain why we turned people away.”

Heath and his fellow protesters said they believe “we are not two churches.” However, the denomination’s policies on homosexuality “create division” – divisions they are trying to heal by getting language into the Book of Discipline that states that all United Methodists are not of one mind on homosexuality.

Transgender clergy add 'a new angle' to debate

Earlier in the week, the Rev. Drew Phoenix, pastor of St. John’s UMC in Baltimore, spoke to General Conference delegates at a press conference April 24.

The General Conference has debated the issue of homosexuality for three decades.
Phoenix spoke out for the inclusion of transgender people in the denomination, adding “a new angle to that debate,” reported the United Methodist News Service.

The church’s Book of Discipline does not currently address transgender clergy. Some conservative groups in the denomination are hoping to alter that.

Phoenix, who changed his gender from female to male two years ago, said he believes transgenderism is compatible with Christian teaching because “it was in the context of my faith in Christ, led by the Spirit, that I made the transition (of gender).” What’s more, he added, St. John’s is thriving in its ministry of disciple-making and mission.

“Seeing me become more transparent, honest and authentic in the transition gives them permission to be honest in a way that they couldn’t have before,” Phoenix said of his congregation. “We want to be known as the children God created us to be. That’s been my experience with my church, across the board.”

Town and country churches sow seeds of hope

Town and Country churches in rural communities across the country are a vital and essential part of The United Methodist Church. “Their ministry provides life-changing hope,” Sharon Leatherman told the delegates of General Conference during the Town and Country Churches report April 26.

As part of the report, the committee handed out packets of zinnia seeds, encouraging the delegates to plant seeds of hope extravagantly around their communities. Ideas for how to do this are on the Web site www.townandcountryumc.org.

As director of the Appalachian Ministry Network, headquartered in Hagerstown, Leatherman works in ministry in a region that covers 23 annual conferences. Many people in this region live in abject poverty, she said.

Churches who want to make a difference are encouraged to give to the Appalachia Hunger and Poverty General Advance Special (#982039).

“Too many people don’t realize that we’ve benefited at the expense of these folks in Appalachia. We’ve taken their resources and left communities devastated,” Leatherman said.

She encourages members of the Baltimore-Washington Conference to begin to pay attention to mining issues and the gravel extraction along Route 68, which is largely unregulated and has the potential to play havoc with the environment.

Worship enriched with spirited songs

General Conference opens each morning with worship. On April 25, the choir of Christ UMC in Baltimore, under the direction of Glenn Roscoe, provided the music.

“It’s an honor to be here,” said the Rev. LaReesa Smith. Twenty-two members of the 56-member choir were able to attend. The church has a vital music ministry that includes an 18-piece orchestra.

“We just try to praise the Lord,” said Roscoe, who added the choir’s hope echoes the theme of one of its favorite songs, “Make us One.”

“That’s our prayer,” he said.

Eileen Guenther, of Wesley Seminary, who led the music at the 2004 General Conference, conducted a combined seminary choir at worship April 26.

The music this year is being co-led by Marcia McFee and Mark Miller. Miller, of Plainfield, N.J., will also lead worship at the upcoming session of the Baltimore-Washington Conference in May.

 

Providing leadership

The Rev. Laura Easto of Westminster UMC was chosen to serve as chair of the Judicial Administration Committee of General Conference April 24.

Each of the 13 legislative committees elects officers to help steer them through the work of considering the 1,544 petitions submitted by groups, conferences and individuals throughout the denomination. The committees will choose to accept, reject or refer each of the petitions.

Bishop John Schol led the organization of the Judicial Administration Committee, which deals with petitions relating to judiciary concerns and investigations, trials and appeals within the church.

 

The United Methodist News Service contributed to this report.