I desire to speak about the selection of interim bishops for the Global Methodist Church. However, I must first speak of trust, beauty, and building boats; because if we don’t understand each other on the first things, we will not understand on the last things.
Somewhere I once read that if the prophets seem to rail so incessantly about how bad things are its because they have a vision of how beautiful things can be. I have seen how beautiful things can be. Sometimes. I rail about how bad things are.
I have seen how beautiful the Church can be. I have a vision of a renewed and restored Church being birthed into the world. One with a solid foundation in the person of Jesus Christ. A church committed to sound doctrine and with truly evangelical leadership. I see the church as a devoted steward of the sacraments and the things of God while unhindered by cumbersome bureaucracies, unresponsive institutions, and legions of sinecures. I have seen a church which when she gathers in one place all the fullness of her charisms, she does so with rejoicing—beholding brothers and sisters face to face—even those with whom we disagree on certain weighty matters.
I have seen how magnificent the church can be. The church is the most wonderful gift Christ left us other than salvation itself. The Church is the only boat Christ left us to get us across this world and into the next. Therefore, I tend to rail at people who want to poke holes in that boat.
I will celebrate one of the essential traits in the character of the restored church. That trait is recognized as Trust or sometimes by its close kin Stewardship. The first term identifies the sacred obligation: The other refers to the office and manner by which we exercise it.
When Stewards receive a Trust then they must set aside their own interests, whether professional or personal, or the interests of any other organization. Further, they have a responsibility to be faithful to the stated mission of the Source of the Trust and not to act or use the resources in their Trust in incompatible ways or purposes.
If I borrow my neighbor’s lawnmower then I have a duty to care for it in a manner that best serves the interest of my neighbor. The lawnmower is a Trust, and I am the Steward of the lawnmower. I might choose to leave my lawnmower out in the rain (that might be why I must borrow one), but I will not treat my neighbor’s property as my own. Stewardship means treating it as though it is not my own. Even if it involves extra inconvenience and cost.
In the church we call this stewardship.
I have a car. It is God’s car. When he has no specific task assigned for it, I am allowed great liberty to use it for my personal benefit and recreation; provided that when I get a call at two in the morning from a brother or sister in need, then I will take his car and go to their aid. Further, I may not use the car to deliver a shipment of heroin even if it is to my personal benefit. The car is a Trust. I am the Steward. I have a responsibility to be faithful to the stated mission of the Source and not to act on or use the resources of the Trust in incompatible ways or purposes.
I have witnessed from a distance how beautifully our newly formed yet ancient Church has stewarded her Trust. Those who are stewarding our transition have done well at keeping Trust. If there has been an occasional failing of an individual here or there, then either I have not seen it, or it was corrected in the Christian Way.
There are many decisions they could have made—they had the power to make them—yet they did not. Many matters of doctrine and polity have been set aside, not because they had no opinion, but because they discerned that they had no authority. They have not confused the power to act with the authority to act. They have kept Trust.
They have faithfully developed proposals for our life together—just as they were charged to do. Whenever the action on a proposal could be delayed, the proposal was submitted with sufficient explanation for its implementation and sufficient time for alternative proposals to come forward. When a matter requires immediate action, they have always done so with both an explanation and a process by which the Church may offer correction. If anyone believes that our Transitional Doctrine and Discipline does not go far enough on one matter or seems incomplete on another, or even in error on yet another, then be assured that the people who wrote the TDD feel the same way. It is the Convening and future Conferences who hold the Trust to resolve these matters. I expect they will Steward their Trust as well as our transitional body has done with theirs.
The restoration of the Church will not be completed in one Conference. The late Dr. Abrams wisely observed it will take a generation to recover what has been lost. The Convening Conference will accomplish a great deal toward that goal, and she will lay a sound foundation. It must leave some work for another people on another day. It will also undoubtedly make some small errors that future Conferences must remedy. We all have much to learn from each other, and we must be patient with each other in the process.
Because I see how well the boat is being built, I tend to rail at those who start poking holes in it. If any would accuse our stewards of breaking Trust, then it is incumbent upon them to demonstrate the specific harm. It is insufficient to suggest what could have happened or what might possibly occur. Because something could have happened that way does not mean that it did, and because something might possibly happen in the future does not mean it ever will. God save such people from ever serving on a jury as those who will condemn on could have and might possibly. When you bring a charge before the whole church then present the specific, uncontestable, actual harm. We must not let Impatience entice us to bring a charge before an injury has occurred.
The transitional stewards of our Church have set before us candidates for interim bishops. They have simultaneously set before us a process for amending that list or avoiding transitional bishops altogether. The Church may even choose to reject any office of bishop. The transitional leadership have imposed nothing on anyone but have fulfilled their charge as far as they may go and no further. This is right and faithful.
I see deficiencies with the list and the process. I do not attribute them to a breach of trust but to the nature of the work and the fallibility of processes. The deficiencies have remedies that do not require accusations.
I am disturbed that the process resulted in only one candidate from outside the United States. I trust that the Conference will use the means which our stewards have provided them to remedy that situation. I am persuaded that when the list of candidates for bishop is completed, we could draw names from a hat until the vacancies are filled, and we would have an excellent episcopacy. If I were the type to offer resolutions, I would make such a proposal.
I can say this even though there is one candidate whom I believe is in serious error on at least one point. We have a candidate whose teaching on Eucharist appears to be steeped in what I describe as that whimsical, trivializing, indiscriminate administration that we were all indoctrinated in through the UMC. Anyone who knows anything about me knows how critical that issue is to me. Nonetheless, I believe he would be a good choice for bishop. While I perceive him to be in the shadows on a matter where I have seen light, I also know he has light in places where I am in shadow. Further, I expect that he is as open to correction as I am. We are a people in recovery. We all have much to learn from each other, and we must be patient with each other in the process.
How can I know these things about the candidate—or any of the candidates? How can I be comfortable with their fitness for the work? Because a candidate for bishop in the GMC must be an elder, and every elder who might reasonably be considered for bishop has an easily accessible trail documenting the evolution of their theology and practice. If they haven’t published a book or written for scholastic journals then they at least have a blog and/or videos of sermons, devotionals, and Bible studies. I am not moved by how quickly someone comes up with an answer to a hypothetical problem in an interview. I want to know how well they respond after meditating on it for a day. It is that body of work, together with their reputation within their community, that I rely upon.
I reviewed every one of the candidates by researching them at a leisurely pace over a few days. I was already familiar with most of them but thought it wise to catch up on their recent activity. I realize not every member of the church will do that much work, but anyone who has assumed the responsibility of delegate to the Conference has the absolute moral obligation to do so or to turn their seat over to someone who will. Whether one does or does not, one must not blame their ignorance on some imagined nefarious act of another.
That should end the essay, but I will not end this discussion without a word about transparency and accountability. I honor the concept of open meetings and plain speech. I also honor the concept of private reflection and confidential counsel. I do not expect our new General Rules to require every Global Methodist to wear a 24-hour GPS tracker and live bodycam…nor our clergy, nor our bishops, nor our committee members.
Have our work groups had private discussions? Have its members reached out confidentially to people not on the committee? Have they considered proposals without advertising that they were considering such an idea? Mercy! I hope so! They would be irresponsible fools if they had not.
I have the right to test an idea with a trusted confidential listener without you or anyone else ever knowing about it. I have the right to present to a committee an idea so stupid that I don’t realize how stupid it is until I hear my voice saying it out loud. I deserve the right to do that, retract the idea, and start over without being condemned by a social media mob for what could have or might possibly. I have that right and responsibility. You have that right and responsibility. Every member of every Church work group has that right and responsibility. Transparency comes when the final work product is presented (not imposed) with a process to analyze it and adequate time to repair or replace it if desired. That is exactly what the transitional teams have done every step of the way.
I have seen how beautiful the Church can be. I have a vision of a renewed and restored Church being birthed into the world. I see a beautiful boat that will carry us through this world and into the next. I tend to rail at anyone who would poke holes in it.
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