Methodist renewal strategy similar to efforts in PCUSA
The Layman Online, September 15, 1999
INDIANAPOLIS – One of the major renewal organizations in the United Methodist Church has adopted a document titled “The Indianapolis Affirmation” that urges the denomination to reclaim its traditional Bible-based heritage and seeks approval for congregations to leave the denomination if that does not occur.
The affirmation of foundational beliefs was similar to the final draft of a document titled “Union in Christ: A Declaration for the Church,” which was presented to the 1998 meeting of the Presbyterian Coalition.
The Coalition, which will hold its 1999 meeting in Dallas Sept. 20-22, is comprised of leaders of several renewal groups in the Presbyterian Church (USA), including the Presbyterian Lay Committee.
Leader warns stakes are high
In Indianapolis, a leading United Methodist conservative warned that the stakes are high for a church movement that is trying to bring the denomination back to its scriptural foundation.
“I’m convinced the soul of the church is at stake,” said the Rev. Maxie Dunnam in opening remarks at the Sept. 9-11 national conference of the Confessing Movement. Dunnam, president of Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., is a founding member of the Confessing Movement.
In “The Indianapolis Affirmation,” the 900 participants in the Confessing Movement conference called for “a new level of integrity and accountability in upholding our constitutionally established doctrinal standards.” Specifically, the document calls on the church’s bishops to “teach the historic apostolic faith without apology,” an apparent reaction to bishops who have publicly opposed the church’s official position that homosexuality is sin.
Also, two United Methodist pastors have undergone church trials recently on charges of violating denomination rules by performing same-gender holy unions. The first, the Rev. Jimmy Creech of North Carolina, was acquitted in March 1998 and is now facing trial again for performing another same-gender service. The second, the Rev. Greg Dell of Chicago, was convicted last March and is appealing the verdict to a higher church court.
In addition, 68 pastors in the California-Nevada Conference are being investigated by a church panel for their roles in a same-gender service last January.
Exit process requested
In the Indianapolis Affirmation, the Confessing Movement encourages the denomination to provide a process of exiting from the church without penalty for those who “cannot abide by and remain true to the teachings of Scripture and our doctrine.”
Other issues touched on in the statement included “the sanctity of the unborn child” and complete rejection of partial-birth abortion; reaffirmation of celibacy for singles and fidelity in marriage – a principle termed “non-negotiable;” and rejection of efforts to extend to same-sex domestic partners the same rights provided to those in heterosexual marriages.
The statement addresses a key internal issue. It asks the General Conference, the church’s top legislative body, to abandon mandatory apportionments – a fair-share assessment that each local church pays in support of mission programs – in favor of “askings,” an earlier concept wherein such payments were more discretionary. The askings should not exceed 10 percent of the local church’s expense budget, exclusive of capital improvements and benevolences, the statement says.
Influence of culture cited
Members of the Confessing Movement are “concerned by … what they see as increasing evidence the church is becoming too influenced by popular culture,” said Patricia Miller, executive director of the Indianapolis-based movement.
The evangelical initiative began five years ago and says it has more than 600,000 supporters. The United Methodist Church has a membership of more than 8 million. Membership in the PCUSA is slightly more than 2.5 million.
One local pastor in attendance, the Rev. Mark Dicken of Edwardsville (Ind.) United Methodist Church, described fellow supporters as “people deeply, passionately committed to the church, whose hearts are broken by other movements away from what makes us United Methodist – the primacy of Scripture, the absolute truth of the Gospel.”