[Oe List ...] Fw: my comments on the Traditionalist Plan

Fri Jul 27 14:22:41 PDT 2018

Dear Marshall,

I could not find a way to connect with you personally, so this will go to the whole list.  My decision to retire at this Conference was largely influenced by my unwillingness to live through the schism that seems to be coming from the position of the pulpit.

Your comments are completely on-target.  They do not reveal the racism that was behind or underneath the current situation of the African UMC.  Because North Americans in general could not trust the church as it had been established in Africa 

(anxiety about polygamy and money management being chief among the concerns that American Methodists worried would not be sufficiently addressed) the African church could not be released to indigenous leadership that was the practice with the Indian or Sub Asian churches.  We also have not had the leadership at the level of Bishops that mentored these young churches as we let them go.  It is not difficult to see that giants emerged in these local contexts to lead the church in ethical positions in spite of great political conflict.

I do not know of other reasons (besides morality and money) that caused us to hold on to the African churches and make them kowtow to the American structure.  I do know that for many years it meant we could decide who would participate in which councils.  (Did we learn this from the Roman Church?)  I have wondered from time to time if it was also a way to squeeze the wealthy west of more money for missions.

I am not sure this adds anything to your reflections.  I am certain that there is a plethora of racism underneath it all.  I did not want to have to represent the debacle from the position of an assignment.  I wish for you the best of responses.  In the Iowa Conference, I felt like a total failure on all fronts, including the committees that will be disbanded per your predictions.

My love for the dynamic of the church in history will not be destroyed by the human institutions that think they represent the intentions of the faithful.

Emmanuel, Margaret

From: OE [mailto:oe-bounces at lists.wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of W. J. via OE
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2018 9:52 AM
To: Order Ecumenical Community
Cc: W. J.
Subject: [Oe List ...] Fw: my comments on the Traditionalist Plan

Colleagues, those of you who may have a deep historical connection to United Methodism may be aware that this church faces the likely possibility of schism in February, 2019.

If it is of interest, I invite you to read the attached first draft of my analysis of the competing plans and voices that will 'come to a boil' at the General Conference of 2019.

Warning: it's an eight-page slog!

If you can get through it, I'd be appreciative of your thoughts and reflections.

I would add as a footnote that I highly value our work in Human Development Projects and through a global network of indigenous ICA's.

I am SO grateful to all of us for pioneering in creating a non-colonialist model for genuine service to humankind around the world.

Marshall Jones

Below is my letter to my United Methodist colleagues:

I am writing to you with a heavy heart to ask you to seriously read and offer your comments on my first draft of the attached opinion piece on the 'Traditionalist Plan' that was written by a few bishops and included with the report from the Commission on A Way Forward.

I would normally prefer to remain seething in silence, but, having read and reread the Commission's report and devoured all the commentary I could find, I felt forced to dig in and list in detail what I believe is the 'poison pill' hidden at the heart of the Traditionalist Plan.

It's not the obvious punitive focus of the Traditionalist Plan that concerns me, but rather the political reality of the African elephant in the room. If the Plan passes at General Conference, it will be because the majority of African delegates will have been persuaded to support it, not fully realizing its implications for their work at home.

So far I have seen no commentaries that dig in depth into just how the African delegates are being duped by the 'Reform and Renewal Coalition' to vote with them at GC 2019.

To spell out the hidden, implicit dynamic between the Coalition and the African delegates, I faced the difficult task of tackling the underlying racism and cultural prejudice that burdens the dialogue between African United Methodists and the white majority of American United Methodists.

After working for the former Methodist Board of Missions in my twenties, I have a great appreciation and respect for the entire history of Christian missionary work across Africa, including reducing African languages to writing and then translating and publishing the NT in those languages and organizing schools reflecting western patterns, including Africa University.

Yet our current situation is the result of planting Methodism in Africa with a polity based in and adaptive to our American roots, and then asking the African delegates to vote on polity changes that are primarily sensitive to changes in American culture. 

It would take a great leap of faith and imagination for African delegates to vote to remove the exclusionary language of "incompatibility" from our Discipline while retaining it in their Central Conferences.

I would hope that they would be more ready and willing to do this if they realized how deeply their 'heteronormative' biases are being 'played' by the Coalition and how deeply racist and manipulative their conservative white male "friends" are in fact. And if they can be challenged to honor the humanness of LGBTQ members of our communion with the grace and graciousness we all deserve.

Please let me know if you would be willing to read and comment on the attached document. Otherwise, simply delete this message!

Wayne Marshall Jones, MDiv, MA (Psychology)

Elder (retired), WNCCUMC 

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