Matt O’Reilly: Board of Church and Society Holds Young Clergy Forum

– by Matt O’Reilly

More than fifty young United Methodist clergy traveled to Capitol Hill at the end of January to take part in the 13^th annual Young Clergy Leadership Forum hosted by the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS). The stated purpose of the Forum is “to put a human face on the Board of Church and Society.” Provisional and Full Elders and Deacons were represented among the participants, and this was the first Forum in which two clergy from Africa were able to participate. The young clergy had the opportunity to meet GBCS staff and hear about the day-to-day advocacy, resourcing, and communication work in which they are engaged. Most of the material presented at the sessions was strong, though a couple of elements left much to be desired.

Fruitful Conversations

Most of the leadership forum was devoted to organized group discussion around issues currently challenging the United Methodist Church (UMC). One of the most fruitful dialogues came in response to a presentation by the Rev. Dr. Clayton Childers, Director of Annual Conference Relations at GBCS. Childers spoke on “Our Divided Nation: Fostering Civility and Understanding.” Recognizing the deep polarization, not only in the UMC but in the United States as a whole, Childers proposed that we attempt to move beyond the liberal-conservative dichotomy by recognizing that not all within those respective groups agree on every issue. He suggested that there are at actually two dominant intersecting spectrums along which we can plot our disagreement. One is the progressive-conservative spectrum; the other is an individual-social spectrum. Among conservatives are those concerned with individual rights while others are focused on social stability. The same observation can be made of those with a more liberal perspective: some focus on individual freedom and others on building a stable society. Based on this model Childers suggested that socially minded progressives and conservatives may find common ground based on their shared interest in social stability, while individually minded progressives and conservatives may connect around shared interest interest in individual liberty. This description certainly offers a more nuanced and accurate account of the political and social differences among Americans in general and United Methodists in particular. That accuracy increases the potential of the model to facilitate civil engagement around challenging issues.

Also helpful was a discussion was led by GBCS staff member Kristen Kumph on community organizing. As a technical term, community organizing has come to refer to the process by which like-minded people who typically share some proximity come together to achieve a common interest. Organizing is a fairly new initiative for GBCS, but it was given a significant amount of time at the Young Clergy Forum and appears to be an increasing emphasis at GBCS.  Such organizing is commonly associated with those on the left side of the political spectrum, but there is nothing inherently liberal about the methodology. In fact, after learning more about the process and engaging in discussion with other Forum participants, I became eager to see more conservatives draw on the resources and strategies used by community organizers to facilitate desired change and improvement.

A particularly significant highlight of the Forum came when the young clergy had the opportunity to visit the United States Capitol where we met Senate Chaplain Barry Black. Chaplain Black is remarkably engaging, articulate, and well-spoken. He has clearly devoted a great of time to the study of scripture, which saturated his remarks. The Chaplain delivered a reflection on Acts 13:35 in which he challenged the young clergy to “serve the purposes of God for your life in your generation.” Comparing ministry to a relay race, Chaplain Black asserted that each new generation of leaders must be willing to receive the baton from those who have gone before. He encouraged the group to pursue excellence by learning from the great thinkers of history by saying, “Shame on you if you don’t learn from the mighty who have gone before you.” He also encouraged us to be focused on the needs of our generation and to be willing to pass the baton to those who come after us.

Unfortunate Inconsistency

While there was much to commend the Forum, a couple of presentations were particularly problematic. Susan Burton was on the program to offer a presentation on “The Challenge of Human Trafficking”, which is one issue on which liberals and conservatives ought to agree. I, for one, was eager to hear what sort of work the GBCS was doing on a matter of such importance. Burton’s talk was organized around the question: “What would the church look like if women and girls were viewed as children of God of sacred worth?” This is, of course, an incredibly important question that should be always before us. Burton began by describing a variety of issues that make people vulnerable to trafficking. Unfortunately, she said little more about the tragedy of human trafficking and what the GBCS is doing about it. Instead, she focused much of her time on so-called reproductive justice, a term that is replacing and expanding the “pro-choice” rhetoric among abortion advocates. The most glaring and unfortunate inconsistency was Burton’s failure to apply her motivating question about the sacred worth of women and children to the little girls (and boys!) who still live inside wombs of their mothers. I look forward to the day when the GBCS is willing to ask: What would the church look like if preborn girls and boys were viewed as children of God of sacred worth? Until we raise that question, we have not yet realized the fullness of our calling to be agents of social justice as we give voice to those whose cries go unheard because the vibrations of their developing vocal cords are muffled by amniotic fluid.

Forum participants also had opportunity to meet the new General Secretary of the GBCS, the Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe, who led a communion service in the Simpson Chapel at the United Methodist Building. Henry-Crowe gave a brief account of how she developed her sense of vocation and a passion for justice and the work of the Church in society, but at one point she misrepresented the central proclamation of the Christian Church by declaring that, “The gospel is justice.” The gospel certainly has implications for ministries of justice, but the substance of the good news “that Christ died for our sins…and that he was raised on the third day” should never be misconstrued in vague single-word generalities that strip our proclamation of his unique content (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

Other Highlights 

Forum participants also had the opportunity to meet and engage Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, who is also a United Methodist clergy person. Dr. Kirk VanGilder, Professor of Religion at Gallaudet University and UMC clergy person, shared his experience with progressive hearing loss and gave a presentation on the history of the University, which housed the Forum participants during their stay in Washington and which is the only university in the world designed to accommodate deaf students. The event concluded with a chapel service led by Forum participants and preached by Rev. Julius Collins, a pastor who traveled from Liberia to participate in the Young Clergy Forum.

Rev. Matt O’Reilly is pastor of First United Methodist Church of Union Springs, Alabama, and a Ph.D. candidate in New Testament Studies at the University of Gloucestershire. Connect at www.mattoreilly.net or follow @mporeilly.