Robert Sparkman: What of the Majority Faction of Bishops Supporting the One Church Plan?

on January 10, 2019

Rev. Robert Sparkman is a graduate of the Candler School of Theology and an ordained minister in the North Alabama Conference, serving for over 40 years in pastoral ministry. He has been a delegate to three General Conferences and a reserve to three. He was active with the group of church leaders which studied, proposed, and passed legislation to provide fairer representation of growing areas to General Conference and on boards and agencies. He was the convener and moderator of that group for eight years. He now serves as the Senior Pastor of Latham United Methodist Church in Huntsville, AL. 

 

At the 2016 United Methodist General Conference, delegates voted to accept a proposal by the Council of Bishops to set up the “Commission on the Way Forward” to study how to deal with the conflicts within the church related to homosexuality. The Council of Bishops set up the Commission on the Way Forward which did its work responsibly, proposing three plans.

The Council of Bishops received the report and voted for one of those options, “The One Church Plan”, based on the current majority faction within the Council. The Council then tried to severely limit other legislative proposals at General Conference to that one option. The Judicial Council ruled that the Council could not limit the proposals sent to the called General Conference. All three plans are coming before a special session of general conference in Feb. in St. Louis.

Now we are witnessing a high level of activity designed to sway the General Conference decision toward the “One Church Plan.” Bishops, progressive groups, and individuals are campaigning using the recommendation of the One Church Plan by the Council of Bishops, voted in by the Council’s current controlling majority faction.

However, the representative make-up of the Council of Bishops makes their preference for the One Church Plan predictable. It is the preference of the majority faction within the Council. The Council of Bishops has more bishops from liberal and declining areas than more traditionalist or growing areas, which shapes its decisions.

The number and distribution of bishops is the result of our historical pattern of church membership and the original establishment of Episcopal areas. Over time, as the northern and the western parts of the U.S. church declined, the Discipline slowed their losses of bishops. (The number of bishops has been reduced in recent years in these areas, but not as much as their membership decrease would have dictated.)

At the same time, we were very slow in increasing bishops in rapidly growing areas. The growing areas of Africa are woefully understaffed with bishops and our church has been reluctant to spend the money to increase that number. (Africa is finally getting several new bishops in the coming years, but not as many as could be justified by membership.)

Interestingly, when the Discipline was changed to establish the current formula for U.S. bishops (by a far more generous standard than that used for African bishops), the Southeastern Jurisdiction could have added another bishop but declined.

The election of bishops is a very political process. The Northeastern, North Central, and Western Jurisdictions elect mostly liberal bishops, with a few exceptions. The Southeastern Jurisdiction and South Central Jurisdiction have elected an ideologically diverse group over the years. The progressives always seem to be more organized in these elections.

The result of all of this history of the deployment of bishops is that the Council of Bishops is an un-representative group dominated by older declining areas and therefore more liberal than the denomination or General Conference.

Given the preference of the Council of Bishops for the One Church Plan, a fair question would be this: if the Council of Bishops is to become this active in General Conference decisions, or if it is to become a planning body within the denomination, how should it best be constituted and organized for effectiveness? What representation should we expect within the Council of Bishops?

Presently this is the way U.S. bishops are assigned: each U.S. jurisdiction may elect five bishops for the first 300,000 members and another bishop for each 300,000 additional members.

However, consider an alternative way of looking at the number of bishops. Each bishop in the U.S. represents an average of 153,789 church members. If the church allocated bishops by this number, the distribution of the Council of Bishops would be as follows:

North Central Jurisdiction:     8 bishops instead of 9

Northeastern Jurisdiction        8 bishops instead of 9

South Central Jurisdiction      11 bishops instead of 10

Southeastern Jurisdiction       18 bishops instead of 13

Western Jurisdiction                2 bishops instead of 5

African Central Conferences    34 bishops instead of 13

The Europe Central Conferences and Philippines 1 each

Put differently, there are now more United Methodists in the Congo Central Conference (only one of three central conferences in Africa) than in the Western, North Central, and Northeastern jurisdictions combined. But these three liberal-leaning U.S. jurisdictions now have a total of 23 bishops, compared to four Congolese bishops.

In our present Council of Bishops it is easy to see why liberal areas of the church dominate and why the Council recommended the “One Church Plan.” If there were 29 bishops in the SE and SC Jurisdictions, 34 bishops in Africa, and only 18 bishops in the North and West, wouldn’t the recommendation have been very different?

Delegates to General Conference 2019 should consider the recommendation of the “One Church Plan” by the Council of Bishops in the perspective of the representative make-up of the Council.

We respect our bishops and the office of the Episcopacy. We listen to them and honor their crucial work within the church. However, in recommending the One Church Plan the Council of Bishops is presenting the ideological representation of a majority group in the Council, not a vision of a way forward for the whole church.

  1. Comment by Skipper on January 10, 2019 at 10:38 am

    While it is very disappointing for many of our bishops to support immoral living, I think the Traditional Plan will be selected because that is what the majority wants (even with the present unfair representation). We want a return to the ways of God.

  2. Comment by Mac Murry on January 17, 2019 at 9:19 am

    You may be right, but rest assured that if it does, even if most of the liberal clergy and churches break from the UMC and go their own way, this GC will not by any means be the final resolution. The progressive Left is never satisfied with anything but total victory and will continue to agitate inside whatever remains of the present UMC for as long as it takes to get their way.

  3. Comment by Jim Tormey on January 10, 2019 at 11:32 am

    Unfortunately, even if the traditional plan is accepted, I believe they will attempt to make the vote either illegal or judicially unsound. Nothing less than the One Church Plan will be satisfactory to the Bishops. The power of the Bishops has become unquestionable by laity, or for that matter clergy. Even if the Traditional plan passes and stands there are those who will continue to disobey the Book of discipline. If this happens will the Bishops abide by the decision and uphold the Discipline or simply avoid any action at all? Such a sad commentary on where we are at as a denomination. It’s too bad we couldn’t sit down and decide how to separate like adults? And leave an example to the world how the Church is really supposed to act like!

  4. Comment by Nina Wynn on January 10, 2019 at 1:40 pm

    Early on in your piece, there seems to be a bias that is troubling. “The Council of Bishops received the report and voted for one of those options, ‘The One Church Plan’, based on the current majority faction within the Council.
    “Majority faction” is used here as if to say there is something wrong with a decision based on what the majority holds to be true. And how can it be a faction if it is the majority? Anyway, the very next sentence was even more concerning. “The Council then tried to severely limit other legislative proposals at General Conference to that one option.” The use of the adverb, “severely” in relation to “limit” promotes a false narrative. I attended to the process of the Judicial Council and the request from the Bishops to hold our General Conference to it’s intended task. This was not an attempt to severely limit anyone, in any way. I’m sorry to say, your bias made it hard for me to head your article without being overwhelmed, in a very negative, way by your agenda.

  5. Comment by William on January 10, 2019 at 4:48 pm

    But, the present composition of the Council of Bishops is rigged, especially against the Africans, thus giving more authority to the liberals there than justified — which is the point of the article. And, it is the liberals there who are opposed to making the Council truly representative, which again works mostly against the Africans. And liberals are forever accusing traditionalists of being racists and bigots.

  6. Comment by Sandra on January 12, 2019 at 2:17 am

    Yes, Episcopal representation appears to be rigged against the Africans, but honestly, wasn’t that based on racism and classism (they are poor jurisdictions) rather than right-leaning ideology?

  7. Comment by Robert Sparkman on January 10, 2019 at 5:15 pm

    It is a political term, I admit, and one definition is this: “Similarly, in the tenth installment of The Federalist Papers, James Madison defines a faction as “a number of citizens, whether amounting to a minority or majority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens,…”
    I believe the majority of the church would not support the One Church Plan, but a faction within the Council, as the definition says, “either a minority or majority of the whole” is supporting it based on unbalanced and unfair representation.

  8. Comment by Geary Rowell on January 10, 2019 at 9:33 pm

    What the COB did was, in fact, an attempt to “severely limit” what could be presented for consideration at GC2019. What else would you call it when they attempted to have only their preferred plan be presented and no other?

  9. Comment by John Rentz on January 11, 2019 at 10:10 pm

    Precisely!

  10. Comment by Forbes 2 on January 10, 2019 at 3:25 pm

    I agree fully

  11. Comment by Bill on January 10, 2019 at 5:10 pm

    I think it may be disproportionately worse than we think. Don’t retired Bishops have voice and vote? Aren’t they overwhelmingly liberal and progressive?

  12. Comment by John Lomperis on January 12, 2019 at 9:38 pm

    Retired bishops have voice, and are sometimes very vocal in using that voice to try to influence discussions, but usually no vote

  13. Comment by Dan on January 10, 2019 at 8:12 pm

    Fascinating article! Liberals and progressives in the political sphere are currently trying to eliminate the electoral college in U.S. politics because it denies the will of the “popular” vote and complaining that small states get two senators while the biggest states still only get two senators. Since many of these political liberals and progressives are undoubtedly UMC members, shouldn’t they be in favor of allocating UMC bishops strictly by membership if they want to be consistent? Just sayin’.

  14. Comment by Joseph Richmond on January 10, 2019 at 9:17 pm

    What an incredible mess we have gotten into by leaning on our own understanding and rejecting the leadership and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
    I can only imagine the discussions between John Wesley and Jesus over this in Heaven!
    Let us return to putting first things first as in Jesus Christ and let Him take care of the rest. ?

  15. Comment by Pastor Steve Smitj on January 16, 2019 at 4:48 pm

    Amen!

  16. Comment by John on January 17, 2019 at 4:11 pm

    How true. The UMC has totally lost its way and its calling. What did Christ command us to do? It is a sham to call ourselves a church.

  17. Comment by Pat on January 12, 2019 at 11:23 am

    This is a fine article that gives further proof the UMC has been operating as two distinct denominations for quite some time. The numbers are undeniable that but for the over representation on the COB by bishops from these liberal jurisdictions, the recommendation coming from the COB would have been far different. As liberal factions have gained an upper hand in leadership positions in the North Central, Northeastern, and Western Jurisdictions, traditional Wesleyan theology and thought have gradually been choked out until the voices of earlier generations within the church in those areas have been mostly silenced. Membership has dwindled in these areas significantly and churches have closed. Over representation by these jurisdictions on the COB has only compounded the problem. We should no longer pretend we are one denomination. We are two in thought and action. The OCP is not the solution. As sad as it is, we should admit this and go forward from the Special called GC as two denominations.

  18. Comment by Simon Mafunda on January 12, 2019 at 2:28 pm

    Surely the the issue of representation should be corrected as a matter of urgency if we are to continue calling ourselves a true global connection.

  19. Comment by Anon on January 13, 2019 at 9:53 am

    All this byzantine vote-counting and politicking has nothing to do with real religion or God, and therefore is much beloved by organized religionists. This is why I think organized religion is largely useless and unhelpful, and people are better off as individuals or perhaps small groups.

  20. Comment by Pastor Steve Smith on January 16, 2019 at 4:52 pm

    Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
    Romans 12:1-2

  21. Comment by William on January 16, 2019 at 5:16 pm

    Liberals are forever yelling bigotry, racism, prejudice, intolerance, under representation — the works in the UMC. Yet, they practice these with the precision of a fine maestro.

  22. Comment by Lon Hudson on January 16, 2019 at 6:13 pm

    We have been split as a Denomination since the 1970’s. Our seminaries have consciously leaned away from Wesley’s theology toward the “Progressive” views.

  23. Comment by Rev. Paul Matheri on January 17, 2019 at 3:49 am

    I agree, there is a very unfair representation of Africa and for the church to be seen to pursuing justice and mercy this question need to be revisited

  24. Comment by John Smith on January 17, 2019 at 6:56 am

    Let the pews grumble as long as control is maintained and money continues to flow. That has to be the motto of the COB. Two key points coming to the UMC.

    1) Does the traditional plan pass?
    2) Is it enforced?
    or is it back to the normal routine of business of the past few decades? People complain, elders do as they want, bishops are unaccountable and GC’s continue to be disrupted. If either of those is answered in the negative it is time for personal action.

  25. Comment by Bruce Willis on January 18, 2019 at 9:33 am

    John you said the one word that best fits ocp. Money. As a former umc Pastor the buracracy and heirarchy i.e. the cob put forth this plan for one reason and one reason only. They are concerned with the institution of the umc than returning to our Wesleyan biblical roots. Which means it’s all about money their huge salaries and retirement. I am personally convinced the institution showed Jesus the door long ago. Replaced by social justice political correctness. And the aforementioned money.

  26. Comment by Bruce Willis on January 18, 2019 at 9:46 am

    John one more thing. One of the reasons I left the umc is because I felt like I was on a huge ship at sea that had lost it’s rudder. Blown about by whatever social justice winds happened to be blowing at the moment or whatever catchy slogans or trigger words flowed out of the buracracy. Then I had an epiphany while filling out yearly money reports.
    The rudder on that huge ship ship was not lost it was not damaged and lost in a storm. It was removed intentionally. While I can tell you their are many good orthodox conservative bishops out there they are out numbered.

  27. Comment by Mark W. Flynn on January 17, 2019 at 8:42 am

    Your very fine article shows how right my late mother was when she said that frequently liberals are not liberal in the best sense of the word.

  28. Comment by M USA on January 19, 2019 at 8:34 am

    Conference voting and conferences’ General Conference delegations are often skewed, too. I analyzed delegates to the Western North Carolina Annual Conference one year and found that, in addition to the one-half consisting of clergy (who typically are more liberal than congregants), about one-half of the lay delegates were either employed by clergy or closely allied with them on church boards and commissions. In short, 3/4 of our delegates were clergy-connected. Our current delegation to General Conference is similarly constituted, which is not surprising.

  29. Comment by Richard on January 26, 2019 at 5:22 pm

    My family is part of the WNCC and have served on the Staff Parish Committee, Finance Committee, Health Committee, etc., and I believe exactly what you are saying. It is these Committee members, hand-picked by the Pastor, who serve the very purpose you have stated. If not so, why would a committee member be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement?

  30. Comment by Anonymous on May 8, 2019 at 2:15 pm

    This is a great and well written article, and it would sound like Pastor Sparkman is a proponent and supporter of Biblical Methodism which he may very well be, but his actions in his own church don’t speak to him being more of a politician than pastor. There has been no strong leadership saying we stand on the infallible Word of God, and we fully support this plan moving forward. No, instead him and his leadership have been silent. Simply trying to keep the status quo to keep their church from shrinking. Seeking to pacify progressives and liberals at the expense of silence and wounding biblical Christians.

    So, can just look at a mans word’s, but also look at his actions, and see if the two line up. Then see if we have lions or kittens in the pulpits leading us.

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