Imagine That! A United Methodist Bishop Humbles Himself, Publicly Apologizes

on May 22, 2020

As the global health crisis has forced Christians to temporarily transition to online-only services, a great debate has arisen within my own United Methodist Church, as well as other denominations, about whether or not it can be okay to celebrate the sacrament of communion remotely online.

Personally, I side with those who argue that by their very nature, sacraments – through which we in the Wesleyan tradition understand that God’s grace is conveyed through material elements from the created order – should be practiced in person, not online.

But some may have missed a very striking development, with wider significance beyond this particular issue, which this debate has recently produced. An active United Methodist bishop actually used his office to teach one thing, but then later publicly recanted and apologized for this!

Think about it. When was the last time you have ever seen an American United Methodist bishop say anything like the paragraph below?

As your Bishop, I erred in my theological judgment by _________. The fault is mine and mine alone. I apologize for so doing to the clergy and laity of the ________ Conference, and am writing about this because I believe both that confession is important and that my error needs to be corrected and perhaps debated. More importantly, we have a teaching moment and a significant opportunity to theologically learn together by wrestling with the deeper implications of ________.”

Bishop Mike Lowry of the Central Texas Conference wrote this in publicly repenting of his previous encouragement of online communion. You can read Bishop Lowry’s full statement here.

He apologizes in strong terms, is clear to not shift responsibility to anyone else, directs his apology to the same people on the receiving end of what he now sees as his earlier misjudgment, and uses the opportunity of his apology to seek to make the situation better. Furthermore, Bishop Lowry publicly humbled himself in this way when he knows that a great portion of our denomination would not think that he did anything wrong in the first place.

In all of my closely watching and reporting on the hierarchy of our denomination since 2004, I am hard-pressed to think of any other instances in which I have seen an American bishop, active or retired, (1) do something seriously wrong and/or harmful, and (2) later directly and genuinely apologize, taking full responsibility, for their own specific wrongdoing.

I have seen a great many examples of #1. We have documented a tiny minority on this website. There is certainly no shortage of unfaithful, harmful, or downright mean statements and actions for which our bishops could apologize, and thus use their leadership positions to model Christian repentance for the church, if they were willing.

But it seems that there is something about the culture of the Council of Bishops in the United Methodist Church today that is deeply averse to such humility and ever admitting having been wrong, let alone acknowledging the people harmed.

We are all, left to our own devices, rotten sinners who really, justly deserve damnation for all eternity. Our own good deeds can never make us become worthy. No one has any hope apart from the forgiveness uniquely offered through the blood of Jesus. For evangelical, traditionalist United Methodists, these facts are absolutely central to the Christian faith. Truly recognizing these Gospel truths of this should leave little room for pride of position or fear of admitting one’s own sinfulness.

But at the core of the need for our denomination to separate is that we simply cannot trust that leaders in the highest levels of UMC leadership all believe even the most basic orthodox doctrines of historic, biblical Christian faith. And of course this affects how people behave.

Whatever the reasons, theological and otherwise, I cannot recall any American United Methodist bishop ever offering a clear, complete, humble, fully public apology for any serious wrongdoing, without any equivocation or blame-shifting whatsoever. Until now. When an active bishop demonstrates the courage and Christian humility to do this, this is rather historic and worth celebrating!

This gives me greater hope for the sort of leadership culture we may have in the denomination for theologically traditionalist United Methodists that will emerge from the coming separation.

Over the years, Bishop Lowry and I have not agreed on everything. But it is no secret that he and I were part of a group that met in Atlanta in early March to develop the vision statement that for this coming global evangelical Methodist denomination. And while he is retiring soon, Bishop Lowry has said he is open to transferring into this denomination.

The coming separation is tragic, and there is much to mourn about it.

But it offers traditionalist United Methodists the chance to continue our ministries within a denomination that could rethink its culture of spiritual leadership.

Jesus taught that in His church, leaders must be humble servants consciously seeking to be different from the kings of the Gentiles, who like to lord their authority over their inferior subjects. The coming separation gives us a chance to recover this biblical teaching.

In offering a humble, helpful apology – and making a dramatic break from his colleague bishops in doing so – Bishop Lowry offers an encouraging model for bishops and others who may have authority in the new global evangelical Methodist denomination.

At the aforementioned Atlanta meeting, we agreed that in the emerging global evangelical Methodist denomination, each new bishop will be elected for a single term of no more than 12 years, rather than being elevated as bishops for life. I hope that this will promote humble, less aloof attitudes among our bishops. I have heard wide support for a sort of “grandfathering” clause in which any active UMC bishop who transferred in would be able to remain a bishop in the new denomination until twelve years after their transfer date or their retirement, whichever came first. I am told that there is only one active UMC bishop in the entire world, an American, who is more than 12 years away from retirement. (Of course, any such internal governance matters for this new denomination will ultimately have to be decided by its own General Conference.)

I realize that there are others currently in the UMC who have different perspectives on the theological and ecclesial matters discussed above.

The gift of the coming separation is that everybody can finally get what they want! If some are satisfied with the current culture and leadership of our liberal-dominated Council of Bishops, then they should have the right to choose to continue within the liberalized post-separation UMC. If others are eager to try something different with how we do denominational leadership, then they should have the right to choose to continue within the emerging global evangelical Methodist denomination.

We have the opportunity to stop fighting each other to instead mutually depart in peace, giving each other the same freedom we want for ourselves to pursue our respective visions of what a Methodist church should be.

  1. Comment by David on May 22, 2020 at 7:37 am

    I have always found it amusing that Methodists use grape juice, and even water at times, instead of the biblical wine in communion. Of course, communion itself smacks of paganism. The thought of even symbolically eating human flesh and blood would have been offensive to observant Jews. The late historian Eugene Weber has pointed out that the chief characteristics of Roman era mystery cults were “life after death for members only and a ceremonial meal.” The eating of the god was one of these ceremonies, notably in the cult of Dionysus. The act of the consecration of the elements became increasingly magical in early Christianity. Curtains were used to close off the sanctuary on those occasions. This survives as the iconostasis in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Perhaps communion through the “magic” of television is not to inappropriate.

  2. Comment by walt on May 23, 2020 at 1:31 pm

    You do know Christ himself ordained this? He said whenever you do this do it in remembrance of me. Christ said this is symbolic of Him giving his flesh and blood as an everlasting sacrifice for sins.
    Catholics only believe in transmutation.

  3. Comment by David on May 24, 2020 at 8:51 am

    Religions do not exist in vacuums and are influenced by other beliefs, though they loathe to admit this. Christianity is paganized Judaism and Islam is mostly Judaism with a little Christianity thrown in.

  4. Comment by Skipper on May 29, 2020 at 3:05 pm

    David, you are so off-base you really need to start over with some help. Find a good Bible-based church.

  5. Comment by Skipper on May 30, 2020 at 7:46 am

    Also, as Walt suggests, God started communion, so lets not call it pagan, that is if we want a good relationship with God. And here we go again with “Christianity is paganized Judaism.” Perhaps you just need to give God a chance. He really does love us so much! Open the Bible and read as soon as you get a chance. You might start with the first part of Genesis and then on to one of the four Gospels. Anyway, that’s what I suggest.

  6. Comment by Tim on May 22, 2020 at 8:15 am

    Satan tries to confuse us by using the same terminology that God uses. Jesus says, “this is my body given for you.” Those who believe in abortion say, “this is my body and I will do what I want with it.”

    It is not surprising that Satan would develop a type of religion that would eat a god in a ritual to confuse us with Jesus’ own ‘Last Supper’ meal. Satan the liar from the beginning of time.

  7. Comment by John Smith on May 22, 2020 at 9:18 am

    This will be somewhat ungracious and I know nothing of Bishop Lowry and the following should be taken as an indictment on the Bishops as a whole rather than the individual.

    I can see a Bishop apologizing for an “error” in what is deeply significant to the orthodox but dismissed or denied by the “progressive” bishops, elders and seminaries (Divinity of Jesus, Authority of Scripture, Existence of God, the Trinity, etc) but never, ever, stepping back from the ramparts of politics or retreating an inch on bringing the UMC into alignment with the world whatever the cost.

  8. Comment by John Lomperis on May 22, 2020 at 5:56 pm

    There is no shortage of examples of UMC bishops erring in all kinds of ways – theologically, morally, on misrepresenting the truth, on matters of administration and basic competence, and on just being outright bullies in their mistreatment of people. But when else have we seen any American bishop willing to make such a strong apology for any error?

  9. Comment by John Smith on May 23, 2020 at 9:00 am

    I agree, it is unknown and unprecedented (apologies, not errors). Perhaps this shows a basic flaw in the selection criteria for Bishops?

  10. Comment by Hand clap and two thumbs up on May 22, 2020 at 10:14 am

    Great job by the Bishop, and in the name of Jesus Christ he is forgiven. Now time to move on.

    I wish the bishops in my part of the country would do that once in a while.

    OT: Good luck with the new General Conference if the denomination splits. I’d love to be part of it but I will get to participate and that organzing conference will be a gigantic mess.

    Frankly, I am very concerned about the new denomination’s first General Conference. John, you and others have talked about a few things about the new conference and structure, but there is nothing concrete that I can see, especially on the WCA site. When are the grass roots going to see proposals and a structure the stakeholders are going to offer?

  11. Comment by John Lomperis on May 22, 2020 at 5:59 pm

    It is a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. If we have too predetermined an agenda for the new denomination, people will be upset about key decisions being made before their was opportunity for THEIR input at the founding General Conference. If we leave things too open-ended without any clear ideas at least in the DRAFT PROPOSAL stage, then people will criticize that we need more definition about what they are being asked to join. Lots of good work is being done to plan and prepare. Here’s an article my friend Keith wrote on some of this:
    https://wesleyancovenant.org/2020/05/11/transitioning-to-a-new-church-in-gods-time/

  12. Comment by Nancy on May 22, 2020 at 6:51 pm

    I was a Methodist/United Methodist for 71 years and left for a more conservative church precisely because of not trusting the pastors, DS, and Bishop in most anything they did–just like your one paragraph above. I did not trust them to interpret Scripture correctly, especially.
    In regards to communion, we did on-line communion with our pastor reading scripture and praying over whatever elements we were using, asking God to bless the elements and remind us of the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. The pastor also asks that those who are not saved, haven’t repented and asked Jesus to be their Savior, not take communion. In short, it was exactly as usual except we were not together in a church building. If some think this is not appropriate, is that not limiting the power of God to answer the prayers and bless us as we partake. reminding us of what He did and what we are doing? Personally, I believe God can do anything He choses and that includes blessing Communion in our homes on line. It was very meaningful and I was blessed.

  13. Comment by Stephanie on May 28, 2020 at 3:34 pm

    Nancy, I agree with you. We have been taking communion when our Episcopal priest does communion online. It’s taboo, according to TEC. However, Jesus never said a priest was required to remember him when we take the bread and wine. The bishop has told parishes to now go to prayers instead of having communion going forward. We will still have communion on our own.

  14. Comment by Brian Swain on May 22, 2020 at 7:07 pm

    John: I am a WCA member and an evangelical. Our bishop and senior pastor have agreed to allow communion at home and I am grateful for it. I find it a little offensive that you characterize Bishop Lowry’s original position as “…seriously wrong and harmful…” I know people differ on this, but I will not berate the folks who believe it is not acceptable to receive communion through online worship. I respect the theology and their position. You know, I find it interesting that Jesus first serviced Holy Communion in a home. We may have a lesson to learn from him there.

  15. Comment by Byrom on May 22, 2020 at 8:05 pm

    Brian, I agree with you regarding receiving Communion via online worship. My particular UMC has been celebrating Communion online during the “stay-at-home” period. We usually have Communion in a worship service in the building the first Sunday of the month, which makes March 8 the last time we were all together to celebrate the Sacrament. We’ve been doing online worship since March 22, and do not really know when we’ll be back together to have Communion. So, it was either suspend Communion until whenever, or modify it to be observed online. I had actually never imagined that Communion online would be offensive to some. I also would never berate someone who held that position. As far as I know, that has not come up in my UMC.

  16. Comment by David Gingrich on May 23, 2020 at 8:01 am

    Does the Bible say that Holy Communion must be administered by clergy? I didn’t think so.

  17. Comment by John Smith on May 26, 2020 at 9:38 am

    If there is one thing Rome, Orthodox and the Reformers agree on it is the centrality of ordination to handle sacraments How many sermons have you heard on Mt 28: 19-20 where the preacher is laying into the obligation of the believers to obey Jesus and go forth and bring people into the church but say the phrase “baptizing…” applies only to them?

  18. Comment by td on May 26, 2020 at 5:59 pm

    You have mixed things up a bit. Not all sacraments require an ordained minister. Baptism does not. That is why all baptisms are accepted by the Roman Catholic Church and most mainline churches. Likewise for marriage.

    Orthodox belief, however, says that that communion contains the real presence of christ and does require an ordained invididual. You can disagree if you want and you can do your own online, tv, or self-officiated communion, but church teaching would say that it cannot be guaranteed to contain the real body of christ. UMC teaches that communion is not merely a remembrance.

  19. Comment by John Smith on May 27, 2020 at 9:00 am

    Marriage is not a sacrament so irrelevant to the discussion. Many denominations require ordination for baptism the UMC calls for it to be done by elders or deacons. Should we get into the Donatists as to why Rome has a wide ranging acceptance of baptism? While Rome and Constantinople claim the real presence in the sacrament it is not the general holding of Protestants. The UMC seems to hold all positions (observance, sacrament, memorial, means of grace, unwelcome annoyance) depending on the elder except the real presence.

    OTOH this is hardly the forum to rehash the different substantiations.

  20. Comment by td on May 29, 2020 at 4:07 pm

    Fyi: umc does officially believe in the real presence of christ in the eucharist.

    Do United Methodists believe the communion elements actually become the body and blood of Christ? – The United Methodist Church
    http://ee.umc.org/what-we-believe/do-united-methodists-believe-the-communion-elements

  21. Comment by Jim on May 23, 2020 at 9:25 am

    When an UMC bishop or pastor publicly apologizes for their neglect to preach the Gospel over their tickling the ears of congregants with cute little stories, I will be impressed. The souls of men and women are at stake because of the absence of the proclamation of the good news not because of where and when a remembrance of the last supper takes place.

  22. Comment by William on May 24, 2020 at 9:27 am

    AGREE. And, there are far too many apologies not being offered for the schism that too many of the progressive bishops have DIRECTLY caused.

  23. Comment by Dr. Lee Cary (UM clergy, ret.) on June 4, 2020 at 11:21 am

    I await a cogent argument (theologically or otherwise) for needing the Episcopal Office.

    And why a 12-year term limit? The US Presidency is only 8 maximum years (except in the case of a sitting President’s demise, and the VP completes the term and may still be elected twice as POTUS).

    I served congregations in two annual conferences for 23.5 of my 25 years in the ministry. At no time, did a Bishop visit any of the congregations, and only once a D.S. dropped in, and he wasn’t even the DS of that district.

    Bureaucracies, by nature, often tend to be a financial burden in a hierarchical organization, with only marginal benefit to the mission.

  24. Comment by George Peter Tingley on November 14, 2022 at 2:34 pm

    I was the victim of a lying bishop out here in California. It looks like she will be permanently suspended until her mandatory retirement next year. Not only no apologizing but colleague bishops doubling down on the first bishop’s lies. Stay tuned. Google for more info.

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