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The Great Debate on YouTube
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United Methodists around the world have taken to YouTube for a Great Debate on 32 amendments to the church's constitution.
The videos come during what's known as "annual conference season," when the regional units of the church -- including the North Texas Annual Conference June 7-9 -- meet to vote on the amendments.
As it was at last year's General Conference in Fort Worth, the video debates on the amendments are intense. Getting the most attention are the 23 amendments that would restructure the church into regional conferences on each continent and Amendment 1, which would remove a "no discrimination" laundry list and simply open church membership to anyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ.
Amendment 1 is a reaction to a situation that occurred nearly four years ago, when a Virginia pastor refused membership to a gay man. Although he was removed from his appointment by his bishop for discrimination, the UMC's high court reinstated him and upheld the authority of a pastor to decide who is fit for church membership. Amendment 1, known as the "all means all" proposal, is seen by many as a way to break down cultural barriers in the international denomination. Opponents contend it's really a back-door effort to get around other church law that says the UMC considers homosexual practice to be "incompatible with Christian teaching," giving it the right to exclude LGBT people from church leadership including ordained ministry.
Regarding the restructuring issue, opponents contend that it's still a plan formed by the U.S. church that United Methodists outside America, especially in Africa, don't want. They argue that the proposals are so vague, their implementation could seriously damage the denomination.
The unspoken opposition to restructuring also relates to the homosexuality issue: Conservative forces in the U.S. have long relied on alliance with conservative African UMs to defeat all attempts to overturn the UMC's anti-gay stance. If split from one another by the creation of "regional conferences," U.S. conservatives fear that pro-LGBT forces will be able to muster enough votes to remove the "incompatible with Christian teaching" language, at least as far as the U.S. is concerned.
Those in favor of restructuring argue that the UMC now is set up as a US church with foreign outposts, like a franchise with outlets around the world. They say that the structure issue isn't new; it has been studied by various church bodies for nearly 40 years. Furthermore, they add that the implementation plan would have to come before the General Conference, the church's highest law-making body, for final approval.
Arrayed against the amendments are some familiar leaders of the anti-gay faction: Revs. Maxie Dunnam and Eddie Fox, who have led the fight against gay-friendly legislation for nearly 30 years, and Rev. Jerry Kulah of Liberia, the younger half-brother of retired Bishop Arthur Kulah, who has spoken against homosexuality at previous General Conferences. Dunnam speaks specifically against Amendment 1, while Fox and Kulah speak against the 23 restructuring amendments. Synopses of their arguments and links to their videos:
Maxie Dunnam -- Vote NO on Amendment 1
Eddie Fox -- Regional conferences add another layer of bureaucracy
Jerry Kulah -- Slow down, Africans don't want it
In a more or less neutral corner is Bishop Scott Jones of Kansas, formerly a professor at Southern Methodist University. Jones headed the task force on the global church that presented the restructuring proposal to the Council of Bishops and the interagency coordination body known as the Connectional Table. Jones now heads the committee that would implement the restructuring if the amendments pass.
Supporting the amendments are familiar and new spokespeople. They include:
The Rev. Tex Sample, a longtime LGBT supporter formerly a professor at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City and now a popular guest preacher and workshop leader. Sample speaks in favor of the restructuring amendments, saying the issue of how to be a global denomination has been studied by the UMC for the past 40 years.
The Rev. Sam Powers, a clergyman from Oklahoma, argues that those opposed to Amendment 1 are using fear tactics "not based on sound theology."
Dr. Jim Bankston, St. Paul's UMC, Houston, claims Eddie Fox used homophobic expressions in his YouTube video. Bankston has drawn the only direct reply on YouTube, a video slide show refuting the reference, saying it was meant to describe the unknown nature of how the other 23 amendments would restructure the church.
The most moving of the Great Debate videos, however, are two videos supporting the open membership legislation from unexpected sources: the Rev. Tony Hoefner, pastor of First UMC in Dekalb, TX, and a group of church members who call themselves StMarksOutreach.
Hoefner talks with deep emotion about a mystical experience in which he sought divine approval to fight against "the homosexual agenda in our schools." Instead, says Hoefner, God rebuked him sternly, telling him that he was simply to love all people. "God says we are to love as God loves, and Amendment 1 does this," the Dekalb pastor says.
StMarksOutreach video charms in its simplicity, showing members of all ages, both sexes and several races reading the language of Amendment 1.
The wonder of all of this is the way in which both individuals and organized groups have used YouTube to persuade annual conference members to vote for or against the amendments. Those who've been agitating for the church to come at least into the 20th century technologically will be surprised, and probably pleased, to find that United Methodists have embraced 21st century social media so well.
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