PlainSpoken

In this segment, I cover a series of memes published last week on the Friends of The United Methodist Church Facebook Group. It is functionally a big cope that has great potential to continue destructive trends of self-justification and projection. I worry that a lot of folks who decided to stay might unquestioning adopt some of this reasoning, and I would rob them of that if I could in order to facilitate mutual understanding. Faith seeks understanding, remember. I left the UMC, but that doesn't mean I gave up on the ability of all United Methodists to reason through things. In the lead up to General Conference 2020 in 2024, I think it is important for as many UMs as possible to sober up! Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

TJ and I took some time to go through a GCFA report that was supposed to shed light on the biggest churches in the UMC in 2020. Ideally, one could go through the list and track which ones had disaffiliated to get a sense of how many have actually disaffiliated from the UMC since then, indicating the overall attendance loss to disaffiliation. However, because of some things we explain in this segment, the form is probably actually not useful at all. This segment is probably just for nerds. It underscores the importance, not just of collecting good data, but making sure local churches know how to report it. This will also be somewhat frustrating to listen to, as we are constantly making reference to websites and stats on the screen. If possible, you might want to watch it. Link to GCFA form in question - https://www.gcfa.org/_files/ugd/5524b1_20f39c75fee649c69ec49751578b2b08.pdf Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

Rev. Dr. Matt O'Reilly is Lead Pastor of Christ Church in Birmingham, Alabama, Director of Research at Wesley Biblical Seminary, and a fellow of the Center for Pastor Theologians. He has been facilitating Methodist theological education online for many years. His effort is called Theology Project.Matt and his church will be hosting the Reconstructing Methodist Conference on April 26-27. Those who want to attend can get a $10 discount by the promo code ’PS10.’YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/theologyprojectonlineWeb: www.theologyproject.online Twitter: @mporeillyBooks* Paul and the Resurrected Body: Social Identity and Ethical Practice (SBL Press) https://amzn.to/48tlyvu* The Letters to the Thessalonians (Seedbed) https://amzn.to/3GTduIP* The Question of Holiness (Seedbed, forthcoming)Links:O’Reilly’s List of Methodist Doctrines & Practices - https://5c8c126c-2e97-491d-8c3d-c68de0039a1b.usrfiles.com/ugd/5c8c12_d6a7debb6cb345b3af3dcf38dd2a2fc7.pdfReconstructing Methodism Conference Page - https://www.reconstructingmethodism.comMy ThoughtsI enjoyed my visit with Matt. It is clear he and I are on different wavelengths and, while we have many overlapping passions, we also seem to have different concerns. This is, of course, natural and healthy. I got the impression that Rev. O’Reilly is more concerned about the academy than I am. He also seems to put more stock than I do in Methodism becoming more academically robust and respectable than I do. Historically, I see Methodism’s strength as its vigor and passion on the grassroots level by earnest salt of the earth believers. I think that means that it has street smarts rather than academic smarts, and I wonder how much those can realistically overlap.On my most recent episode on the Transitional Book of Doctrines & Discipline, I present a theory (I’m sure I’m not the first to think of it) that higher education overdevelops the pre-frontal cortex and detaches individuals unhelpfully from reality. I doubt very much that Matt or others in Methodist scholarship are as concerned about this as I am.I don’t think that means we need to be at odds. Hypothetically, we can all build upon a shared foundation. To that end, I’m earnestly excited for his conference. I was also serious with him about putting together another segment on which he and some others can talk through Methodist sacramental theology, why it matters, and essential characteristics. I guess we will see if that can ever come together.Thanks for any feedback you have. Enjoy! Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

We pick up in ¶409 with the specifics involved in ordaining deacons and elders, and proceeding into various ideas and capacities for ordained clergy in the GMC. We covered some good ground, so make sure to come along for the ride.Link to Transitional Book of Doctrines & Discipline - https://globalmethodist.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Transitional-Discipline.20231130.pdf Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

On Monday it was announced that Roman Catholic practice can now be changed to be more accommodating of homosexual unions and other nontraditional couplings. There is still some confusion about to what degree this is implicitly or explicitly declaring sexual behavior to be no longer problematic in one’s relationship with the Lord or his church. While many Roman Catholics tout the faithfulness of their ‘one true church,’ Protestants like me are getting the impression that their house in struggling similarly to ours.This segment covers some of the particulars of the new language and ties the undergirding theology around sexual behavior and gender to phenomena we also see in many other denominations. In particular, we will look at the Episcopal Church and its postmortem sanctification of gay martyr Matthew Shepard, coupled with the drag show phenomenon. For those who are incredulous at the continued development of these insults, I hope it helpful to think through these things and to connect some of these dots.Links:NPR Article “Pope Francis approves Catholic blessings for same-sex couples, but not for marriage” by Becky Sullivan - https://www.npr.org/2023/12/18/1220077102/pope-francis-blessings-same-sex-couplesFiducia Supplicans (the Roman Catholic document in question) - https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/12/18/0901/01963.html#enRoman Catholic Bishop Robert Barron’s Statement on the document - https://twitter.com/BishopBarron/status/1737574875395391530/photo/1IRD Article on Drag Worship Service for Matthew Shepard “Drag ‘Sister’ Indulges Episcopal Washington National Cathedral” by Jeffrey Walton - https://juicyecumenism.com/2023/12/12/perpetual-indulgence/YouTube Video of the Actual Service at the National Cathedral - https://www.youtube.com/live/J0VGWyE6Tw0?si=xd2psBP0XOavEe9nWikipedia Page for Matthew Shepard - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

Yesterday’s report dealt partly with an article written by Ruth Graham for the New York Times. Part of it stated the primary reason for disaffiliation from The United Methodist Church being opposition to gay marriage and ordination. I got an email from a gentleman who wanted me to speak about this. Is it really the case that the primary reason for the “biggest denominational split ever” is the gay stuff? Or are things perhaps a bit more complicated than that?Links:New York Times Article “With a Deadline Looming, The United Methodist Church Breaks Up - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/18/us/the-united-methodist-church-schism.html Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

The denominational woes of The United Methodist Church has been remarked upon by worldly sources a few times over the years. Now that disaffiliation season under Paragraph 2553 has concluded, a couple larger outlets have decided to tell our story to the rest of their reading audiences.In this segment, I walk through the reporting of both outlets to some degree, while also consulting a couple of other resources for ascertaining where things currently stand. While my commentary (and the buzzy audio) might be lacking in this one, the resources presented here, especially the interactive map and the GCFA list of largest churches, are worthy resources, so here are all the links to the resources consulted in this segment:Liam Adams Tweet Thread: https://twitter.com/liamsadams/status/1735718114367504847Tennessean Interactive Map “Total churches that have disaffiliated from United Methodist Church since 2019” - https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/11865260/UMNews Disaffiliation Numbers Spreadsheet - https://www.umnews.org/en/news/disaffiliations-approved-by-annual-conferencesJimmy Boone’s UM Disaffiliations Tally - https://www.facebook.com/groups/197734687313310/permalink/1841598499593579Talbot Davis Tweet on NYTimes Article - https://twitter.com/TalbotDavisNew York Times Article “With a Deadline Looming, The United Methodist Church Breaks Up - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/18/us/the-united-methodist-church-schism.html?unlocked_article_code=1.G00.GTs9.wlHnAcOOD46l&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShareGCFA’s “2020 Top 100 Churches by Attendance” - https://www.gcfa.org/_files/ugd/5524b1_20f39c75fee649c69ec49751578b2b08.pdf Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

This segment covers the requirements for consideration for ordained ministry in the Global Methodist Church. What background is needed in order to be recommended by one's church? Once recommended, what does the educational and candidacy process look like? We have an extended reflection on the relevance of modern psychotherapy in the culling the candidates for ministry. The final content deals with the historic questions asked of clergy and how they might should be interpreted and applied today. Enjoy!Links - Allie Beth Stuckey on Social Justice - To view this video on YouTube - Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

¶401-403 Deals with "The Ministry of the Called." It establishes a basic theological framework for ordained church leadership, beginning with Certified Lay Ministers but then getting into Deacons and Elders. In this segment, we talk through a theology of calling and how it stands against other traditions that have other litmus tests for who should lead. We also try (and largely fail) to suss out where the boundary lines are between the different roles for leadership in the church. We hope you enjoy! Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

On Saturday, December 2, 2023, the Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church held its final Special Called Conference to fulfill the provisions of ¶2553 of The United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline. The still relatively new bishop, Tom Berlin, officiated the time online, during which they said goodbye to a final 74 local churches that had faithfully completed the disaffiliation process. After taking the final vote, the good bishop had a final address, during which he addressed a number of bad actors.In this segment, I cover his address in light of his previous words on the public stage. It is hard to know the meaning of his words, or to have a charitable understanding of their intent. While conference publications might put a positive spin on it, it seems deliberately manipulative and disingenuous. For their part, the Florida Chapter of the Wesleyan Covenant Association was magnanimous in receiving the final decision of the conference. It remains to be seen what fallout there will be in the coming months and years after such discord.Links:Florida WCA post - https://www.facebook.com/WesleyanCovenantAssocFl/posts/pfbid0pZUXzzGa1LLZX5WADxNJyyAENKYmc8VGRmdRV1Yz6UXeFATSyaCbmhmBmbXujiTslFlorida Conference Article - https://www.flumc.org/newsdetail/with-disaffiliation-complete-the-florida-conference-looks-to-a-united-future-18162480 Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe