The Center Doesn't Need to Hold

I've now seen three articles in the RNS and Firebrand, saying that the "UM Center Cannot Hold." I'll just note that all three come to this conclusion by assuming that the "center" is a place on the continuum between two incompatible positions on the far ends of a spectrum. And that in turn assumes a simplistic bifurcation between liberal/progressive and orthodox/traditional Christianity. 

I would suggest that both the liberal tradition and its progressive expression, and the anti-liberal/evangelical tradition and its orthodox/traditional expression are inadequate to the mission given the church by Jesus Christ. Each is in its own way dogmatic, staking an ethical claim vis-a-vis human sexuality rooted in either modernist or anti-modernist assumptions about the human person. 

A coherent, relevant witness to the gospel cannot be borne by such claims. 

Faithful witness to the gospel simply isn't found on a spectrum shaped by modernity and post-modernity. Instead it involves involves an extremely messy, multi-dimensional process, full of mistakes, in which individuals and congregations seek to live out the meaning of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection in ways immediately relevant to those whom they encounter.

Because they do not encounter the same people, the same situations, and the same cultures and world views their witness will almost certainly vary one from another and over time. More importantly, because the difficulty of witness in their own times and places requires such intense effort it is a waste to spend time judging one another instead of witnessing to Christ.

And we United Methodists have spent, in recent decades, far more energy judging our neighbor's witness than in witnessing to the gospel, which may explain our steady decline.

So what if instead of judging one another we looked for ways for these widely varying witnesses to Christ to remain in some kind of fellowship? 

It would be a structure of relationships that recognizes a diversity of witness as a central result of Christian faithfulness in a diverse world.

Let me repeat, diversity of witness is a sign of faithfulness, as is encompassing that diversity. 

Further, it would allow among these diverse witnesses the emergence of agreements around some common goals emerging from the ministry of Christ, for example service to the poor. Christians could share in this even if there were no other common witness they could make. 

It seems to me that this must be possible. But I note that it makes Christian witnessing to Christ for the world the center of all Christian self-understanding. And it makes every individual or group expression of that witness of secondary importance. Put in theological terms doctrine and ethics are not of the essence of the church. The unity of the church is found in its commitment to the mission of Christ, not verbal assent to doctrines and public observation of social norms. 

I teach in a UM seminary along side three Roman Catholic colleagues. We teach the same students and engage in the same mission of preparing them for Christian ministry. And we do this despite the fact that I regard their views on the papacy, the priesthood, the sacraments (especially marriage), and sexuality as simply wrong. I assume they have similar opinions of not only my views, but what I teach as Christian orthodoxy. 

And yet we work together toward common goals. And this kind of ecumenism has been the case in my school for more than 50 years. It isn't easy, but it isn't impossible because we respect one another's commitment to our particular ministry within the larger mission of the Christian church. 

I had thought, growing up, attending a United Methodist seminary, and then teaching in Methodist seminaries for 40 years, that this is what Methodism was about: an ecumenical movement of those united by a common desire to witness to Jesus Christ, and thus cooperating when they could and leaving it to God when they couldn't.  

And I'm confident that this United Methodism will continue to exist, not as a so-called "center" on a false spectrum, but as a lived reality of fellowship around witness to the gospel and service to humankind.