“The list is long of things the church has struggled with before,” Says Dr. Tim Bruster as he puts the coming Called General Conference into the context of Methodist history. In the past century and a half, we have engaged in struggles over slavery, ordination of women, divorce, alcohol, abortion, and countless other, more minor issues. And now, in our time, after forty years of contentious struggle around human sexuality, the 2016 General Conference voted for a new path to resolving this conflict.

As we explored in previous articles in this series, the 2016 General Conference voted to table all legislation related to human sexuality and then asked the Council of Bishops to come up with a plan. The Bishops agreed and appointed The Commission on a Way Forward, a diverse group of 32 individuals including clergy and laypeople on all sides of this issue. This commission then engaged in an unprecedented two-year global discernment process, during which the Bishops worked steadily with this group.

In its May 2018 meeting in Chicago, the Council of Bishops voted by an overwhelming two-thirds majority to share the work done by the Commission on a Way Forward on the three plans — and to recommend the One Church Plan. In the Council of Bishops’ report to the Special Session of the General Conference in 2019, they offer narrative of the Council’s discernment process regarding all three plans and then state that: all three plans (The Traditionalist Plan, The One Church Plan and the Connectional Conference Plan) offer a way forward fully considered by the Commission and the Council; and The Council of Bishops recommends the One Church Plan. (View the entire One Church Plan in detail, straight from the Commission’s report)

Dr. Bruster and almost all of the members of the delegation of the CTC also support the one church plan. “The one church plan is a compromise,” he says, adding that despite its sometimes negative connotation (when did compromise become a dirty word?), compromise can be a very good solution for all involved. “In this case, compromise means a plan that is crafted to meet the greatest number of needs in the greatest number of places.”

According to MainstreamUMC.com, a website devoted to explaining and specifically promoting The One Church Plan, “The One Church Plan holds the denomination together for the widest ministry with the most impact for living out the United Methodist Mission: To Make Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World.”

Many who support the One Church Plan favor it because it is rooted in the open study of the Christian Church, the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its polity, its discipline, its destiny, and its leadership as taught by the Apostles in Acts 15:1-35. In that Council of Jerusalem, the Apostles agreed that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was broad enough to span differences in interpretation of both Scripture and Tradition. The One Church Plan allows more conservative bishops, conferences, churches, and pastors to continue their current practices. It allows more progressive bishops, conferences, churches, and pastors to fully include LGBTQ persons in the life of the church. The Plan has no effect on Central Conferences outside the United States who are able to adapt the Book of Discipline to their own mission settings.

Part of being a Traditional United Methodist is being open to new interpretations of the scriptures, which is central to the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. In fact, the United Methodist Book of Discipline defines this basic tenet of Methodism this way: “The preaching and teaching of [our forebears in the faith] were grounded in Scripture, informed by Christian tradition, enlivened in experience, and tested by reason.” (¶ 102) What we can also derive from this is that it is also important to leave room for those who interpret scriptures differently, and to acknowledge that while we may think someone is wrong, we are all trying to be faithful Christians.

Dr. Bruster explains that while the One Church Plan acknowledges that we are not of one mind in this issue, it still holds the church together by allowing for our differences. “The difference of the One Church Plan over the others is that it gives space for everyone to be together and for people to be in ministry in their particular context,” he says. “We are, after all, a global church. The One Church Plan also gives space for people to continue to be together and to continue to wrestle with this and other issues that will likely arise in the future.”

The Uniting Methodists, a movement that “bears witness to the holistic way of Jesus, offers a voice that clarifies and unifies our church, urges holiness as the rule for our relationships, calls for cooperation with Christ-like love and honest, humble conversation, and desire spiritual and structural unity in the church,” also supports the One Church Plan as it urges all United Methodists to “return to our Wesleyan tradition and to follow into the new spaces where Christ will lead us.”

Seeking to offer a vivid contrast to the harmful polarization that plagues the wider culture, the Uniting Methodists movement affirms the Wesleyan commitment to personal and social holiness, even as it recognizes that we sometimes disagree on how best to pursue holiness, and those differences can lead to conflict. Saying, “Though we may differ in understanding, we are committed to loving God and neighbor alike,” this group urges mutual love and humble conversation in order to “discover greater ways to undo our polarization and to uphold our covenant together.”
more denomination news

Terms