My Apportionment Dollars at Work

About a decade ago, a Congolese woman fresh to our country from a refugee camp in Tanzania walked into Central UMC. It turns out that when a refugee gets a “golden ticket” to leave their refugee camp and come to the US, the refugee doesn’t get to choose where they end up. Mama Riziki ended up in Kansas City. Although she didn’t know much of the language or the culture, she knew she needed to find a United Methodist Church. She is the daughter of a United Methodist pastor who was martyred in the Congo when he refused to leave after local insurgents threatened him and his family. He sent his family away to safety, and insurgents made good on their promise to murder him. In his church. While he was leading worship. Truly, he was a martyr.

Mama Riziki’s first visit to worship at Central a decade ago has blossomed into a standalone 150+ member congregation, Kuomba UMC, made up primarily of African immigrants under her leadership.

Our apportionment dollars have supported this church every step of the way. When this new congregation outgrew Central rapidly, the Missouri Annual Conference gave them use of a building from a closed congregation. Since then, they have paid Mama Riziki’s salary. They have trained her through licensing school and course of study. When the disrepair of their building made it borderline uninhabitable, the Missouri Conference found them another place to worship in the interim while providing $300,000 worth of repairs to their building.

Conference and District staff, whose salaries are paid by our apportionment dollars, have gotten to know this congregation. They realize that these first-generation Americans have minimum-wage jobs and extremely large families. Knowing that this congregation has a very low likelihood of becoming financially self-sufficient anytime soon has not deterred the Missouri Conference from offering them continued support. The generosity of every church in Missouri that pays their apportionments has changed the lives of this group of people. If you’re ever in Kansas City, I’d be happy to introduce you to some of these folks whose lives you have touched.

All of the above goes to explain why I take such personal umbrage when I hear that the head of the GMC has directed UM churches that want to align with the GMC in the future to withhold their apportionments from the UMC.(You can read Jay Therrel's blog post here.)  Jay Therrell may think of apportionments as some sort of tax that supports an evil empire from which he wants to separate. The reality is much more important than he would lead his followers to believe. Apportionments in Missouri created Kuomba UMC. Apportionments across the nation provide the support for over 95% of the United Methodist budget in Africa. Apportionments give over $2 million to Africa University each year. (You can read the report on Africa University here.) Every dollar that a church withholds at the behest of the new leader of the GMC is money taken from United Methodist Christians in Africa.

Apportionments do much further good than Africa, but my gaze is on Africa today. I remember when I was a General Conference delegate in 2008. That year, the conservatives loaned cell phones, not yet universally owned, to all of the African delegates for their use while in the US. (You can read the story of the cell phones written at the time here.) The phones were useless for trying to call home to Africa. However, they were a great communication tool to guide the African delegates in their voting on issues related to sexual orientation. The US contingent of the UMC was growing more progressive on these issues, mirroring a nation which would soon legalize same-sex marriage. The conservatives relied on the African votes to pass their platform.

Way back then, someone more cynical than I told me, “You just watch, the conservatives will cut the Africans loose as soon as they get what they want from them. They don’t want to pay to support the African church.” Being much more innocent back then, I told that person, politely, that I simply didn’t believe them.

All these years later, I owe that person the opportunity to say to me, “I told you so.”

Trying to change the GMC’s position is not my job, although I’m taking time now to point out the effects of their actions on African United Methodists. And since I can’t change that other denomination, I’ll do what I can do.  The best thing that I can do at the moment is to get back to celebrating Kuomba’s ongoing success.

In a couple of weeks, Central and Kuomba UMCs will worship together, rejoicing in all that God has done through our partnership. Mama Riziki and I will co-celebrate communion with our congregations that day, and we’ll share the bread and cup in Christian unity. One of the wonderfully surprising things about our alliance is that Central is proudly Reconciling, and Kuomba is proudly African. The last time we spoke about such things, I asked if Kuomba had a problem with Central being Reconciling. “No,” came the answer, “as long as we don’t have to do weddings between two men ourselves, we are happy for you to do what you want.” These words are a beautiful microcosm of the hopes for the renewed UMC.

After worship, we’ll all share ice cream a together on the lawn. I know already that as I look around and see all of our faces on that day, the sweetness of the ice cream will be eclipsed by the sweetness of that moment, with brothers and sisters in Christ dwelling together in unity despite their many differences.

Those precious moments are my apportionment dollars at work. Why would I withhold such goodness from God’s people? Thanks be to God for all the Missouri churches, from small to large, whose faithful generosity creates these moments, and for every UM church that gives towards this same vision of faith, hope, and love around the world.

 

 

 

 

Midsummer Night's Dream

 

Thirty-nine years ago today, I was in Helsinki with a group of United Methodist college students from the Western North Carolina Conference. We were visiting churches throughout Scandinavia through a bi-annual student exchange. As part of the program, we were put up in people’s homes.

In Helsinki, the young woman who housed me and my roommate met us at the entrance to her ancient-yet-stately apartment building. She explained, apologetically, that she had to be out of town during our stay. Since it was the summer solstice that day and the sun would never fully set, she instructed us how to work the blackout shades on the windows. Her parting words were to remind us of the folktale that if you slept with seven different flowers under your pillow on Midsummer’s night, you would dream of the man you would marry. With that, she handed us the key to her apartment and left.

After getting settled, we rejoined our group at the local Methodist church for an evening’s worth of programming. Although it was late at night when we returned to the apartment, the sky felt magical, still bright with perhaps a trace of dusk. We had pulled the blackout shades in the apartment and gotten ready for bed when I remembered the tale of the seven flowers. Even though we were in our jammies, we got back in the birdcage elevator and went down to the building’s enclosed courtyard so that we could pick seven different types of flowers.

My roommate was a southern Methodist, too religious to believe in such tales. I was a southern Methodist also, too religious not to believe that there is more to this world than can be seen. Fearful for her soul, she quickly stopped picking flowers. Fearful of getting caught, I kept picking flowers anyway and put them carefully under my pillow when we slipped back into our apartment.

I don’t remember what I dreamt that night. I do know that I met Andy less than a week after I got back to the US, and he’s been the man of my dreams ever since. Happy Midsummer’s, everyone, and may you dream sweet dreams tonight!

Missing Limbs Restored

 

As I was reading Scripture this morning, I came across something I hadn’t noticed before. Matthew 15:30 describes Jesus on a mountain, where people are flocking to him for healing. Among those who sought healing were, as described in Wilda Gafney’s beautiful translation, “people missing body parts.” Missing body parts? That’s a pretty big ask in terms of healing. Although it seems impossible, sure enough, v. 31 assures us that “people missing body parts (were) made whole.”

Now that must have made for some interesting conversations back in the neighborhood. “Hey, have you seen Vern lately?” “Not really. Always felt sorry for him, losing that arm in the war and everything.” “It’s back.” “Vern’s back?” “No, his arm. His arm grew back.” “Yeah, riiiiight. Let’s get you out of the sun.” “No, really, it’s back. Here’s Vern, you can see for yourself.” Vern smiles and waves with both arms from a distance. Thud as the disbelieving neighbor keels over in shock.

Our body, the United Methodist Church that is, is in the process of being severed. We’re losing limbs from our make and model of the body of Christ. As with any amputation, it’s painful. It’s getting messier by the minute, as voices are being raised, lawsuits are being filed, falsehoods are being spread. This moment in United Methodist history does not feel like Christ’s finest hour. And, I’ve got to confess that it’s getting to me. Yesterday, I exited a UMC clergy FB group that had made the decision to be open to clergy who have amputated themselves from the UMC to join the GMC. Usually I’m not quite that rash, and I somewhat regret leaving the group so abruptly. Somewhat. I’m also okay with taking a break from folks who are part of a group that seems to be trying to burn down my denomination on their way out.

And then this morning’s Scripture. It turns out that Jesus specializes in taking bodies that are missing parts and making them whole again. Doing that to a physical body is pretty darn amazing. Doing that to a spiritual body? Based on how we UMCs are treating each other these days, that seems even harder. And yet there is Jesus, on a mountaintop and doing the hard work of healing while the world rages on around him.

As I think about where my hope lies this morning, it isn’t that we’re all going to suddenly start playing nice with each other. While that would be a good thing, I’m not holding my breath. Instead, my hope lies in the one who can heal severed limbs. As we are torn asunder, may we keep our eyes focused on Christ as we pray and work for healing and restoration to a body that is whole.

Not Disaffiliating from Grace

 (Note: This post is United Methodist-centric. If United Methodism isn't your tribe, or if you have no interest in our current situation, feel free to disregard this one and enjoy a lovely winter day.)

As you’re aware, the UMC is in conversation about splitting over matters regarding sexual orientation, in particular marriage and ordination. General Conference 2020 was going to iron out the details, enabling churches to move ahead in their preferred direction. The working assumption is that the moderate/progressive UMs will retain custody of “The United Methodist Church” and all its workings, and the conservatives will move into a new denomination of their creation, “The Global Methodist Church.” A highly-negotiated plan, The Protocol, had been ironed out by key parties and was holding together by a thread coming into General Conference 2020.

And then COVID. General Conference 2020 was rescheduled to 2021 and now                    re-rescheduled to 2022, and it’s not looking good for the September 2022 date.

Why does COVID have power to stall the UMC? The only body that can make these decisions about separation is the General Conference, a gathering of delegates from around the world. In addition to the normal barriers to large gatherings that have been and still are in place, over 40% of our General Conference delegates come from outside the US, many from nations in Africa and elsewhere with scant access to the vaccine. Although great minds around the world have tried to come up with various solutions to allow us to actually hold General Conference, limitations imposed by a worldwide pandemic and our UM Book of Discipline continue to prevent us from holding General Conference.

We are hamstrung by our own rules. And we can’t change the rules that are keeping us from gathering until we are able to gather in person to change the rules.

So, what’s been happening in United Methodism while we’re all stuck in this interminable holding pattern? The answer is both that nothing is happening, and that a great deal is happening.

On the “nothing is happening” side of things, the restrictive, punitive rules of General Conference 2019 remain in place. There is no agreed-upon plan for separation.

On the “a great deal is happening” side of things, churches and clergy on both sides are increasingly tired of waiting. Some progressives, both clergy and churches, have been living as if we are already a renewed, progressive denomination. Some conservatives, both clergy and churches, have begun to break away. It is a messy, liminal time in which we are COVID-trapped together for the duration.

In short, we are like a couple that has decided to divorce but is stuck living in the same house. It is not easy, and it is often not pretty.

In Missouri, there have been some developments that have warranted a response from our bishop. There are a few sizeable traditionalist churches in Missouri that are choosing to break away, to “disaffiliate,” even before General Conference has been able to meet to hash out the separation. The UMC and the Missouri Annual Conference have established guidelines for this process for churches that want to leave now, intended to create equity on all sides. One particular issue, for instance, is to insure that departing churches pay their fair share towards the pension fund for retired pastors. Otherwise, if our pension funds become unstable, remaining churches would have to pay more because of churches that walked out on their pension obligation.

Unfortunately, there are churches that are choosing to act outside of this process and, in their leaving, are leaving our retirees in the lurch. Their actions necessitate a response from the Missouri Conference. If you’d like to know more, read the attachments to this email.

I’m grateful that Bishop Farr and the Conference are doing the hard work of accountability with these clergy and churches. Their strong response is helping to protect our retired clergy and all of the churches in the Missouri Conference. Because they are taking on this role so ably, I am freed from the burden of having to express outrage or indignation, although I confess to the occasional eye roll. My most righteous of indignations wouldn’t do anything to affect the reality of the situation, and it would only serve to steal a little light from my own soul on this already-gloomy winter day.

So, I am choosing to trust the system and to spend my time and energy working and praying for grace.

It’s not news that divorce is messy. After all, if things were good between the two sides, there wouldn’t be need for a divorce, would there? These deep divisions within the United Methodist part of Christ’s body seem to be leading inevitably to separation. We didn’t choose these circumstances, yet we can choose our response to the circumstances.

I hope you’ll join me in praying for one another, even folks who are choosing to leave our UM family. Pray for our bishop and Conference leadership as they navigate the legal complexities of this situation on our behalf. Pray for those of us who are staying within the UMC, that grace may be the defining characteristic of our renewed denomination.

As we work to re-create a denomination based upon grace, may the very same grace that we dream be lived out in our own grace-full actions in these moments.

(Okay, and maybe with an occasional eye-roll.)

Read Bishop Farr's letter here. Read FAQs on Disaffiliation in Missouri here