Bishop's Perspective:
Are United Methodists Always Right?

Years ago a member of a congregation I served described the night he spent convincing a Baptist relative that immersion was not required for initiation into the Christian faith. it was 4:00 in the morning when the Baptist finally conceded. (Frankly, by 4:00 in the morning I'd have consented to dunking!) The United Methodist was so pleased to have "won" the argument and sought my congratulations.

The truth is, we United Methodists affirm immersion, sprinkling and dipping. But the Baptists may be right. It's simply that we have a United Methodist perspective. We believe a lot of things that may be proved wrong over time. We have changed our position on many issues. We do not claim infallibility. But we do have a way of looking at and being in the world and understanding Scripture that is "Methodist." We may not always be right but we are a people who share a common set of Christian values hammered out over time with integrity. We believe as Christians, informed by our Wesleyan theology, that one cannot hold Ku Klux Klan values and be a United Methodist. (We grieve over the recent cross-burning on the lawn of one of our wonderful United Methodist layman in Newport, Tenn.) We believe as United Methodists that God calls women into ordained ministry. We deplore it when the aged are isolated and devalued.

We adhere to our core UMC values as we make appointments to our Holston Conference congregations and will not discriminate on the basis of race, age or gender. Some may not agree with this. Most of our Baptist and Catholic sisters and brothers do not accept ordained women. But this is not a personal choice issue. This is a United Methodist position. We honestly, humbly and prayerfully take this stand because we believe it to be faithful to scripture. We are convinced it represents God's dream for the human family – a dream still deferred. Other denominations may make another case. But for us, we will both believe and practice what our denomination teaches.

I am so thankful to be a part of a denomination that accepts and affirms women in ordained ministry and insists that ethnicity is not a barrier in appointment making Ð nor is age. And so it is with thanksgiving that we appoint preachers to congregations without regard to gender, race or age.

Are we right about this issue as United Methodists? I believe we are. We expect all to embrace this Wesleyan perspective who take the name "United Methodist."

May God be pleased with our interpretation of Scripture.

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