Regionalization - Refuting Tom Lambrecht and the Africa Initiative

 Earlier this month, Tom Lambrecht of Good News and, soon, the Global Methodist Church traveled to Nairobi to help organize the Africa Initiative in opposition to measures many of us hope to take at General Conference next week. To be clear, the 100-150 Africans present do not represent the continent. No group of that size can represent an entire continent.

The statement produced from the gathering includes five reasons to oppose regionalization. This post will directly refute those reasons. 

1. "Regionalization contradicts our current connectional system that brings together...annual conferences worldwide."
    This is not accurate. Under regionalization, we would still have a General Conference that addresses worldwide concerns. There is a change in which decisions are made by the global body and which are made by regional bodies, specifically within the U.S. Remember that regionalization affirms the central conferences outside the U.S., just with a new name. If regionalization contradicts our connectional system then having central conferences also contradicts our connectional system, and nobody is suggesting we should eliminate central conferences.

2. "Regionalization fragments our one worldwide UMC into several regional denominations, allowing each region to govern itself with its own book of discipline...no region would have a say in what another region believes, teaches, or practices."

    I read this as two arguments. First, that we will have multiple books of discipline and, second, that no region would have a say in what other regions teach or believe. 

    The reality is we already have different books of discipline. As I've shared previously, Bishop Kasap recently called for a special session of annual conference under the authority of the 1990 Book of Discipline. To the best of my knowledge, no other conference even has a 1990 Book of Discipline - it is a translation of the 1988 Book of Discipline from English so that the conference would have one in their own language. In addition, the current Book of Discipline allows central conferences (but not the U.S.) to make alterations to the Book of Discipline. While they might all carry the same name, any time an alteration is made by a central conference it is effectively a new book.

    The argument that no region will have say in other regions is also misguided for two reasons. First, as I already shared, there will still be a general conference every four years that is charged with maintaining our order and discipline. All matters essential to the faith will be settled there. Second, petition #21039, one of the preferred petitions for regionalization, gives the General Conference the power "to legislate what is non-adaptable for regional conferences by a 60% majority vote." In other words, except as protected in the Constitution, a 60% vote of the General Conference can limit the actions a regional conference takes. 

3. "Regionalization is a recipe for fragmenting the gospel, and thereby presenting a distorted Christianity to the world, that contradicts the biblically based liberating message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

    I assume this is a reference to the efforts to change the Book of Discipline's restriction on LGBT+ people. That effort is separate from regionalization. I fully expect the General Conference to remove the restrictive language. If the worldwide church is comfortable with this removal, then regionalization will have no effect on it. If portions of the church are not comfortable with this, then regionalization will give them an opportunity to make an alteration for their region. As United Methodists, what we believe is core to the Christian Faith is contained in our Doctrinal Standards, which will not change and to which all regions will be accountable. 

4. "Regionalization is an economic death trap for the UMC in Africa and other central conferences with limited financial resources." 

     I can say unequivocally that I've heard nobody involved in the effort towards regionalization want to decrease funding to any of the central conferences. It is true, though, that without regionalization we should expect more churches in the U.S. to leave the denomination. That is not what I want; it is an acknowledgement of reality. The true economic effect of regionalization would be more resources to share, not less.

5. "Regionalization would liberalize the UMC worldwide, thus making the denomination biblically and theologically unsafe and unwelcome for evangelicals and conservatives."

    Again, regionalization does not affect what will happen to the current language restricting LGBT+ participation in the denomination. My expectation is that the language will be removed, regardless of whether or not regionalization passes. For a region where homosexuality is illegal, for example, that would be difficult. But with regionalization, that region would be able to put a restriction in place. Regionalization actually provides a protection for areas that are concerned about this.

I hear in these arguments the same thing we have experienced in the U.S. for the last few years. American traditionalists who are committed to leaving the denomination mislead people about the effects of regionalization and removing the restrictive language to encourage others to join them in leaving the denomination. For those who will be in Charlotte, I hope we can connect and speak truth with each other. For those who will not be in Charlotte, I ask for prayers that our conversations and actions will be just and holy.