UMW Assembly Overview - From the RENEW Network

UMW Assembly Overview - From the RENEW Network

"Sing a New Song," the 16th Assembly of United Methodist Women, is now history.  It was reported that nearly 10,000 women attended this once-every-four-years event held this time in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 25-28. RENEW was there too!  I trust you have received your copy of the Assembly newsletter we passed out at this event.  A copy of this newsletter, prepared prior to the Assembly, identifies many of the concerns we were there to represent, and is posted to this web page. 

Our RENEW team consisted of eight women from out-of-state and twelve Philadelphia-area members.  You would have been proud of this group.  They were dedicated to their task of passing out material presenting our network concerns, but always respectful toward those they encountered.  They attended plenary sessions and focus groups, reporting accurately what they saw and heard, and shared their perspectives within their focus group in an appropriate manner.  They welcomed people to our hospitality suite, and responded with compassion when they saw needs in the hallways of the conference center. 

The first day we passed out our Assembly newsletter outside the convention center, and it was well received by most.  We endeavored to make it clear who we were.  By the second day our identity was quite known.  On this day we passed out "Our Basis for Concern" in booklet form, along with a piece on the Middle East crisis and a copy of a letter of support to President Bush regarding the war on terrorism. 

Interestingly, while there were more individuals the second day who said they did not want our material--or handed it back to us--or chunked it into the trash; there seemed to be an equal number who went out of their way to get the material, sometimes requesting extra copies to share with others.  A middle group seemed unsure of where they came down, but not unwilling to take the handout and give it fair consideration.

Hospitality Suite Events

Our Hospitality Suite events were successful in providing space for the evangelical perspective to be presented on several issues. On Friday, Rev. Karen Booth gave a presentation on "The Truth of the Gospel."  Karen, an ordained Elder in the Pennsylvania/Delaware Conference,  is a convert from liberal feminism to orthodox Christian faith.  The excesses of the Re-Imagining Conference of 1993 awakened her to the need to delve into the Scriptures and into historic Christianity and discover for herself the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Her presentation, coming from this background, showcased clearly the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Kim Turkington, Lifewatch representative, gave an outstanding presentation from the pro-life perspective, tracing the history of the Jewish and Christian traditions regarding abortion, euthanasia and exposure.  The faithfulness of the Christian/Jewish tradition to the position of preserving life is a remarkable witness, identifying unexpected persons who were champions for the weak and vulnerable. 

On Saturday, Andrea Yates, consultant to RENEW, Transforming Congregations and Harvest Ministries, and founder and director of Stop the Cycle Ministries, talked with those gathered about the constructs upon which we choose to build our lives.  Either we build upon the solid rock, Christ Jesus, and the teaching of God's Word, or we construct (or accept) another superstructure, built upon sand.  Andrea showed how we stake our lives and our eternal destiny upon one foundation or the other.  Andrea shared that the reason we do not accept God's foundation and structure for our lives is due to our rebellious and sinful nature.  Only through redemption and transformation can we realize wholeness and salvation. 

Rev. Dr. Donna Hailson, professor of Evangelism at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, gave a challenging presentation on reaching individuals with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in today's diverse culture.  Dr. Hailson began by showing a new line of "sin-cleansing" bath products she found at a Pennsylvania store.  The product description on the various labels and the step-by-step process recommended for the removal of sins gave the audience cause for laughter and reflection.  Rev. Hailson used this fun illustration to show how people look for something to take care of their sin problem, without requiring too much of them.  She then shared about numerous cutting-edge ministries that are reaching our culture for Christ.  Her challenge to those present to develop a heart for evangelism and to be open to God's guidance in new ways to bring the relevance of the old, old story to our present culture was an inspiration to "go and tell." 

"Sing a New Song" -- What shall we sing?

One stanza of the "Sing a New Song" theme that seemed to be repeated in the plenary sessions and focus groups was an anti-military, anti-war (just or otherwise) position.  This anti-military focus was showcased in the peace display in the Assembly Exhibit Hall and supported in the final issue of the Response Daily by an article entitled "Military Cost $3.7 Billion During Assembly."

A young military wife was so distressed with the Response Daily article that she left the Assembly and cried as she shared her views with others in the hallway.  She told how her husband and other military personnel put themselves in harm's way daily in order to secure the peace and freedom the women at the conference were enjoying.  She spoke of the many peace keeping operations the U.S. military is involved in around the world, providing hope for the peoples of those regions. 

In fact, RENEW encountered other military-related persons who were distressed by the position taken and pushed by the Women's Division regarding war and the military.  One woman was crying in the hallway.  When approached by some of our team who were concerned about her, she indicated that she had come to the Assembly for spiritual refreshing but had only found a political rally.  She had brought two young women reservists with her, and they had been shocked by the anti-military position they were witnessing. 

Another young woman reservist we met had served for four years in the military, and had been a part of the Desert Storm operation.  She sought out our hospitality suite after seeing our IRD/RENEW handout about the Middle East and our letter in support of the war on terrorism.  She was relieved to find that some at the Assembly understood the just war concept and supported the efforts of the military to provide peace and security to this nation.

Some disharmonious notes were definitely heard at the Assembly.  One had to question why Linda Allen was selected as the UMW Assembly singer/songwriter whose music preceded most major plenary presentations.  Ms. Allen, while very talented and engaging in her presentations, has been heralded by such questionable publications as SageWoman Magazine and New Age Quarterly as one whose "songs range from nature-centered, Goddess anthems…to strong-voiced political action songs."  It was said her album, Lay It Down, contains "deeply womanly spirituality--wholly Christian and wholly feminist, all with weavings of the Goddess and hints of pantheism." 

Underlying Theology

While many of the theology-related workshops were quite devoid of extreme theological statements, theological excesses surfaced in unexpected places.  One such place was The Energy Crisis Focus Group where presenter Dr. Guy Dauncey began his presentation by sharing that his personal spirituality was a mixture of Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism.  He defined his view of heaven as Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Plato and other "great leaders" sitting around a table and discussing world issues. 

After the presentation, a young woman in the group approached the facilitator to express her concern about the speaker's religious views.  She was told by the facilitator that she too believed there were many paths to God.  When the participant reminded the facilitator that Jesus had claimed to be the one way to God, she was told that there were may people who did not agree with her, implying that she was in the minority within the United Methodist Church believing such. 

Another sad note was sounded when Bible study leader, Barbara Lundblad chose to strongly insinuate sexual relations between Rahab of Jericho and the Hebrew spies who came to her house.  While laughter on the part of some followed these insinuations, her comments were unfounded and vulgar.  No woman present will likely read these scripture passages again without the inferences Barbara made coming to mind.  Ms. Lundblad's  sentiments came through in her presentation, "Singing in the Window: Rahab's Subversive Song."  Under the banner of caring for the world, Ms. Lundblad showed disdain for nationalism by adding, and singing, a new verse to "God Bless America." While we are all aware that we are world citizens, it is our privilege to be U.S. citizens as well. 

Time for Uncle Sam to Anti-Up 

A plaintive song heard over and over again called upon the federal government to fund programs that would supposedly bring justice and eradicate poverty.  Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund spouted off a lot of statistics.  She failed, however, to address root causes or to advocate for "hands on" programs to help eliminate poverty and suffering for children.  At no time did she suggest that leading children to faith in Christ should be a part of the Church's plan.  Rather, her primary solution to all of the many ills she identified was more government funding. 

Assembly participants were given time to write a note to U.S. Senators and Representatives asking them to reauthorize the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant this year and to increase its funding by $20 billion over the next five years.  The elimination of tax cuts and a national military defense system were seen as money sources for the funding of CDF's pet projects.  The concept of the redistribution of wealth surfaced more than once in Ms. Edelman's and other presentations.

The Closing Note

The closing note for the Assembly was sounded by Joyce Sohl, Deputy General Secretary of the Women's Division.  On the surface, it sounded good to the ears, even to the singing of "Standing on the Promises."  Ms. Sohl used the account of Mary and Elizabeth to convey to the audience their (and our) knowledge of our heritage and understanding of what it means to be a covenant people.  Yet, she alluded to the direction of her talk within her title, "Mary and Elizabeth: Singers of God's New Song." 

One could here melodies of progressive revelation in Ms. Sohl's quote from Howard Thurman, "How I love the old familiarity of the wearied melody--how I shrink from the harsh discords of the new untried harmonies.  Teach me, Father, that I might learn with the abandonment and enthusiasm of Jesus, the fresh new accent, the untried melody, to meet the need of the untried morrow."  Ms. Sohl went on to say of this "new song," "Yes, this song does praise, honor, celebrate and retell the old story, but it doesn't stop there.  This is a song of prophecy, of freedom, and of revolution; A song that puts God on the side of the powerless, the oppressed, the poor; A song that tells the power of God in the world; A song that redistributes food, money, land among all God's peoples; A song of God's mercy and God's justice." 

In order to understand Ms. Sohl's emphasis upon a "new song," it is helpful to reference her address to the spring board of director's meeting of the Women's Division that took place two weeks prior to the Assembly.  In this presentation Ms. Sohl had spoken on the topic of "accountability."  She concluded that accountability is subjective rather than objective.  Therefore, it is difficult for an organization to "prove" to someone that they are being accountable, since the parties may be using a differing standard for judging accountability.  (Within the Christian community there is set criteria for the Christian faith the provides an objective standard by which to judge our faithfulness to the Gospel. Within United Methodism this criteria consists of the Scripture, our Doctrinal Standards and the Articles of Religion.)

Ms. Shol's talk emphasized the importance of accountability to the gospel of Jesus Christ, but once again acknowledged conflict in this area.  Ms. Sohl said, "Accountability to the gospel of Jesus Christ is the center of accountability of the Women's Division and it is also the most difficult.  The opinions that each of us has about the gospel are ours but they may not be the same as those of other members of the division.  All of us may feel that our understandings are the correct understandings/interpretations of the biblical message, but none of us can be sure of that fact.  Accountability to the gospel puts us often in the center of controversy.  Such controversy comes about because of a variety of biblical interpretations, differences in our calls to discipleship and various understandings of what it means to be a follower of Christ." 

With this foundational perspective, it is no wonder that many United Methodist Women question the "new song" they are being called upon to sing.  In actuality, this "new song" is the same old song of a liberal, socialist gospel.  Sadly, this song is a broken record that history identifies as such.  By contrast, the "old, old story of Jesus and His love" is as current as the day He died upon the cross for the sins of the whole world, and just as powerful to change lives and systems. 

Not Discouraged

The RENEW Team was not discouraged at the UMW Assembly.  Despite all that was seen and heard, there was a sense that many were discerning truth in the midst of the sometimes discordant music.  We are currently preparing a complete report based upon the reports of our team members and their reports from various Assembly Focus Groups.  Some of these reports are already posted--others are yet to come.  Keep checking this web site for updated information.