| February
7, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Mrs. Faye Short, President,
RENEW Network for Women Good News Board Affirms Call for Reform of Women’s Division initiated by Its RENEW Network for Women WILMORE, KY -- “The RENEW Network is greatly encouraged by the unanimous vote of the Good News board last week, affirming an earlier decision of its Executive Committee to authorize a Call for Reform of the Women’s Division of the General Board of Global Ministries,” said Faye Short, President of RENEW, the women’s program arm of Good News. In a December 6 press release announcing the Call for Reform, Mrs. Short charged that United Methodist Women “feel betrayed by the Division staff and by the elected directors.” In a letter sent November 14 to Women’s Division national directors, Short specifically criticized decisions made at the Women’s Division’s October board meeting, including: its outspoken opposition to the U.S. war on terrorism, its endorsing official status to a radical feminist `Sophia Circle,’ and its inviting a controversial Re-Imagining speaker to the large UMW Assembly set for April of 2002. Short charged, “These actions stand in stark opposition to the position most United Methodist Women hold on these issues. The Women’s Division is systematically eroding the confidence of United Methodist Women.” “The cynical, anti-U.S. sentiments expressed at the fall meeting of the Women’s Division were only a part of the larger concern we have had for years about the direction and policies of the Women’s Division,” said James V. Heidinger II, President and Publisher of Good News. “While grateful for the work of so many local UMW units, what many of us know is that the policies and views of the New York leadership of the Women’s Division is light years away from United Methodist women in our local churches. If these women knew what the New York offices were espousing, they would be utterly irate.” In a January letter to Women’s
Division head Joyce Sohl, Faye Short responded to statements Sohl had
released to the press in response to Good News’/RENEW’s Call to Reform.
“Although Joyce Sohl, Deputy General Secretary of the Women’s Division, has
said `Accountability is not the issue,’ in this campaign, that is exactly
the issue,” said Short. “When a parent agency refuses to exercise the
spiritual oversight with which it is charged, and repeatedly engages in
programs and policies that are contrary to the heartfelt Christian beliefs
of a large percentage of its constituency, accountability is imperative.”
Short’s questioning of Lundblad as “an excellent Bible study leader at the Assembly” is based on her review of the Lundblad presentations at the “93 and ’98 Re-Imagining Conferences. “At both of these events, Ms. Lundblad was a strong proponent of radical feminist theology and advocated for the acceptance of homosexual/lesbian practice,” Short asserted. In tapes from her ’98 address, Ms. Lundblad states, “We need to name our sacred stories and to say, `It is also the Word of God.’” She quoted from well-known radical feminist author, Rosemary Reuther, calling her book “one of the books that have given life to us.” Ms. Lundblad recounted the voting down of the gay rights bill in Maine and quoted one person as saying, “this was a victory for Christians everywhere.” She then asked, “Where were the rest of us?” She went on to say how important it is for those who support gay and lesbian rights to speak out. In a letter to the RENEW Network in January, the process of defining what reform of the Women’s Division would entail was initiated. Eleven items were put forward by a RENEW task force and assistance in refining and further developing this list was solicited through a questionnaire. Included in the list were: Reaffirm the supremacy of Christ and the uniqueness of Christian faith and formulate a mission statement that includes “making disciples of Jesus Christ;” include evangelicals as staff and directors of the Women’s Division, going beyond tokenism in representation; require accountability at all levels of the organization, integrating the Women’s Division and United Methodist Women into the total structure of the local church; cease extremist, partisan political and social advocacy; end support for the Re-Imagining Community and for radical feminist theology, including the elimination of advocacy for the acceptance of homosexual/lesbian practice; reform spending patterns to represent revised Women’s Division/UMW standards; and adhere to the open meeting policy of the United Methodist Church. “We recognize that this will be a protracted campaign,” said Mrs. Short. “RENEW and Good News are well aware that we can only issue a `Call for Reform,’ but only the women of the church can conduct a campaign for reform and accountability.” “It is quite revealing that our Call
to Reform of the Women’s Division was caricatured by Ms. Sohl in such
drastic terms in her public response, when she said, `When an organization’s
reason for being is to criticize another, nothing short of destroying the
other will satisfy their desire for control,’” noted James Heidinger. “When
a church group or agency believes a call for reform and accountability is an
attempt to destroy it, |