A bittersweet goodbye

Twenty years ago, in August 1988, I attended my first-ever Good News board meeting. A friend nominated me to the board and asked that I attend the summer meeting. As Jim Heidinger opened the door for me, I said, "Jim, I care about all of the issues Good News addresses, but I must tell you, I come to this meeting with a strange burden on my heart for the women of the church." To this, Jim replied, "Faye, who knows but what God has sent you to Good News for that very reason." I was elected to the board, and thus began my journey from a former local, district, and conference United Methodist Women officer toward ministering to and with women through the Evangelical Coalition for United Methodist Women—later renamed The RENEW Network.

What an incredible journey it has been! Let me share some high points with you.

I'll never forget the excitement of the 55 women who met in the summer of 1989 for a workshop at a Good News Convocation. Julia McLean Williams—then vice-president, soon to become president of The Mission Society—gave the women ten minutes to gripe, then led us in discerning how we could make a difference. Afterwards, the women crowded around and wanted to know how to accomplish these goals without further contact. Out of this workshop came the formation of the Evangelical Coalition for United Methodist Women—a network that grew rapidly as evangelical women across the church responded enthusiastically to this "connection."

In 1991, we published our first Financial File—an analysis of Women's Division spending and the underlying ideology that directed that spending. From our research, we concluded that we could not in good conscience commend "Mission Giving" to the Women's Division, that we could not condone many of the projects the Women's Division supported, and that we could not commend the program resources developed by the Women's Division for United Methodist Women. While we did not tell the women of the church how to spend their money, we provided the documented information they needed to make informed decisions. There have been three updates to the Financial File over the ensuing years.

RENEW press representatives attending the 1993 spring Board of Directors meeting of the Women's Division obtained information about an upcoming conference that was to be the mid-point event for the Ecumenical Decade: Churches in Solidarity with Women. Staff, directors and certain conference officers were to have their way paid by the Women's Division (total reported expenditure by the Women's Division was $37,581). The event was the "Re-Imagining Conference." A look at the advance material alerted us to the outlandish theology of the event. Well-known radical feminists were scheduled to speak on eyebrow-raising topics. I contacted orthodox women leaders from the Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Catholic churches. We all concluded this would be a high watermark event for radical feminism—a "coming out"—and that we must send press representatives. RENEW sent Dottie Chase, whose reporting, along with that of other denominational representatives, opened the eyes of the churches to this Sophia worship gathering. RENEW reps attended and reported on the subsequent Re-Imagining conferences until the Re-Imagining movement folded around 2002. The Women's Division never denounced this movement, despite its radical theology and support of homosexual/lesbian practice.

In December 2001, Good News joined with RENEW in issuing a Call for Reform of the Women's Division. This nation-wide call followed several egregious actions on the part of the Women's Division that showed the unchanging left-leaning, theologically deviate direction of this church agency with oversight for the programs and policies of United Methodist Women. The tone at their October board meeting was staunchly anti-American, despite the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon by terrorists. The Division voted to oppose the Anti-Terrorism Act. The directors voted to continue to allow official status for a District Unit of UMW, "Sophia Circle," whose stated purpose was to "gather monthly for an hour's lively discussion on material from the Re-Imagining Newsletter." And finally, it was announced that, despite protest by many United Methodist women, Barbara Lundblad would be a plenary speaker at the UMW Assembly in April 2002. Ms. Lundblad was a former Re-Imagining Conference speaker (1993 and 1998) and a proponent for the acceptance of homosexual practice.  We witnessed the impact of The Call for Reform upon the Women's Division by the reduced funding and membership loss the Division experienced over several years.

At the fall 2004 Women's Division Directors meeting, Dr. Janice Love, newly-elected CEO of the Women's Division, gave her inaugural address, which acknowledged the diversity within the church resulting in widely divergent faith perspectives. Dr. Love voiced the need to "listen carefully to those in our church who are troubled by what we do." In early March 2005, I requested a conversation on behalf of RENEW leadership. Later in March, Dr. Love accepted the invitation on behalf of the Women's Division leadership. This led to the first, and only, direct conversation between representatives of the Women's Division and the RENEW Network. The forum took place on September 21, 2005, at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. This exchange provided an opportunity to seek clarification of positions held by both parties in several areas, with the hope this would be a starting point for reconciliation, reform, and revitalization of the women's ministry of the UM Church. While productive and worthwhile, the forum failed to produce tangible results—leaving the Women's Division and many women within the UM Church with widely divergent theological, political, and social views.

At General Conference 1996, a petition was submitted by a woman from Texas requesting a change in the Discipline from shall to may in the statement, "In every local church there shall be an organized unit of United Methodist Women." Her motive was simply to allow for other supplemental women's ministries. The vote in 1996 on the floor of General Conference was 407 "yes," 477 "no." The Women's Division was shocked. When this same petition was resubmitted in 2000, it was soundly defeated. After this, RENEW Network members took up this cause, submitting a large number of petitions in support of this change in 2004 and 2008. In light of the fact that, according to statistics from the General Council on Finance and Administration, only 15 percent of women who are members of the UM Church are members of UMW, leaving 85 percent who are not, this would seem a valid request. However, with strong opposition from the Women's Division, this legislation was defeated at both General Conferences. From this disappointment arose the new vision for the RENEW Network—a vision of viable, supplemental women's ministries in accordance with the Discipline's sanction of nurturing ministries at the local church level.

RENEW has accomplished its renewal and accountability goals over the years through a strong leadership team and an active network of evangelical women across the denomination. We have achieved much with the support of Good News, our parent organization, and in partnership with other renewal groups including Bristol House Publishing, Transforming Congregations, Lifewatch, and UMAction/IRD. Diane Knippers, former president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, and RENEW consultant, often said, "God has given me such good comrades to work with." I could not say it better.

When Liza (Elizabeth) Kittle, of Augusta, Georgia, moves into the position of president of the RENEW Network in January 2009, I will rejoice, even as I grieve the loss of daily contact with this incredible network. Liza considers it a tremendous blessing to become the new president of this network. She says, "God has given me a heart for the women of the United Methodist Church and it is such a privilege to be a part of this new vision of ministry for the RENEW network. It is my fervent prayer that women all across our denomination and beyond will be encouraged, equipped, and enabled to pursue God's calling on their lives through a variety of fruitful, Christ-centered women's ministries."

With a bittersweet "Goodbye" to the thousands of women and men who are a part of this wonderful network, I echo the sentiments of Dag Hammarskjold when he said, "For all that has been, ‘Thanks,' for all that will be, ‘Yes!'"

Faye Short, President Emeritus, RENEW Network

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