The View from Asbury
Earlier in 2018, an Open Letter was released expressing alumnae’s dismay at the antagonism shown by Asbury Theological Seminary leadership and faculty to the proposed future of United Methodism–particularly their opposition to the One Church Plan–and their affiliation with the Wesleyan Covenant Association.
Here’s the Open Letter, signed by over 200 current and former students and faculty. The key section is here:
As alumni of Asbury Theological Seminary, we are grateful for the theological education we received there, and especially a Wesleyan theology rooted in grace and love grounded in the whole of Scripture.
As The United Methodist Church moves toward the special called session of the General Conference next February, we wish to express that though there are Asbury alumni who have aligned with various groups such as The Wesleyan Covenant Association, The Confessing Movement, Good News and others, there are many of us who have been prayerfully supportive of the intentional and sacred work charged to the Commission on the Way Forward. We see hope and promise in claiming all that is good that is already happening in our denomination. We recognize that there are differences of opinion but we believe that we can honor one another through the grace that is available for all through Jesus Christ. We fully embrace the call to share the gospel with all people at all times and in all places where we find ourselves.
Why Asbury?
The concern over Asbury’s relationship with the Wesleyan Covenant Association is a valid one. The two are conjoined at the hip:
- Of the 21 members of the original WCA Leadership Council, over half of the clergy (9) graduated from Asbury Theological Seminary and over half the total group (11) have a connection to Asbury (as alumni, current and former deans and administrators).
- In fact, of the 17 clergy on the WCALC, 12 of them did not attend one of the 13 United Methodist seminaries at all. Interesting.
Little wonder the alumni are concerned: the WCA is being driven by Asbury grads, and some of their colleagues and administrators’ positions are being funded by their donations to ATS. Hopefully the conversation with cause ATS to stop being so antagonistic to the future of Methodism. But since the antagonism comes from tenured professors and their own President, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Still, sending this letter to the Board of Trustees and alumni circles will hopefully find some accountability and a trusting in the General Conference rather than divisive commentary on behalf of the seminary. You can sign the Open Letter here.
United in Diversity, no longer?
Close behind Asbury is United Theological Seminary alumnae. Their open letter has some insightful critiques that bear repeating:
As graduates of United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, we are grateful for the ways UTS shaped us biblically, theologically, and spiritually to do the work of God’s kingdom in this present age. United gave us a formative understanding of the way of Jesus in the Wesleyan tradition, rooted in Scripture, and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Today, however, with the current alignment of significant leaders at the seminary to the Wesleyan Covenant Association, Good News, and the Confessing Movement, we experience UTS as speaking in a monolithic voice to only one side of the conversation of LGBTQ inclusion. This experience feels antithetical to the UTS of our memory.– We remember UTS as a place that embraced
a diversity of experiences and perspectives, which shaped our view of God’s grace as wide enough to embrace all of God’s people.
– We remember it as a place that encouraged inclusivity, seeing God’s beauty and creativity in the ways we have each been created to love.
– We remember it as a place that taught us to live in the tension of our theological differences.
– We remember leaders of UTS who spoke to the broader the spectrum of convictions, to the greater cloud of witnesses.
Why United?
Asbury’s embrace of the WCA makes some sense, given they are a pan-Wesleyan seminary and not under United Methodist oversight. However, United Theological Seminary is an actual United Methodist seminary–it was a former EUB seminary, in fact. So the concerns are why does a seminary dean and faculty participate in WCA events which clearly move their seminary away from Big Tent Methodism that their predecessors and current alumnae valued?
The seminary president wrote a response to the open letter where he claims:
We believe that neither the Board of Trustees nor the President should tell administrators or faculty members what groups they may or may not affiliate withoutside of the seminary. Currently, we have persons who affiliate with the Wesleyan Covenant Association or the Good News Movement, but in the past, we have had members of our staff who were part of the Reconciling Movement. In either case, those are personal decisions and do not represent the official position of United.The United Theological Seminary Board of Trustees does not endorse or promote any of the caucus groups in the United Methodist Church. The United Theological Seminary Board of Trustees takes no position on the three options presented by the Way Forward Commission and the Council of Bishops. We are praying that the delegates to the Special General Conference in February in St. Louis will discern God’s will and lead us accordingly.
However, we realize that some of our faculty actively promote more conservative points of view on social media sites, so there is the perception that they are speaking for the whole seminary, which is not the case.
While a good letter, the reality is that the tilted leadership has already had a tangible consequence: United shut down their alumnae Facebook groups from posting “political content” (ie. anything about the future of The UMC) after pro-LGBTQ content from United Methodist sources was posted in their alumnae groups. In retaliation to that perspective being shared, they shut down the conversation altogether. Not exactly an expression of diversity, is it?
The good news is after pushback from alums, the Facebook groups were allowed to have
Your Turn
Please share the petitions with United Theological Seminary and Asbury Theological Seminary alums in your life to register your opposition to these schools’ administration. They are one of the legs propping up the opposition to our future together, and decades of alumnae are asking their leadership to step back from the abyss.
We are better together.
Thoughts?
Thanks for reading, commenting, and sharing on social media.
And how many faculty of your school in Boston have publicly and from the heart supported the church’s teaching on human sexuality? Show us the letter from Boston grads who, contrary to social and peer pressure, believe what the church teaches on this issue is true and are willing to say so. United and Asbury actually reflects some diversity in views and you spit tacks. Chop up your own exclusionary log before chasing United or Asbury splinters.
Hi Bob. Contrary to your comment, Boston grads like me also believe the Church teachings should be true. Just as the Church found a better truth by embracing women’s ordination at a late date, so also the Church will find a better truth by the full inclusion of LGBTQ persons.
And since I have yet to see such a letter from Boston U grads, I have nothing to respond to, so I’m unsure under what exclusionary log I’m supposed to find it. Please let me know if it’s existence so I can be in line with your expectations.
Ha! Two brief tweaks. First, there are those who believe what the church teaches is true. On this issue, you in all good conscience do not believe what the church teaches is true on the essence of marriage and sexuality, but you are happy to say what the church teaches ‘should’ be true, which is a polite way of saying the church universal (not just the Methodists) has never gotten the doctrine of marriage right. Second, Asbury and United do not produce groupthink graduates, so the comments from some of those grads regarding support for the Way Forward process (with which I concur) make sense. Check out the SNL skit on “The Bubble” for a visual aid. Now Brother Jeremy, bring em’ to Jesus in downtown Seattle…really do wish you well in a tough setting.
There is a reason why both Asbury and United are some of the fastest growing seminaries in the wesleyan faith. They are very good schools. United saw a large increase in students when they completely revamped and brought in more conservative theologians. Asbury doesn’t receive funding from the umc but puts more pastors in umc pulpits than any other. Not sure I understand what your beef is with them other than being the most conservative of the approved seminaries.
My beef is with the WCA and their agenda for United Methodism that would further exclude LGBTQ persons from church life and would keep The UMC from being a place where progressives and moderates can preach Jesus with integrity. Neither United nor Asbury need to be a part of supporting such an organization to be who they are, so their choice is faulty.
NOT EVERYONE WHO ATTENDS ASBURY DRINKS THE COOL AID.
Let’s not make this an unnecessarily “messy” divorce. Let’s simply shake hands and divide! The USA will have churches that will need to be closed, since we must close over 1,200 annually anyway. DO NOT waste money on legal battles and more useless conferences that are predicted to be unproductive. The One Church plan is anything but “united”. If we can merge two churches, we can also divide them. Let’s stop pretending that the two sides even want to be forced to stay together. They are as divided as the Republican party and the Democratic parties. However, unlike a presidential election, this General Conference’s decision is much greater, because the church it will not be able to make another choice in four years. Let’s not force two oppositional parties to stay “united” and simply watch the church dissolve as frustrated members of both sides leave, after returning from a General Conference that is disappointing for one party. This will likey be providing membership for our surrounding churches.
MARY
You are 100 percent correct….EACH side is totally for them selves and NO ONE ELSE and this will ONLY COME TO A BITTER DIVORCE….Let each chose their side and shake hands and GO THE WAY we want…IN MY TRAVELS since APRIL, 2018 I have Seen MANY Methodist Church leave the METHODIST CHURCH and become what they believed in…
IN EACH OF THE DENOMINATIONS that have gone before us thru these struggles EACH have lost churches, members and JESUS.
What is a “better truth?” Truth is not subject to qualification, something is either true or it is not. Either the Bible is true, or it is not. If it is true, it is not subject to the whims and fancies of man. If it is not true, then everything we believe is open for discussion and therefore not “truth.” Moral relativism may be du jour, but it is not truth. It cannot be, for truth is not relative. As clergy you are not only betting your own souls, but those under your charge as well.
Everything we believe IS open for discussion and therefore not “truth” – unless you don’t believe Paul’s claim in 1 Corinthians 13, that all our “knowledge” is partial and all our “prophecy” is only partial. We argue with each other as though each of us or each of our preferred groups has a lock on “God’s Truth,” when, in fact, we are mere mortals who are variably and variously responsive and unresponsive to the movement of the Holy Spirit among us. Unless we can all show more humility than we’ve generally shown thus far and actually begin speaking and listening to each other from the heart and, together, seeking the will of God in the company with our sisters and brothers with whom we disagree, we will continue to give more and more people reason to become “nones” on the census question regarding religious commitments as we cast shame on the name of Jesus instead of honoring him by loving one another as he loves us.
Jeremy, given your absolute hatred for the beliefs of those Methodists that align themselves with the Wesleyan Covenant Association, why on earth would you want to continue to share a denomination with them? Do you just want more time to convince them of the “rightness” of your position in the LGBT issue? Is it to keep the revenue stream flowing to maintain the current corporate structure? I sincerely don’t understand this – why force people with IRRECONCILABLE differences to remain in the same house? Wouldn’t we be better as neighbors sharing a fence? Honestly, isn’t it better to just bless each other so that we can go our separate ways, and then pursue our ministry as each are called?
At conference last year, I talked with Greg Stover, a national leader in the conservative groups.I told that he if there is a split, I will very miss having him and his friends and their ideas at table with us. We are all honestly seeking God’s will for this time.
I mentioned to him if we use the Bible as a strict law book, than we will need to silence all women preachers and bishops when they are in church and Jesus’ teaching on divorce could cause us to disqualify another group.
Greg said the teachings about silencing women are nuanced and I replied that gay verses are nuanced with some are about male rape.