April 30 - Holy Conferencing

I came from the discussion on homosexuality with my African friend with my head still spinning. Would my LGBT friends realize how their efforts appeared to my African friend?

They had no inkling why Africans voted at Fort Worth last General Conference against moderate and positive language about enlarging the circle to take in homosexuals.

My LGBT friends tended to think in terms of pure homophobia or poor Biblical exegesis or votes bought by the gift of cell phones and free meals as the only reasons.

I really hoped the dialogue would enlarge beyond stereotypical thinking and delve into what the experience, tradition, and reason of third world delegates were.

Monday night, the delegates were divided up into regional groupings to practice Holy Conferencing in anticipation of the floor debates to come on homosexuality.

I observed the African delegation once again, spotting my two friends, and having a good location on the front edge of seats for visitors.

I happened to sit next to a UMNS reporter that I had met briefly in the press room early the week before. We chatted as the delegates gathered and exchanged ideas and concerns on a wide range of issues. We hoped the session would pay off but we both knew that the value of such practices depended on the questions asked to trigger the discussions.

There were to be four for the delegates to discuss around their tables. The groupings appeared to be of people from the same conference or language. There were earphones to translate the statements of the leaders and the questions.

My heart sank when I heard the first question: “What are the advantages of being a world-wide church?”

If I were African, I’d think the following, based on what I had seen so far these two weeks: It is easier to identify the problems rather than the advantages of trying to be a world-wide church, like the asking of questions that might mean something to westerners but don’t translate into our own language. We don’t need talk. We need help with developing schools, colleges, and seminaries. All we’re doing here is words, words, words. We want action.

The reporter and I returned to exploring things of mutual interest we had not yet chatted about. It appeared that is what happened among the delegates.

The second question was similar. ““What needs to be strengthened to maximize our fruitfulness and faithfulness?”

How do you answer such a question? What fruitful actions are we talking about? What constitutes faithfulness? How does this question engage people on a level where holy Conferencing draws on their human experience and faith systems?

The reporter and I shook our heads and chatted away just as the delegates seemed to be doing at some tables. At others, we saw frowns and confusion and no conversation. The practice did not seem to be going anywhere.

The third question was this, “How can we honor each others’ differences while we strengthen our unity?”

Which differences? What kind of unity is there beyond being United Methodists and still talking to each other and working together? Is there a problem you want us to consider which is causing disunity?

The discussion at the tables tapered off pretty fast.

The fourth question thus was asked nearly right away. “How can we move toward more equitable sharing of power and representation around the world?”

That one did not connect with the delegates, as far as we could tell. Most of the tables chatted briefly and then turned toward the leaders wondering what was next.

At that point I had to leave so I would not be driving my hundred miles too much after dark.

I hope some Holy Conferencing started after that but unless the leaders had more relevant questions with real specificity, the exercise was futile. Didn’t anyone know about Norris Sanders’ book CLASSROOM QUESTIONS or any of the work at the University of Chicago on questions and the nature of thinking?

Let’s hope the team that put that evening’s exercises together does a serious evaluation of how it went and what might have worked better.

The evening did not appear to have helped anyone to be ready to face the difficulties of the next few days’ plenary debates.