The Holy Spirit and the Council of Bishops

Today's Daily UMNS News Summary carries an article about the retreat our bishops are conducting. You can access it at http://www.umcconnections.org/2012/11/02/bishops-to-gather-for-closed-retreat/.

I have posted my opinion a number of times about the Council of Bishops feeling more and more like it is the repository of the Holy Spirit for the United Methodist Church, the mistake that the Roman Catholics made and which led to the Reformation.

It seems fitting that I should respond to the article in an attempt to give others something to think about. Here is what I wrote:

"Your report on the meeting of the Council of Bishops is well done. Your quote of Bishop Wenner that they hope the Holy Spirit will guide them is in physical juxtaposition to the sidebar about the Council’s decision to hold a closed retreat. You can’t even go! So no one outside the Council will be able to be a bearer of the Holy Spirit in their midst. That kind of insularity is frightening to me and part of what is taking them further and further onto the other side of the chasm from their clergy and annual conferences and further into Groupthink. I hope they realize that things like the legislation that was turned down, the Judicial Council’s rulings, the actions of the SC Jurisidiction against Bishop Bledsoe, and critics of the Council may also be expressions of the Holy Spirit.

"The more I think about the bishops’ efforts to build their “Beloved Community,” the more I fear they will ignore the support systems available to them in their respective annual conferences. That’s why there is no Disciplinary requirement for their episcopacy committees to handle complaints. Those groups are to help the bishop in times of need, not be their judges. And rather than seek emotional support from old friends (when he served in Wisconsin, Bishop Ralph Alton and his wife frequently played bridge with lay friends who treated them like real people), they now seek solace with their episcopal brothers and sisters so they inadvertently are not tainted with opinions and ideas coming from wherever the wind blows (John 3:8)."

I sent this comment to a couple bishops I know well. I used a conversational tone in adding to their email note:

" I have a doctrine of the Holy Spirit so I am really a trinitarian! I do not give the Holy Spirit lip service. You may not agree, but I want you to have a chance to hear this for yourself from me.

"I hope you all will pay attention to Rick Rettberg's summary of changes in the Discipline. The bishops should be gathering for continuing education, especially for the rookies. But I really sense that all the other elaboration on the Council of Bishop's role seems to be a serious breach of United Methodist polity. The Council is not a program body (it has become more and more so and for ecumenical purposes, it clearly has a program function). But it has become one in competition with the denomination's own program bodies."

I do not have time right now to go further, though I am anxious to. Maybe this is enough?

April 30 - The "Set-Aside Bishop"

I mention my discussion with a European bishop in a post below (“Incompetent Pastors”). I met him the afternoon of April 23 and was very impressed with him. He shared what it was like to be a bishop in his Central Conference, how very different the Church was in each of the countries to which he has been assigned. He displayed the same kind of warmth, attentiveness, and curiosity I experienced with the bishop from an autonomous evangelical Methodist denomination in Asia. Let me say it again. It is people like them that give me hope for the Church.

I brought up the idea of setting aside a bishop as sought in The Call to Action.

He said he thought it was a necessary role because there were so many things that needed more attention than just what could be provided by the secretary of the Council of Bishops and the ecumenical relations role held by a retired bishop.

I asked, “Don’t you think such a position sets up the possibility of a future holder of that office assuming the role of Pope for United Methodists?”

His reply was immediate and urgent: “The other bishops would not stand for that!”

We may never know. The General Conference voted down the idea this time.

Let me give you four words about the implications of a set-aside bishop.

The first word is “elaboration.” Sociologically speaking, institutions tend to elaborate, get more complex, as long as they have resources. It appears that the Council of Bishops which takes very seriously Wesley’s saying about the world being his parish, envisions their body as the primary bearer of that mission.

Bishops travel the world for a wide variety of what appear to be valid reasons, visiting mission stations, establishing relations with autonomous churches with a Wesleyan background, connecting with Central Conference annual conferences for mission and resourcing special projects, etc.

Bishops have chosen themes and projects for the denomination to emphasize and resource.

Bishops have developed four focuses to direct our denomination’s ministries.

The Council of Bishops is a hotbed of great ideas needing expression and financing. The more they meet, the more they generate all these programs that will serve the world and the denomination. That’s a lot of talent and insight to put in one room and not find more things to do than can be done.

That’s elaboration.

“Insularity” is the second word. When such a body gathers frequently, its members develop strong and lasting relationships. Those relationships become more important simply because they are with important people. The effect becomes circular and mutually gratifying, leading to the development of a self-conscious elite or in-group.

That in-group very quickly becomes subject to Group Think, the frame of mind in which there is no need to listen to others from outside the group because the group has such wonderful perception and experience and insight. They are too bright to be wrong. They do not really need anyone else’s input.

Insularity means that little attention needs to be given to others outside the group because there is less relational energy available for the group’s members to share with others. They really only need each other.

That’s insularity.

The third word is “power.” Such a potent group, sitting with such wonderful ideas and sense of world mission among such excellent people, needs to express those things. To do it, they need authority to move resources, people, and finances around to fulfill those things. Unless those are already at their disposal, they need to bring to bear any power they have as a body to do the politics needed to give them what they seek.

By inserting themselves into the legislative and judicial processes as far as they are allowed to go, they can add to their administrative authority and take control of what they need.

That’s power.

The fourth word is “coordination.” Since each bishop is spread pretty thin with Council of Bishops efforts and programs as well as their own jurisdictional (regional) and annual conference responsibilities, no one can really coordinate all the efforts needed to obtain their goals. A set-aside bishop is a necessity.

A single person who can organize the various talents and skills of the Council of Bishops’ members would be extremely valuable to help the body function in its desired manner.

That’s coordination.

The General Conference closed that door. But with so much energy, the Council of Bishops will try to find another way to achieve their calling. With all those godly people involved, it must be a calling from God.

Didn’t Reinhold Neibuhr write a book about that phenomenon, MORAL MAN, IMMORAL SOCIETY?