Words

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Here are some words that attempt to communicate in issue in the United Methodist Church. Dated: 2024-05-20

An Update to the Actions of the General Conference of the United Methodist Church By the Leadership Team of Saint Paul’s Church

Emphasis (underlining) has been added to the bold italic parts of the statement.

Let us analyze the statement for any potential "weasel words".

A "weasel word" is a word that is intentionally ambiguous or misleading. Marketing is known for using a lot of "weasel words". Teddy Roosevelt (26th President of the United States) popularized the term in 1916. The original come from a short story of Stewart Chaplin in 1900. Weasel words were "words that suck the life out of the words next to them, just as a weasel sucks the egg and leaves the shell".
See, for example, Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words, Contemporary Cliches, Cant and Management Jargon. 2004. ISBN ‎ 978-1740513210.

More: Teddy Roosevelt

Recently, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church (the main legislative body of the denomination) met to discern, debate, discuss, and make decisions related to a number of issues affecting the global church. Some of those decisions were highly controversial—even bearing political overtones and ramifications within our current culture.

The Leadership Team here at Saint Paul’s has been meeting to discern how these General Conference (GC) actions impact us on the local level. The following is a statement that reflects where we are in our present discernment—even as we continue to listen to the Holy Spirit for further clarification and direction.

What We Know

Saint Paul’s is a diverse congregation. We acknowledge that there are those who received the decisions of GC with great joy and relief, and there are those who are deeply grieved. We also know that there are still others who either don’t have strong opinions about these controversial issues, or who are confused by it all.

Therefore, we also are fully aware that no matter how we respond to GC’s actions, some will be upset, disappointed, or conflicted.

While these controversial issues are important in and of themselves, deserving of our time and consideration, our priority has been, and will continue to be, the living out of our mission to out-love the world, equipping our congregation to follow Jesus in daily life, and sharing the Good News of life transformation based on the gospel.

We are committed to inviting people into new life in Christ, connecting them with others in life-giving and meaningful ways, helping them to grow in their faith—especially in small group connections, and empowering them to serve the Lord through acts of love.

Note that the idea of Sunday School is seldom, if ever, mentioned and many decisions have been made in past years to make it hard to even have a meaningful Sunday School class.

At Saint Paul’s, our doors continue to be open to all people—regardless of where they are on their walk of faith and life. We believe that every one of us is a sinner standing at the Cross of Jesus Christ in full and certain need of God’s grace and forgiving love. Clearly, our salvation is by God’s grace alone received by faith in Jesus Christ, and not by virtue of anything we do or don’t do.

Have the doors ever been closed?
Is this the issue or a (deliberate) distraction from the real issue?

We also believe that it is our call and challenge to grow in holiness and discipleship—a process that is called “sanctification.” That means that we are called to live lives that engage the teachings of Jesus—most especially the teaching of sacrificial love. We highly value God’s Word and want to study it with the goal of applying its teachings to our daily walk of faith.

Related to the Decisions of GC

When it comes to the issues of human sexuality, the General Conference decided several things. First, it decided to remove from our Book of Discipline all negative language and exclusions related to homosexuality. This action reverted the positions on human sexuality to pre-1972 when the exclusionary language was added about homosexuality. Second, GC decided to allow each local church to decide whether or not to allow same-gender weddings to occur in their facilities, and to allow each pastor to determine whether or not they will officiate at same-gender weddings – both decisions being without disciplinary action. General Conference also decided officially to allow LGBTQIA+ individuals to be considered for licensure and/or ordination as clergy.

As for Saint Paul’s Church, through ongoing prayerful discernment, our Leadership Team is committed to listening to the questions, concerns, and comments from the congregation. Several sessions will be scheduled to allow for such conversations. The first sessions will be scheduled for *Sunday, June 9h after each worship service (approximately 9:30 and 11:30 AM)*. The sessions would be available for about one hour each and facilitated by members of our Leadership Team. More dates will be provided throughout the summer months based on input from the congregation.