Report on the Heartland Convening Conference
I gathered with several hundred other people in Wichita, Kansas for this chapter marker event.
I have been Global Methodist clergy since my ordination in May of this year. If you are at all interested in my personal journey towards ordination and the many struggles along the way in my time with The United Methodist Church, you might read my article on that here. Since before that time, I regularly encounter opportunities and invitations to get excited. I generally don’t take them, like when the date and location of the Global Methodist Church’s denominational convening conference was announced (September 20-26, 2024 in San Jose, Costa Rica), and I smiled, but I wasn’t excited. If you didn’t yet see it, I was part of a group on Zoom that got to hear the announcement first. I was glad to know it, and I approved of the decision, but I didn’t get excited.
Excitement leads, not just to hope, but to expectation. That is something I increasingly reserve only to my relationship with the Lord. Specifically, in the promise of receiving a heavenly body and living alongside my brother, Christ Jesus, for all eternity in his Kingdom alongside the saints in glory. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name!”
We actually sang an updated version of that song at our conference session this weekend. My friend, Rev. James Lambert, coordinated the music for the weekend. He put a lot of good work into it, calling together the best musicians of our conference and doing everything that could be done to facilitate the participatory worship of the assembled body. He and another band leader, Roscoe Crawford, released a Spotify playlist of all of the songs beforehand in order to familiarize the group with what we would be singing. I thought that was really considerate, given how many assemblies are often unable to sing along because they just don’t know the songs. James also made sure to pick a lot of traditional hymns (with modern instrumentation) for the sake of familiarity and, I would hope, for some theological depth.
I have made no secret of my distaste for the bulk of modern Christian music. With its trite and shallow repetitive phrases, key changes, irregular meter, singing too low or too high, the materialism and wealth required to do it well, and the general worldliness of it…my Christian patience and forbearance is often put to the test in such worship settings. I appreciated the musicians’ forbearance with folks like me, condescending to play some of the tried and true hymns that have accompanied folks on their Christian journeys for a few centuries, now.
The Global Methodist Church is a large group experiment on if a diverse group of people can hold together after a communal rejection of theological progressivism. The GMC has a singular covenant document binding them together, the Transitional Book of Doctrines and Discipline, but few have taken the time to read it or conform their churches to it, yet. It isn’t clear how many even share in its fundamental doctrines. Even so, the clear hope and expectation is that this diverse group of people, increasingly from around the world (we had a church in Canada join the Heartland Conference!), will come together under a reclaimed Wesleyan theology. What that means, in particular, is currently being discussed in many different quarters. I am regularly facilitating such discussions on the PlainSpoken Podcast, on which I also continue to discuss the ways in which The United Methodist Church and American Christianity more broadly has failed to live up to our high calling.
The clear hope of conference coordinators is that what takes place at our conferences inspires and attracts those who attend. The Heartland Provisional Conference is, thus far, comprised mostly of smaller, rural churches. The larger churches and megachurches in our region haven’t yet joined up. Churches like Asbury and First in Tulsa disaffiliated from the UMC for the same reason as most of us, but they have not yet joined hands with the GMC. Only they can speak to why. But they had representatives in attendance at this conference, who will surely take reports back to their governing boards as to what they experienced and whether or not the GMC will be a good fit for them in the future. Given that the GMC is made up of mostly the same people who were a part of the dysfunction of the UMC, there is a sober skepticism about whether the GMC will be able to resist the same forces that so compromised their former body.
What might these churches, or other interested observers, consider from such a gathering as was had this weekend? There are a few things:
There is a lot of excitement.
It is impossible not to see it. Rev. Rick Just, the chair of the TCAT, on which I served and which was disbanded on October 1 when the provisional status of our conference was formalized, opened our session with great emotion, elated to see the confirmation of all the hard work we did together. The new president pro tempore, Rev. Jordan McFall, was similarly affected, preaching on the first evening about having seen God’s power and promise, not only in the multiple healings of his wife, but also in God’s doing a ‘new thing’ in the Global Methodist Church. Bishop Jones was a steady hand at the wheel, reminding us at the outset of the importance of our integrity, but he is obviously also elated at this new GMC experiment. The new conference lay leader, Holly Joy, whom I got to work with on the Oklahoma WCA and the Heartland TCAT, was exuberant as she helped present the budget and thanked the assembly for allowing her to serve in that capacity. Cara Nicklas, the chair of the highest body in the GMC, the Transitional Leadership Council, affectionately introduced her friend, Rev. Carolyn Moore, to come preach to the gathering on Friday evening, after speaking alongside Bishop Jones at a workshop about the doctrine and discipline of our new body. Moore, for her part, facilitated a high level of energy and affirmation at what the Holy Spirit is doing in our midst, which leads to some other things to notice:
There is a lot of centered attention on the Holy Spirit.
For some time, thought leaders in Methodist renewal have focused on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, rightly acknowledging that the Methodist tradition in America has largely let its pneumatology grow anemic and facile. Folks like Rev. Dr. David Watson, Dr. Pete Bellini, Rev. Carolyn Moore, and dozens of other high level Methodist leaders have focused very intentionally, loudly, compellingly on the importance of reclaiming our charismatic roots. Rev. Andrew Thompson of Tulsa First Church has a fantastic podcast on which he is regularly documenting the movement of the Spirit in the lives of many, which is called Spirit Power & Grace Podcast.
From the earliest times in the history of the church, groups that focus too much on the Holy Spirit have been prone to excesses, whether that be the Montanists who were eventually condemned as heretics, or early Methodists accused of being too emotional and uncontrolled as some of their worshipers were known to have started barking, rolling on the ground, or marching in processions. Methodism was, after all, the mother of the Holiness and then the Charismatic movements in America.
While I have noted my own personal concerns about the rise of unrestrained charismatic practices in our church (see here), one can NOT entertain the opposite options of either turning the Holy Spirit into some kind of domesticated pet or impersonal force, or neglecting him altogether. If one is to be a true Christian of any stripe, one must be in a relationship with Christ Jesus through his Holy Spirit! There is no other way to have one’s prayers brought to the Father’s throne. There is no other way to be saved. Just because there is danger in a path is no reason not to take it, especially when it is quite literally the only way to where one needs to go. This is why Jesus speaks so clearly about his being the gate, about the way being difficult and narrow that leads to salvation, and why David talks about God leading him through the ‘valley of the shadow of death.’
The Holy Spirit is dangerous. Those without discernment, when they enter the realm of spirits, are often confused and compromised by other spirits. Even when walking with the Holy Spirit, many get warped by his power in them, distracted by the phenomena rather than drawn to the numina. Yet we have no choice but to tread, with trepidation, such a path.
There isn’t much trepidation yet.
The exuberance of such gatherings, with loud proclamations of God’s presence with us, with being free from the restrictions of the previously compromised body we left, are often not tempered with sober acknowledgment of the difficult task ahead. There does not seem to be much awareness of or concern about the satanic, institutional, and divisive forces that have already come to bear on the Global Methodist Church. Indeed, I have more than one cocky statement intimating that we might goad satan to his face. My local church is increasingly clear that, while we are confident in God’s supreme power over satan, the darkness still has power and we want it nowhere close. We do not seek it out or challenge it. The confidence of the “watch us grow” movement is attractive to some, but can be concerning to others like me, who know how dark things can get.
This is the fulfillment of dreams for many, especially the older folks.
One cannot help but notice all the gray heads in the assembly. Surely the disingenuous interpretation from the lefties that we left behind will be that it is only the old bigots who wanted to join the GMC. I’m not sure that is true. There are plenty of young folks, and people of minority ethnic groups. Not as many as I would like, but I believe many are watching and waiting. What is certainly true is that many spent decades inside of a denomination that was happy to take their money and tolerate them, but which hated them and kept them harried and compromised. Now they are finally part of a body that loves them, agrees that biblical faithfulness matters, and considers cultural marxism outside of faithful discourse. The unabashed joy of so many folks, no longer having to keep their faith hidden among hostiles, is true and real. Many are closing their eyes and raising holy hands as the band rocks out. Others still just haven’t been able to adopt modern worship styles, but they can tolerate it happily if they just don’t have to be in a compromised assembly.
As my wife left one worship service, she remarked on how nice it felt to be in a room in which we could take for granted that everyone believes the gospel to be literally, historically true. For the moment, we don’t have to fear at all the worldview that deconstructs and destroys that which is holy. She and I were only in ministry in the UMC for a little over a decade. Can you imagine how cathartic this is for people who have felt this spiritual oppression for multiple decades? Can you imagine giving up somewhere along the line, then navigating a labyrinthine and hostile disaffiliation process, only to find yourself free, in the company of true believers? More than once, I heard folks reflect on how much has changed in a year. “Do you remember where you were a year ago?” It really is something to see how much has changed over the course of a year. It makes me wonder how much more will change over this next year…
People have their brains on.
Despite the primary focus on congregational worship over the course of the weekend, there were two workshop sessions, during which at least eight courses were offered. I attended courses dealing with effective youth ministry and effective ministry with the poor. The facilitators were earnest and capable, non defensive and eager to advance the objective despite their own self-professed imperfections.
I am used to the UMC, in which an ‘expert’ of one sort or another was called to promote a curriculum, lifting up inflated examples, only to disappear and be replaced by another expert and her program a couple years later. I’m not used to people showing up to confess that they have a heart for a vital ministry, that they know some stuff, but not everything, and invite participants to actually work together in creating something that works.
Thus far, very few churches have been able to buck demographic trends, succumbing to the anomie and alienation of our modern era, slowly hemorrhaging youth and failing to move the poor out of poverty. Yet these are core and key to Christian spiritual DNA. We can either keep doing the things that don’t work, lauding our good intentions despite our failures, or we can gird ourselves to do better. We can either shrug and give up, or reapply ourselves to the vital tasks of Jesus followers, hoping that our reclaimed orthodoxy will inform a more effective orthopraxy in our evangelism and discipleship. Only time will tell. I think this humble approach is much more likely to generate good results than what I think most of us have been accustomed to.
People are focused outward, but maybe not enough inward.
There is so much excitement about the infrastructure of the GMC being built, about the size of the assembly we were able to put together, the amount of beautiful noise we were able to make together, the number of ordinands that were consecrated. There was lots of activity, lots of volume. There is great excitement about planting new churches, supporting the GMC in Ethiopia, and joining hands with Wesleyans in South America.
The thing is, it seems to me that annual conference was, once upon a time, a great interpersonal event. It was a reunion of intimate friends who had been laboring under the same mission, who knew they carried the same burdens and shared the same victories. The GMC as it is right now is wanting to pray and worship intimately together, but we don’t yet know one another. In my conference, we have people from four previous UMC conferences all thrown together. We don’t know each other yet. If my prayers are to be truly intimate, if I am to believe that my worship is really a communal act, rather than a bunch of individuals doing their own thing, then I need to know my brothers and sisters. I have sometimes felt like we have put the cart before the horse.
My favorite times during the conference were those times before and after the planned time, when I could simply introduce myself to other clergy and laity, getting to know about them and their churches. I wish I could have had a lot more of that.
Final thoughts:
I have said for a while now that left and right just need to separate from one another in the church. I disagree with people who refuse to acknowledge the division, insisting that somehow the person of Christ can unite people with both dispositions. The left-right disposition determines how seriously one takes scripture, whether they practice self-denial, whether they can be counted on when things get difficult.
As we have already seen, assemblies of likeminded persons can enjoy one another more, even enjoy the presence of God more, when they actually have a shared understanding of who God is and who they are in his/God’s sight. Global Methodist gatherings are light and easy. So, increasingly, are United Methodist gatherings where all that is left are the liberals and progressives. We needed this break. If the UMC finds a way to let the rest of the unhappy conservative churches go, then I think both groups will enjoy a time of peace and concord.
However, we would be fools to anticipate this continuing. That is not the nature of things. We will have to continue to contend for the faith. There will be doctrinal conflict, interpersonal and territorial misbehavior, institutional malaise, in-group preference and classism (in the biblical sense), and the culture war will continue to make bids for the hearts of those in our midst. So I think it is good to enjoy these gatherings and to remark on the joyful spirit in the air, but let us not imagine that everything is going to continue to be easy. Let’s resolve to do better in the GMC than we did in the UMC, being proactive in identifying and solving issues that threaten to divide, being intolerant of sin and the corruption that threatens the body.
A final reflection: There were a few moments in which I was able to truly relax and be at peace around all this activity. One was at the close of today’s ordination service. As the ordinands processed out, we sang together, at the top of our lungs, “Lift High the Cross.” I closed my eyes, lifted my hands, and my voice joined as one with my brothers and sisters. I chose to believe we really were and are all committed to preaching Christ and him crucified. I got choked up, looked around, and allowed myself to hope that we will indeed do what our previous tribe failed to do. The task is great. Our God is greater, and our tradition (the Wesleyan one) is up to the task. Godspeed to the Heartland Provisional Conference!
Hear hear!
Very good reflections.
Sorry I neglected to tell you about the hymn sing before Friday night worship. We sang some of your favorites! Including A Charge to Keep and Lo He Comes With Clouds. We’re gonna revive that one.
Even the Holy Spirit led early church had conflicts, disagreement and problems. Whenever there are humans gathered there will be issues. It is clear, we must always hold fast to God's Word, seek his guidance and pray for discernment. If we truly follow Jesus's command to love one another as He loves us we will be able to do what is good in God's eyes. Thank you for sharing. ❤️