“Friends, please know of my deep prayers, support, and encouragement for each of you. Please remember your church does not have to vote on anything. However, if you are in a place of discernment, I am asking your pastor and other leaders to lead your church in a spirit of healthy Christian discernment based on true and accurate information.
To pastors, I say, in this liminal season, your community of faith needs you to be the shepherd of the whole flock. They need you not to push your own agenda but to share the transformative agenda of Jesus Christ spelled out in Scripture and our General Rules: do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God. We do this together as Christian sisters and brothers seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Using fearful untruth is not the Christian way and should stop immediately.”
–Bishop Leonard Fairley statement to the North Carolina Conference, Sept. 8, 2022
During election season, my 11-year-old daughter and I made a game of mocking the sensationalism of campaign ads. But it’s really not funny. It has become commonplace to stir up fear based on false narratives in order to rally support for political power. Perhaps this behavior is to be expected of the world, but countless religious people fall hook, line and sinker for fear mongering. Maybe the leaders really believe in the urgency they’re creating. Maybe they believe that any means justifies the ends of winning because one believes their own cause is just.
Unfortunately, the urgency built around false narratives has found its way into local congregations of the church. In my denomination, The United Methodist Church, a desperate plea is urging congregations to disaffiliate, primarily over disagreements on LGBTQ inclusion. But there is no urgency. The denomination moves slowly for a reason. Bishops like mine are having to tell their pastors to stop lying to their people for their own agendas.
Some are finding this a time to stand on a platform and decry the evils of homosexuality (oblivious to the faithfully devoted queer people in their own congregation). Some are finding this the moment to declare the evils of Protestant Liberalism (drawing black-and-white lines in belief). Sensational statements are made (with no fact checking, because you can trust your pastor, right?) that United Methodists are going to officially denounce Jesus as the Son of God, and that United Methodists have stopped teaching the Bible altogether.
And it’s working. Churches are disaffiliating.
Now, I do not mean to say that this is the motivation or tactics used universally by disaffiliating churches. But where it is happening, it needs to be called out. It needs to be called out by the leaders of The United Methodist Church, for sure. But I think more importantly, it needs to be called out by the conservative groups that are hoping to receive all of the disaffiliating churches. If you already think your Bishop doesn’t believe in Jesus, why are you going to listen to him? If you are tired of your political party or church affiliations spreading fear and lies to get their way, it’s on you to speak up about it. Maybe it is right and good for you and your congregation to disaffiliate with a denomination you no longer wish to belong to. If so, please do so using the truth, and refusing sensationalism and fear.
I am deeply moved by a saying of St. Augustine of Hippo: “For no one should consider anything his own, except perhaps a lie, since all truth is from Him who said, “I am the truth.” Augustine emphasized the pursuit of truth as the pursuit of God, and in discovering the truth, we must glorify and praise the God who is all Truth. We are not going to agree with each other all the time. But in our disagreements, let us not forsake the pursuit of truth to replace it with the pursuit of winning.
To my brothers and sisters who are disaffiliating, and who are refusing fear or false narratives, I wish you peace and joy as you pursue God’s Truth. To my brothers and sisters who are remaining, I encourage you to also refuse fear and false narratives. The church has so much good work to do in this world. Let’s all of us ground ourselves in the cross of Christ, root our work in prayer and worship, and live with compassion and mercy in our standing for justice.
Today’s comic is riffing on a GI Joe Public Service Announcement on lying from the 1980s. My generation grew up with these short commercials on safety and morality during our Saturday morning cartoons that always ended with, “Knowing is half the battle!” Kind of reminds me of that time Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, saying to them, “ Since you know these things, you will be happy if you do them” (John 13:17).
PS. We’re just two weeks away from the start of the New Christian Year! Order your Wesley Bros Liturgical Calendars now!