Way Forward group looking to get feedback

Ash Wed. @ General Board of Global Ministries Chapel

By Heather Hahn
March 2, 2017 | UMNS

The group charged with fostering church unity is already talking about how it can collect feedback and garner support for the hefty task ahead. However, the Commission on a Way Forward is still in its early stages.

The commission, which held its second meeting Feb. 27-March 2 in Atlanta, must develop proposals aimed at keeping the multinational denomination together despite deep differences around homosexuality.

“I think there is a broad desire to maintain a connection,” commission member the Rev. Thomas Lambrecht said in an interview after the meeting. “There is also a broad understanding that the connection is going to be different because of the theological differences that exist in our church.”

Matt Berryman agreed with Lambrecht’s assessment. “Many people have articulated the not-surprising and deeply reasonable idea that in three or four years, our church is going to look different.”

The two men are frequently on opposing sides in church debates. Lambrecht helps lead Good News and the Wesleyan Covenant Association — both groups that support the denomination’s current restrictions related to homosexuality. Berryman is the executive director of the Reconciling Ministries Network, which advocates for full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals in the life of the church.

Still, commission members cautioned that they don’t know what different form the connection will take. The group includes 32 United Methodists from nine countries.

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