BWF CALL TO RECONCILIATION GETS ZEN RESPONSE
In response to the conflict and confusion caused by General Synod XXVI in July 2005, BWF called for a national summit of reconciliation with the Conference Ministers aimed at restoring the broken fellowship among congregations in our denomination. Several months later the Conference ministers sent a letter of response which BWF Executive Director David Runnion-Bareford characterizes as “a ZEN response reminiscent of those college conundrums like ‘if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it . . .’ or ‘the sound of one hand clapping’.”
“Unfortunately,” says Runnion-Bareford, “the failure of the Conference Ministers to understand the generosity and significance of this lost opportunity reflects the denial of reality which continues to paralyze our UCC leadership. It is sad that our Conference Ministers, having contributed to the division and decline of our fellowship that has left so many congregations in pain, cannot come together to work cooperatively for solution. In fact, those Conference Ministers who are immaturely lashing out in anger at their critics only acerbate the crisis.”
(The official UCC Conference Minister response and BWF’s original letter follow.)
March 10, 2006
TO: The Rev. David Runnion-Bareford
Biblical Witness FellowshipDear David:
As the newly elected chair of the Council of Conference Ministers (CCM), I want to acknowledge to you that I and my colleagues on the Cabinet of the CCM have received your letter of November 18, 2005. We assure you that in each of our ministries we seek to offer all our congregations an empowered place in our covenantal fellowship, where our unity can be experienced through our attentiveness to God's Word and our gathering at Christ's table, and through ministry to all who are in need.
Know that we regularly engage colleagues in our conferences who hold a variety of theological positions representing a wide range of traditions, colleagues who share with us a love for the United Church of Christ and who desire to strengthen our mutual participation in God's mission.
Sincerely,
Randy Hyvonen
CCM Chair
COUNCIL OF CONFERENCE MINISTERS
of the United Church of Christ
The Rev. Randall Hyvonen, Chairperson
Montana-Northern Wyoming Conf
2016 Alderson, Billings, MT 59102-2715
BWF Calls UCC Conference Ministers To SummitRecognizing the rapid fragmentation impacting the UCC in the wake of last summer's controversial Synod, the oldest and largest renewal group in the United Church of Christ has formally called for a summit meeting with the Ministers of the 39 Conferences of the UCC to work together for reconciliation and healing. Biblical Witness Fellowship Executive Director in his invitation letter to the Conference Ministers says, "come, let us reason together and seek the face of God. It is our urgent hope that we could work toward unity by finding means to mutually promote integrity in diversity." The letter expresses hope for a plan that would enable evangelicals as well as progressives to be encouraged to provide pastoral leadership in the UCC, and asks for a meeting to be announced within the next several months.
November 18, 2005
To: Conference Ministers
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
We are living together in a tumultuous time for our congregations in the United Church of Christ. Conflict, confusion and uncertainty have become our reality. Yet our confidence in our Lord Jesus Christ remains certain, and we share with you the conviction that God is still speaking. We know beyond all doubt that, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (II Corinthians 5:17, 18)
Therefore we are calling today for us to come together in a summit of reconciliation and healing. We believe that you as Conference Ministers are the key to renewed leadership, and we are therefore once again, as we did in 2003, asking to meet with you to consider prayerfully and mutually the future of our church.
It is our sincere desire and hope that we could find a mutual voice with which to reassure our churches that all of them have an empowered place in fellowship. The decisions and directions taken by the leadership and power structures of the UCC have deeply divided sincere members and pastors throughout our fellowship. We have been saddened by the defensive and reactive communications that have mistakenly attempted to transfer blame to those in dissent. While we understand with some sympathy the nature of your guilt and anger, these are not the messages and actions of authentic leadership.
Therefore, let us come, reason together and seek the face of God. It is our urgent hope that we could work toward unity by finding means to mutually promote integrity in diversity. We would for instance, like to work with you to create means by which evangelical seminarians and pastors received the same support and affirmation as progressives in order to end the present incentive to take churches out of the denomination or the need for churches to seek such leadership outside of the conference process.
While we understand that our differences on some deeply held convictions are not going to be resolved by simply seeking ground for reconciliation, nor do we seek to revisit these historic debates, we believe there are core values which we could clarify together, and actions of mutual benefit which could bring some healing to the church. We believe that a publicly announced meeting in the next several months would be helpful to those churches uncertain about their future. It is our prayer that together we might have the humility and holy boldness to risk life together, “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)
Yours in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
David Runnion-Bareford
Executive Director
Biblical Witness Fellowship
Last Updated Friday, September 08, 2006