Open Discussion

I ran across the You-tube video today. It's a segment of a program I've never heard of before (which says nothing about the program and everything about me) called Mental Engineering. A panel of four reviews one of the Open Hearts, Open Doors, Open Minds television spots. A few thoughts based on the panel's discussions:

• One panelist says that she believes that this is a political ad which aims to position the church in contrast to right-wing evangelical movements. Is it political? I think it does strive to define our church as a place of broad acceptance. I wouldn't call it political because I think that we use the Igniting Ministry program to help solidify our identity as a church with those who don't know anything about us -- not as a means to say, "we aren't a conservative church."
• One panelist thought it was evidence of the conflict in the UM church -- our conservative and liberal wings, and that these ads are a triumph of liberal wing over conservative one, AND that the ads are evidence of the rupture. I do believe that there are a huge variety of beliefs in the UM church, and that we do not always
• Is the "open" used so that listeners would have the idea that the church has broad base? The panelist asked if the UM church is doing this to portray themselves as open even though she perceives us as not being open, and in fact suggests that we do not admit gay or lesbian people to membership. Is it a suggestion that other churches are "closed?" I wish I had a simple answer regarding our "openness." I do believe that the Open phrases portray a church as we should be. I think we have more ground to cover in this field, and I have heard questions like this from people I know. I would like to say that gay and lesbian people are freely admitted to membership, and I would have thought that to be the case before the incident a year ago.
• Humility -- does it mean being quiet? One panelist suggested that, and I don't agree. Humility to me infers obedience to something (God) who is higher than you are. It does mean not "increasing" yourself at the expense of others, but it doesn't mean to be quiet.
• Is the publicity push only a membership drive? Are we doing it because to increase membership is to increase our revenue stream? I hope not. I hope we do it because we have a mission to "go forth and make of all disciples," and we will use the tools we have to do so.
• Is it branding? I think the ads do strive to create in the mind of the listener a perception of what it means to be a United Methodist -- who we are. Is that branding?
• "Find your path." What does this mean? What does that say in contrast to the idea of "one right path." I think, in my experience, one of the basic tenets of the UM faith is that God calls to us each in a different way. There is no "one right path." The only right path is the one that leads to God, and that is different for each one of us.
• Path to what? Social Justice? The Methodist church? An embracing community? All of these are suggestions from the panel as to what the "path" leads to. I think in some ways the paths in the video lead to community. In the final sense, though, I think the "find your path" phrase refers to a path to God, and I'm surprised the panel didn't recognize that.
• The panelists were asked to name a famous Methodist? I was disappointed with the names they mentioned (Ted Bundy?), so here are some of my own: Walter Reed, Rosa Parks, Geronimo (there is a whole list here.)