PlainSpoken

Jim Ramsay is the Chief of Global Operations for TMS Global, formerly The Mission Society, which was an evangelical answer to the leftward drift of United Methodist foreign missions a few decades ago. TMS Global is now an interdenominational effort around the world, and it will stay that way, but they are perhaps uniquely positioned to work with Global Methodist local churches to engage in meaningful mission work. As the GMC claims that word “global,” it is incumbent upon us to think about ways that we are called to be in relationship with other people groups around the world. Non-GMC folks will also greatly benefit from the time spent in this segment exploring these issues, especially as TMS Global can also partner with you to serve those less fortunate around the world.Jim worked for 12 years in the information technology field as a programmer and IT manager prior to joining TMS Global in 1996. His family served for 10 years as missionaries in Kazakhstan, where he was part of a church-planting team and directed a school operated by the mission. He served as team leader for most of those years. The school and the church still serve the community today, fully owned and led by local leadership. Jim assumed the role of regional coordinator for Asia for TMS Global during his final two years in Kazakhstan. He joined the home office staff in 2006, initially as the senior director of field ministries, then assuming the vice president role in 2011.Jim has been a regular contributor to Good News Magazine, Unfinished Magazine, and the Seedbed blog.Jim is married to Shawn, who works with the third culture kid ministries for TMS Global. They raised four children during their years as missionaries, all of whom are now adults. They have one grandchild. Jim enjoys languages and had attained fluency in Danish and a working knowledge of German prior to moving to Kazakhstan, where he became fluent in Russian. He loves observing and experiencing other cultures. Jim grew up in Kentucky and remains an avid University of Kentucky basketball fan.Through experience, education, and ongoing studies, Jim has expertise in missiology, mission strategy, and mission best practices. In recent years he has studied the phenomenon of mass migrations of people and implications and opportunities that presents the church in mission. He teaches in various areas of mission, including cross-cultural ministry, cross-cultural partnerships, theology of mission, and leadership.Links:TMS Global - www.tms-global.org“Who Is My Neighbor” study, published by TMS Global (referenced in conversation) - https://neighbor.study/Jim Ramsay’s Work Email - jramsay@tms-global.orgRamsay recommends this work as an excellent history of missionary work - https://www.amazon.com/Transforming-Mission-Paradigm-Theology-Missiology-dp-1570759480/dp/1570759480/For those interested in what global Christianity is transforming into demographically and culturally, Ramsay recommends this book - https://www.amazon.com/Next-Christendom-Coming-Global-Christianity/dp/0199767467 Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

Many have predictably taken offense to my highlighting the bad behavior of people within the denomination I left earlier this year. Many within the UMC and the GMC agree that spending time naming the sins of the past and present just is not helpful. To their mind, it only exacerbates bad behavior. If folks like me would just stop, people would finally heal and remember that they are called to act like Christians. This piece is a response to a critique I got. I provide some explanations for what I understand myself to be doing and why I think it is needed, not just at the present moment, but for all history, if the church is to be who Christ requires us to be. It is admittedly a self-centered piece. I’m hoping folks apply it to themselves and their church contexts and consider whether their current approach is right. Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

This is the final section of Part 4 in the Transitional Book of Doctrines and Discipline, which covers topics around “The Ministry of the Called.” In this final segment on Part 4, we cover the circumstances in which ordained clergy can step out of ministry for short or longer periods of time. When is the local church obligated to pay clergy while they have stepped away from serving the church? When does an ordained clergy lose their vote at annual conference session? Their vote? What process is in place to bench clergy who aren’t doing well? Do processes hamstringing bishops necessarily protect the rights of clergy? If you find these topics worthy, consider spending the time with us.Link to Transitional Book of Doctrines & Discipline - https://globalmethodist.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Transitional-Discipline.20231130.pdf Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

In this segment, I cover a series of memes published last week on the Friends of The United Methodist Church Facebook Group. It is functionally a big cope that has great potential to continue destructive trends of self-justification and projection. I worry that a lot of folks who decided to stay might unquestioning adopt some of this reasoning, and I would rob them of that if I could in order to facilitate mutual understanding. Faith seeks understanding, remember. I left the UMC, but that doesn't mean I gave up on the ability of all United Methodists to reason through things. In the lead up to General Conference 2020 in 2024, I think it is important for as many UMs as possible to sober up! Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

TJ and I took some time to go through a GCFA report that was supposed to shed light on the biggest churches in the UMC in 2020. Ideally, one could go through the list and track which ones had disaffiliated to get a sense of how many have actually disaffiliated from the UMC since then, indicating the overall attendance loss to disaffiliation. However, because of some things we explain in this segment, the form is probably actually not useful at all. This segment is probably just for nerds. It underscores the importance, not just of collecting good data, but making sure local churches know how to report it. This will also be somewhat frustrating to listen to, as we are constantly making reference to websites and stats on the screen. If possible, you might want to watch it. Link to GCFA form in question - https://www.gcfa.org/_files/ugd/5524b1_20f39c75fee649c69ec49751578b2b08.pdf Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

Rev. Dr. Matt O'Reilly is Lead Pastor of Christ Church in Birmingham, Alabama, Director of Research at Wesley Biblical Seminary, and a fellow of the Center for Pastor Theologians. He has been facilitating Methodist theological education online for many years. His effort is called Theology Project.Matt and his church will be hosting the Reconstructing Methodist Conference on April 26-27. Those who want to attend can get a $10 discount by the promo code ’PS10.’YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/theologyprojectonlineWeb: www.theologyproject.online Twitter: @mporeillyBooks* Paul and the Resurrected Body: Social Identity and Ethical Practice (SBL Press) https://amzn.to/48tlyvu* The Letters to the Thessalonians (Seedbed) https://amzn.to/3GTduIP* The Question of Holiness (Seedbed, forthcoming)Links:O’Reilly’s List of Methodist Doctrines & Practices - https://5c8c126c-2e97-491d-8c3d-c68de0039a1b.usrfiles.com/ugd/5c8c12_d6a7debb6cb345b3af3dcf38dd2a2fc7.pdfReconstructing Methodism Conference Page - https://www.reconstructingmethodism.comMy ThoughtsI enjoyed my visit with Matt. It is clear he and I are on different wavelengths and, while we have many overlapping passions, we also seem to have different concerns. This is, of course, natural and healthy. I got the impression that Rev. O’Reilly is more concerned about the academy than I am. He also seems to put more stock than I do in Methodism becoming more academically robust and respectable than I do. Historically, I see Methodism’s strength as its vigor and passion on the grassroots level by earnest salt of the earth believers. I think that means that it has street smarts rather than academic smarts, and I wonder how much those can realistically overlap.On my most recent episode on the Transitional Book of Doctrines & Discipline, I present a theory (I’m sure I’m not the first to think of it) that higher education overdevelops the pre-frontal cortex and detaches individuals unhelpfully from reality. I doubt very much that Matt or others in Methodist scholarship are as concerned about this as I am.I don’t think that means we need to be at odds. Hypothetically, we can all build upon a shared foundation. To that end, I’m earnestly excited for his conference. I was also serious with him about putting together another segment on which he and some others can talk through Methodist sacramental theology, why it matters, and essential characteristics. I guess we will see if that can ever come together.Thanks for any feedback you have. Enjoy! Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

We pick up in ¶409 with the specifics involved in ordaining deacons and elders, and proceeding into various ideas and capacities for ordained clergy in the GMC. We covered some good ground, so make sure to come along for the ride.Link to Transitional Book of Doctrines & Discipline - https://globalmethodist.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Transitional-Discipline.20231130.pdf Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

On Monday it was announced that Roman Catholic practice can now be changed to be more accommodating of homosexual unions and other nontraditional couplings. There is still some confusion about to what degree this is implicitly or explicitly declaring sexual behavior to be no longer problematic in one’s relationship with the Lord or his church. While many Roman Catholics tout the faithfulness of their ‘one true church,’ Protestants like me are getting the impression that their house in struggling similarly to ours.This segment covers some of the particulars of the new language and ties the undergirding theology around sexual behavior and gender to phenomena we also see in many other denominations. In particular, we will look at the Episcopal Church and its postmortem sanctification of gay martyr Matthew Shepard, coupled with the drag show phenomenon. For those who are incredulous at the continued development of these insults, I hope it helpful to think through these things and to connect some of these dots.Links:NPR Article “Pope Francis approves Catholic blessings for same-sex couples, but not for marriage” by Becky Sullivan - https://www.npr.org/2023/12/18/1220077102/pope-francis-blessings-same-sex-couplesFiducia Supplicans (the Roman Catholic document in question) - https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/12/18/0901/01963.html#enRoman Catholic Bishop Robert Barron’s Statement on the document - https://twitter.com/BishopBarron/status/1737574875395391530/photo/1IRD Article on Drag Worship Service for Matthew Shepard “Drag ‘Sister’ Indulges Episcopal Washington National Cathedral” by Jeffrey Walton - https://juicyecumenism.com/2023/12/12/perpetual-indulgence/YouTube Video of the Actual Service at the National Cathedral - https://www.youtube.com/live/J0VGWyE6Tw0?si=xd2psBP0XOavEe9nWikipedia Page for Matthew Shepard - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

Yesterday’s report dealt partly with an article written by Ruth Graham for the New York Times. Part of it stated the primary reason for disaffiliation from The United Methodist Church being opposition to gay marriage and ordination. I got an email from a gentleman who wanted me to speak about this. Is it really the case that the primary reason for the “biggest denominational split ever” is the gay stuff? Or are things perhaps a bit more complicated than that?Links:New York Times Article “With a Deadline Looming, The United Methodist Church Breaks Up - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/18/us/the-united-methodist-church-schism.html Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe

The denominational woes of The United Methodist Church has been remarked upon by worldly sources a few times over the years. Now that disaffiliation season under Paragraph 2553 has concluded, a couple larger outlets have decided to tell our story to the rest of their reading audiences.In this segment, I walk through the reporting of both outlets to some degree, while also consulting a couple of other resources for ascertaining where things currently stand. While my commentary (and the buzzy audio) might be lacking in this one, the resources presented here, especially the interactive map and the GCFA list of largest churches, are worthy resources, so here are all the links to the resources consulted in this segment:Liam Adams Tweet Thread: https://twitter.com/liamsadams/status/1735718114367504847Tennessean Interactive Map “Total churches that have disaffiliated from United Methodist Church since 2019” - https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/11865260/UMNews Disaffiliation Numbers Spreadsheet - https://www.umnews.org/en/news/disaffiliations-approved-by-annual-conferencesJimmy Boone’s UM Disaffiliations Tally - https://www.facebook.com/groups/197734687313310/permalink/1841598499593579Talbot Davis Tweet on NYTimes Article - https://twitter.com/TalbotDavisNew York Times Article “With a Deadline Looming, The United Methodist Church Breaks Up - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/18/us/the-united-methodist-church-schism.html?unlocked_article_code=1.G00.GTs9.wlHnAcOOD46l&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShareGCFA’s “2020 Top 100 Churches by Attendance” - https://www.gcfa.org/_files/ugd/5524b1_20f39c75fee649c69ec49751578b2b08.pdf Get full access to PlainSpoken at plainspokenpod.substack.com/subscribe