Some folks say, “Preachers’ kids are the worst.”  Others say, “Lawyers are the worst.”  I’m both.  But bear with me.  Please.  In fact, if you are a United Methodist and love our church, as I do, then give me your hand. I’ll certainly give you mine, in the hope that together we might work to keep the whole bunch of us together, under the same big tent, even if we are driving each other crazy.

I will tell you a bit about my background here, so that you might (1) have a sense of how I came to care about United Methodist unity, and (2) gain at least some provisional confidence that I’m reasonably well-informed on the primary subject this blog addresses, which is Methodist “polity,” which is just another way of saying Methodist governance.

This is why I care:

1. The United Methodist Church is in my gene pool.  I am the son, brother, nephew and cousin of United Methodist pastors, and now also the uncle of an aspiring pastor, scheduled to graduate from Wesley Theological Seminary next spring.
2. As I have tried to illuminate in my opening post, my experience is that we Methodists truly are—as John Wesley himself described us, notwithstanding our manifold differences—“no other than a company of men [and women] having the form and seeking the power of godliness, united in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they may help each other to work out their salvation.”[1]

I know a little about which I speak:

1. Methodism is in my gene pool. (See above.) You can’t be a preacher’s kid and not digest a fair helping of how Methodists govern themselves, if only by osmosis, especially if your dad (like mine) served for a time as a District Superintendent, Conference Director of Council on Ministries, and Chair of the Board of Ordained Ministry.
2. My understanding of Methodist polity is not solely a byproduct of osmosis or simple curiosity, but was further nurtured by the need to responsibly perform my job as Chancellor of the Baltimore-Washington Conference of The United Methodist Church (a position I’ve held since 2004), and separately as legal counsel to two of the denomination’s general church agencies, one of its jurisdictional conferences, seven annual conferences, and scores of local churches. Please believe me: I mention this “background” not to impress you. I’ve been around long enough to know that folks who seek adulation, especially in church circles, are well-advised to conceal that they are a lawyer, not to broadcast it. That said, in this context, I trust that you might be more inclined to give what I have to say a fair hearing if you know that my views are partly the byproduct of developing knowledge I need to adequately perform the work I do to make a living.

[1] John Wesley & Charles Wesley, “The Nature, Design and General Rules of the United Societies,” in The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church (2016), ¶ 104 (emphasis added).