Dear Church,

As General Conference 2020/2024 opens in Charlotte, I wanted to share why I have hope for the church. Let me begin by saying I am a friend and lover of the church. It has taught me everything I’ve ever learned about faith, hope and love. (It has also been the venue for tremendous ugliness, but that’s for another post on another day.)

Please look at this photograph. This is the class photo from my US-2 class in 1998. The US-2 program was my Emmaus moment: the long walk on which I learned that the living God has been next to me all along. I’m the tall guy in the back on the left. Like Cleopas, when the US-2 program was over I had to ask myself: “Was not my heart burning within me,” as I served the church and the people of God? Yes! God was with me when I loaded up the old Pontiac and drove to Saint Louis. God was with me in the basement of Epworth Children and Family Services with all those broken, abused youth. God was with those youth…not just me. I knew that already but only academically. To see God next to what I sometimes called “thrown away” people, really exploded my theology, my ethics, my pastoral identity and my very soul.

Furthermore, my classmates were an indispensable part of my awakening: they befriended a lonely and awkward dude who was just trying to do what was right. When I struggled through anti-racism training, they withheld judgement, but shared their own perspectives. When I used homophobic language, they called me out…and then restored me (a lesson I have long valued in the work I do). The stories they shared of their own experiences sometimes overlapped my own. Other experiences were completely different. It is the totality of our collective experiences which boggles me at this point. I learned from them the idea of radical love…they showed it to me and I have tried to honor, emulate and share the lesson in my own life. Just last week, I shared with the that “I carry you all in my hearts to this day”. I was not lying.

And yet…look again at the picture. Out of 24 classmates, 23 were white. My beloved church’s most glaring problem stares me right in the face in one of my most beloved photographs. Once you’ve been trained to spot injustice, it becomes a skill that’s hard to unlearn.

I want to share with you this picture…It is of Global Mission Fellows gathering in January of this year (2024). Oh my, what a difference! The church has learned many lessons from its colonial past. There are probably many more still to be learned. But I compare the two photos, even with the deep love I have for the church, and recognize that we’ve made tremendous progress! With wisdom and courage, we have made vital changes to be a better church, at least in this little corner of our denomination.

So for General Conference 2020/2024, I maintain that a new and promising future for our church is possible. There are hurdles, to be sure. But what if the Lord is ultimately walking with us? May we be open to the surprises God still has in store for us.