It is God’s role to strategize, and our part to stand. The current leadership landscape in the UMC is full of “traditionalist” fruitless strategizers and “progressive” faithful standers. When people stand, unified and persistent enough, in increasing numbers, they can achieve outcomes for good or evil they never thought possible, and it was always wrought by events and timing neither side predicted. Our duty is not to own the exhausting politics of wrestling for human dominion, but to each individually and together corporately stand up for the Lord’s interests as the Holy Spirit leads.

After a long chain of events, ultimately all of us are responsible for this wrenching halt in the work of God’s Kingdom through the UMC. I am responsible for this mess, and I am required to fight at my expense to see God graciously pick up the pieces and make something beautiful, whole, and useful again. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is inherently a leadership issue. Not many are calling for repentance because we’re not living holy lives ourselves. We must repent for taking actions to protect our interests and let collapse God’s interests in preventing the imminent demise of many people.

The key action to the UMC’s victory is not teaching “our side” better, but prayer and repentance. And the key issue of repentance in this battle in not for what we are as humans, but for leaderlessness of who we are individually and corporately in Christ.

If the UMC cannot clearly and lovingly put this issue to rest, then we’re not capable of doing anything else by God’s power. This crisis occurring in our own house where we have the most authority is elementary compared to the battles we’re born to win in the kingdom of darkness. Playtime is over. It’s time for Methodists to shout like David, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

Cowardice is as much a sin as homosexuality. Running from battle is as much a sin as murder. “Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.” Poor stewardship of our leadership responsibilities is equal to one who intentionally leads others astray.

Asking God how it is possible to “stand strong in You and in Your mighty power,” I heard Him say, “Put Me on!”

Jesus accepts you and loves you just as you are. You won’t stay the same in His presence, but He loves everyone right where they are. Read Romans 5:6. The question for the whole world riled up about LGBTQ is not whether Jesus accepts you for who you are, but whether you accept Him for who He is.

Protecting my immediate interests before investing in the renewal of the church might seem prudent, but prudence is not a listed fruit of the Holy Spirit. My own life and my closest friends might turn out to be fine, but that never was the point of being the church anyway.

At stake are the souls of the retreating bulwark of traditionalist leaders, the bully allowed to reign, and the vast innocents exposed to the dangers of the bully. This battle is not about one human “side” “winning” over the other. God uses conflict for growth on both sides, but retreat on the part of God’s people fuels death on both sides. Were you not placed here to testify to the reality of the Gospel in this generation?

The Lord and His people will win the war in the end. But the sooner there is open warfare between light and darkness, the better the battle will go for the light.

“Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not.” – Aragorn, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers