To our siblings in the North Carolina Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church orders of Elders, Deacons, and Local Licensed Pastors:

We recognize that repentance is not enough. Through our baptism, the Holy Spirit empowers us to not only repent, but to actively reject the structures of power and the disordered desires that cut right through to our own hearts.

These rejections are only a beginning, but we have to start here before lurching too quickly toward resolution or false reconciliation. More rejections will surely be needed as we draw out the poison from the wounds. May the Spirit’s grace strengthen us all to withstand the pain enough to see the glory breaking through.

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We reject the spiritual forces of wickedness and the evil powers of this world.

We reject an ordination system where the forms of interrogation—namely written discourse, spoken narratives, and administrative fulfillment—are not adequately reviewed for white-centric visions of fruitfulness and fitness for ministry, thereby worsening the racial disparities already present in our orders.

We reject the notion that “this is how it has always been done” is a viable justification for racism and antiblackness supremacy. We believe our tradition must examine “what has always been done” and tell the truth about it, actively reforming our processes consciously in response.

We reject the powers of fear that keep us beholden to systems of white power, white-ordered wealth, and white-driven visions of success in our local churches.

We reject the powers of fear, built around financial security and success, that keep pastors from faithfully proclaiming the gospel of God’s good kingdom, and that keep our congregations from earnestly pursuing anti-racist formation for fear of losing people, wealth, and power.

We reject any claim that “Black Lives Matter” is secondary to or a distortion of the gospel; we believe that this protest cry is a direct echo of the proclamation that in Christ, God has come to reconcile all creation to God’s self.

We reject any theological understanding, discipling method, or ecclesial organizational structure that holds whiteness as normative.

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What can we do?

Wesleyan Methodists are a holiness people. We believe holiness comes as we more fully love God with all that we are and our neighbors with all that we have. This is the end of the Christian life, the destination of perfection, where we will be lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Practicing rejection means we dismantle practices, actions, and thought-structures in our daily lives. To that end, we commit to rejecting anti-racist practice by:

-Expressing to the executive leadership of the Board of Ordained Ministry and the Office of Ministerial Relations our rejection of an ordination process that prioritizes certain forms of written discourse and administrative capabilities as determining ministerial preparedness over equity throughout the entire process.

-Calling on our Board of Ordained Ministry, the Office of Ministerial Relations, and the District Committees on Ordained Ministry to conduct a thorough review of how the structure of the ordination process and its requirements have impacted ordination prospects over the past 5 years from the district level forward.

-Engaging our Staff/Pastor-Parish Relations Committees in open dialogue regarding the nature of pastoral ministry and dismantling racism in our churches, how our call to proclaim the gospel requires us to reject the evil and injustices of racism in our communities and congregations, and to ask their support in that work.

-Calling on our conference leadership to explore the options for reorganizing our clergy financial support to bring greater freedom from fear regarding being beholden to local churches, in order to be able to more openly prioritize dismantling racism.

-Calling on our orders to work toward greater support and more thoughtful transparency with our bishop and cabinet regarding appointive decisions made as a result of clergy standing for anti-racist practices in their local churches.

As we actively reject the false stories, theologies, and visions of success that have bound our church and our vocations, we remember that we are a people seeking to be holy. May Howard Thurman’s prayer, one of many forming our hearts through The United Methodist Hymnal, shape us especially now:

Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart.
Here is the citadel of all my desiring,
where my hopes are born
and all the deep resolutions of my spirit take wings.
In this center, my fears are nourished,
and all my hates are nurtured.
Here my loves are cherished,
and all the deep hungers of my spirit are honored
without quivering and without shock.
In my heart, above all else,
let love and integrity envelop me
until my love is perfected and the last vestige
of my desiring is no longer in conflict with thy Spirit.
Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart. Amen.