This Week in Texas Methodist History  May 31

.   First Session of the (Re-organized) Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church, June 1-4, 1970

On June 1 we will celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the re-organized Texas conference of the United Methodist Church.  This anniversary is significant because it put an end to 130 years of institutional racism. 

The Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized at Rutersville on Christmas day 1840.  When the Methodist Episcopal Church South was organized in 1846, the Texas Conference joined it.   During the Reconstruction Era the Methodist Episcopal Church organized Texas Conferences for both African American and European Americans.  In 1939 those conferences became part of the Methodist Church with the union of the MECS, MEC, and Methodist Protestant Churches.  That union was made possible by the creation of jurisdictions whose main purpose would be electing bishops.  There were five geographic jurisdictions and one (the Central) which would contain only African American churches.  In other words the price of union was throwing African Americans under the bus and making racial segregation integral to church law.

The Methodist Church existed from 1939 until the General Conference of 1968 when the United Methodist Church was organized with the union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church.  The General Conference of 1968 also abolished the Central Jurisdiction but gave annual conferences four years to implement the merger of the former Central Jurisdiction churches into the annual conferences of the five geographic jurisdictions. 

That brings us to June 1, 1970.  From 1939 to 1968 there had been two Texas Conferences of the Methodist Church.  One was African American in the Central Jurisdiction and one was European American in the South Central Jurisdiction.  The two conferences decided complete the merger in two years.  For those two years, the former Texas Conference of the Central Jurisdiction would be re-named the Gulf Coast Conference so there would not be two conferences with the same name.

The years 1968-1970 were filled with planning the merger.  Some of the issues were fairly easy.  What should be the composition of boards and agencies?   The committee decided that representation on such bodies would be based on percentage of membership in the two merging conferences.  Since the boundaries of the two conferences did not align exactly, what should be boundaries of the newly merged conference?   The Texas Conference South Central Jurisdiction boundaries were maintained with some formerly Texas Conference Central Jurisdiction moved to the North Texas and Central Texas Conferences.

The most contention issues by far were about money.  The two items in question were pensions and minimum salaries.    The Central Jurisdiction preachers had coped with far lower salaries and pension benefits.   Some of them including Elders in full connection had to supplement their salaries with secular employment.

The committee urged that pastors from both conferences be awarded pensions based on the same formula.  The scattering of no votes on the final adoption of the articles of merger were mainly from Anglo pastors who objected to the pension provision.

Annul Conference was to be held at First Methodist Houston, but on the first night, June 1, 1970, the venue was Jones Hall..  Members of the Houston Symphony provided instrumental music and Roger Deschner led a massive combined choir.  Bishop Kenneth Copeland presided, and Bishop Earl Gladstone Hunt delivered the sermon.  Bishop Willis King (former Central Jurisdiction) and Bishop Willis King (former South Central Jurisdiction) provided brief histories of their respective Texas Conferences. 

Dr. Robert E. Hayes, Sr., led the Scriptures and prayed.   Representatives youth, lay women, lay men, and clergy  from the two conferences met on stage to symbolize the merger.  The two clergy were Rev. John Wesley Hardt and Rev. Allen Mayes.  W. E. Greer presented a motion to transfer all property from the former conferences to the new conference.

Monday, June 2, began with Rev. Hayes preaching the memorial sermon for those pastors who had died since the last conference.  Rev. Bob Parrott presented Astronaut and Mrs. Gordon Cooper who presented the conference with a flag that had been flown to the moon on Apollo X. 

The question of pastors working during the week at secular occupations reached the conference floor on Wednesday afternoon during the report of the Committee on Minimum Salary.  Rev. Noel Lark offered an amendment to the committee recommendation which would allow for outside work.  The result was spirited debate and eventually Rev. Lark withdrew his amendment.  Bishop Copeland announced that he would not require a pastor serving a full time appointment to give up an extra job, but eventually the pastor must do so.

The last fifty years have demonstrated the wisdom of desegregation.  We only wish it could have occurred sooner. 

This Week in Texas Methodist History  May 24

MEC General Conference Grapples with Resolution to Loosen Rules on Dancing May 1920

What types of behavior does it take to get kicked out of a Methodist church?  The answer to that question has varied since the origins of the denomination in 1784.   It has also varied among the various Wesleyan denominations that sprang from John Wesley’s movement.  At one time being a slave owner could get you kicked out of the MEC, but the MECS declared slavery to be a positive good. 

Documents of church trials in Texas reveal that members were brought up on charges for rustling cattle, “bowling at nine-pins”, attending a baseball game on Sunday, going to a lemonade party, playing cards, wearing gold jewelry---and the list could go on. 

There was often a generational divide on these and similar issues, and sometimes accommodations were made to skirt the restrictions.  For example, the popularity of the domino game 42 in the South is partially explained by the prohibition on playing cards.  Of course one could gamble on 42 as easily as one could on poker.  Another way to avoid playing cards was the game of Rook.  Rook decks used colors instead of spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs, so they were not playing cards.  There were also Authors cards, a game in which players formed sets of 4 cards representing works by famous authors. 

The prohibition against dancing helped the popularity of “Play Parties” which featured choreographed movement games but with hand clapping and singing instead of musical instruments, after all, the fiddle was the “Devil’s Box.” By the time of my childhood in the 1950s many of the play party games had evolved into children’s games at school or birthday parties. 

The 1920 General Conference of the MEC meeting at Des Moines in May 1920 debated a resolution to loosen the Disciplinary language prohibiting dancing.  The resolution was voted down, and the prohibition stayed in place.  The question of motion pictures also vexed the delegates.  Some pastors were already using motion pictures as part of their ministry, but there was a strong anti-motion picture element.  Since movies could portray either the sordid or the uplifting, it is easy to see how the issue could divide the delegates.  The pro-movie cause was advanced just a few years later with the release of Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments.  Even with such uplifting Biblical themes, some Methodists still refused to go into a movie theater to watch them.

Methodists continued to argue about dancing.  In 1944 Paul Martin was elected bishop from First Methodist Wichita Falls.  Joe Z Tower transferred from the Texas Conference to fill that appointment.  He defended youth participation in “folk games” when he was accused of allowing dancing.

Methodists liberalized the rules on both movies and dancing.  That liberality actually drew members from more rigorous denominations.  One of the most prominent families in the church of my youth (First Beaumont) was there because the parents had been kicked out of a Baptist church for dancing. 

This Week in Texas Methodist History May 17

SMU Celebrates 21^th Graduation Class With Week of Religious Ceremonies  May 1936

Southern Methodist University’s opened in 1915 and because some entering students brought credits from other colleges, it awarded its first degrees after the Spring 1916 semester.   The Dallas institution grew rapidly in enrollment, construction, and degree programs.  The 21^st commencement in May 1936 marked a significant milestone—especially for the graduates of the School of Theology, later to be named Perkins School of Theology. 

Most Texas Methodist preachers in the 1930s did not have post-graduate theological studies.  Men (all men at the time) could become full conference members through the course of study that had been the main route to ordination for well over a century.  When they received a license to preach, they would be given a list of books to study.  They would be examined on those books at Annual Conference.  After completing four years of such semi-independent study and acceptable service as a probationer, they could achieve full ordination. 

There were always a few aspiring preachers who wanted a more formal theological education.  A fortunate few had the means to attend Vanderbilt or one of the northeastern universities---maybe Harvard or Yale—sometimes Wesleyan in Connecticut—rarely Princeton because of its Presbyterian roots.

SMU’s opening changed all that.  Texas preachers-to-be could attend Theological School in Dallas and support themselves as part time pastors in nearby churches.  As Texas Methodist laity became more educated, they demanded more educated clergy, and SMU was ready to supply them.

The last week of May celebrated the accomplishments of the Class of 1936 with a full week of services.

Sunday, May 24 started with a communion service at 7:00 a.m. in Kirby Chapel.  Dean Eugene Hawk presided.  Hawk was fairly new to the job, having come  in 1933. His experience as a local church pastor meant he had contacts through the region—which was a good thing since his office served as an unofficial employment agency obtaining church jobs for the students.  He served until 1951.

That same Sunday at 11:00 the graduating Theology students attended church at Highland Park Methodist and heard William Daniel Bradfield (1866-1947)  Bradfield was retiring after 13 years on the faculty where he taught Christian Doctrine.  The senior class  presented him with a golden cross bearing the seal of the university. 

The following Sunday, May 31, worship moved to McFarlin Auditorium and the preacher was Bishop Frederick Deland Leete (1866-1958).  Leete was a church historian and a bishop of the MEC who had taken a leading role in the attempt to unify the MEC and MECS.  In addition to his preaching the commencement sermon, SMU awarded him an honorary LL.D at this commencement. 

At 6:30 p.m. that same Sunday there was an outdoor vesper service on the steps of Dallas Hall—President Umphrey Lee presided.   The graduating seniors presented their senior gift and then marched back to McFarlin Auditorium to receive their diplomas. 

This Week in Texas Methodist History May 10

E. Stanley Jones Speaks at Travis Park Methodist Church, San Antonio, May 6, 1941

Perhaps the most famous Methodist missionary of the mid-twentieth century was E. Stanley Jones  (1884-1973)who spent the first week of May 1941 in San Antonio.  He was already well known as a Christian author.   He became famous with the publication of   The Christ of the India Road (1925) which sold over one million copies. That best seller was soon followed by The Christ of Every Road (1930),  The Christ of the Mount (1931)), Christ and Human Suffering (1933),  Christ’s Alternative to Communism (1935), Victorious Living (1936), the Choice Before Us (1937),  Christ And the Present World (1937),  Along the Indian Road ((1939), and Is the Kingdom of God Realism? (1940). 

When he appeared in San Antonio, there were few Methodist preachers who did not have at least one of his books.  After 1941 he continued to publish, travel, and organize ashrams all over the world.

Jones appeared several times in San Antonio from May 4 to 7.  He filled the Municipal Auditorium every night.  On Thursday morning he spoke to Methodist leaders at Travis Park Methodist Church.  Naturally the announced purpose of the rallies was to gain support for missions and publicizing the Christian Ashram movement which he had begun.   There was a larger purpose to Jones’ months-long visit to the United States---nothing less than preventing war between the United States and Japan.

During his six months in the summer and fall of 1941 he talked often to President Franklin Roosevelt and also to Japanese diplomats.  He provided valuable insights to Roosevelt on the state of political affairs in Asia—especially India.  We should remember that Japan had imperialistic designs on India which at that time was still under British rule. Britain was fighting for its life against the Nazis and the Japanese saw opportunities in India as a result. Jones had intimate contacts with both Mohandas Gandhi and Jawarihal Nehru, leaders of the movement for Indian freedom. 

Jones was on his way to Chicago where he was to keynote a peace meeting chaired by Methodist Bishop J. Bromley Oxnam.   The meeting included religious leaders from several denominations and also included the Japanese Ambassador to the United States.   Obviously the Chicago meeting did not avert war.

This Week in Texas Methodist History  May 3

Texan Chairs Important Committee at First General Conference of the Methodist Church Meets at Atlantic City, April 1940

Even persons with a casual interest in Methodist history are aware of the Uniting Conference of 1939 in which the Methodist Church was created by the merger of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and the Methodist Protestant Church.  The event, held in Kansas City, was an inspiring display of unity, but deferred many details of the merger to be settled at a later date.   One of the most important details to be settled later was the consolidation of the MEC and MECS boards and agencies.  Both denominations had their own agencies in charge of missions, pensions, publishing, education, evangelism, etc.  As is the case with corporate mergers, elimination of duplicate services was a necessary part of church unification. 

That later date was the General Conference of 1940, held in Atlantic City, New Jersey just one year after the merger in Kansas City.   Only two cities, Denver and Atlantic City, had bid for the 1940 meeting, and Atlantic City was chosen.   There was much grumbling of about the location from former MECS pastors because of Atlantic City’s status as a resort town with high prices for meals and accommodations.  The per diem voted on was only $4.00 which was the same amount the MECS had allowed for the 1938 General Conference which met in Birmingham, Alabama---a city with far lower hotel and restaurant costs.  Perhaps they should have remembered that the MECS had chosen another infamous resort city, Hot Springs, Arkansas, for its 1922 General Conference.  Hot Springs was also notorious for gambling, bootlegging, and prostitution, and organized crime—a strange choice for the MECS.   At least the church has never had a General Conference in Las Vegas. 

One of the deferred decisions the 1940 meeting had to consider was how to allocate the headquarters of the various combined General Boards and Agencies.   Before the merger the MECS Boards Publishing, Education, Church Extension) were concentrated in Nashville, Tennessee with the Pension Board in St. Louis.  The MEC Boards were mainly in New York and a smaller presence in Philadelphia. 

The decision of Board location was not a trivial one---the Boards were major employers and brought considerable payrolls to the local economy, and also carried considerable prestige.

The Chair of the Committee to decide the location of the Boards was Umphrey Lee----from Texas.  His life has been covered several times in this blog, so I will not repeat it, but just type “:Umphrey” in the search box, to re-read those entries. 

Bishop Francis McConnell, well known for his biography of John Wesley, was the presiding officer when Umphrey Lee made his committee report. Lee was also a Wesley biographer.  The report split the “goodies”: so that both the former MEC and MECS would be satisfied. 

New York City was chosen for the Board of Missions and Board of Church Extension.

Nashville got the Board of Education.

Pensions were split between St. Louis and Chicago.

Washington, D. C., got the Board of Temperance. 

Columbus, Ohio, would have the Board of Hospitals. 

All of the publishing houses which existed before the merger would be kept open.  Keeping all the publishing houses open may seem strange, but it should be remembered that the publishing houses were not conventional book publishing enterprises, but also published Methodist newspapers for the region in which they were located. 

The choice of cities lasted for decades, and continues to shape Methodist geography even today.