The longstanding relationship between The Gideons International and the United Methodist Church (UMC) has reached a breaking point following the UMC’s recent General Conference.
That conference saw the denomination abandon its commitment to traditional Christian sexual ethics, thereby destroying a century-long bond with the Gideons, who now will cease cooperation with United Methodist congregations that endorse same-sex marriage. As the UMC shifts its stance on doctrinal issues, it finds itself at odds with the Gideons and its other historic partners, who remain steadfast in their adherence to biblical principles.
The Gideons International is an organization of Christian businessmen responsible for distributing more than 70 million Bibles annually to prisons, military installations, and, most iconically, hotels. Founded in 1899, the Gideons have produced over two billion Bibles and are among the most prolific Bible distribution ministries on the planet. The Gideons also record testimonies of those who credit their salvation with chancing across a “Gideon Bible” in a time of dire need.
The relationship between the Gideons and Methodists stretches back to the beginnings of the Gideons ministry. Since the first years of the Gideons, when the organization was small and restricted to the Midwest, Methodist churches were used to hold meetings. When Teddy Roosevelt was elected an honorary Gideon at the 1901 convention, he was elected at a Methodist church. Wherever the Gideons have gone, they have always had the enthusiastic support of Methodists.
This ministry is not merely Methodist by accident; the vigorous propagation of the Word is quintessentially Wesleyan. Where modern liberal Christians squirm at the Gideons’ biblicism, Wesley would have delighted, labeling himself in his Journal as a “Bible-bigot.” As an etymological note, bigot in Wesley’s time was a term of abuse for the excessively pious. Thus, the Bible-printing mission of the Gideons is a natural complement to Wesley’s theological legacy.
To be a member of the Gideons, one must be an adult man and conform to a set of spiritual beliefs that are entirely uncontroversial for most Biblical Christians. Among these requisites is the commitment to “the Biblical standard of marriage being between one biological man and one biological woman.” Gideons International uses assent to its fundamental spiritual beliefs as a condition for collaboration in denominational ministries.
After this year’s General Conference, when the UMC abandoned its commitment to Christian sexual morality, the UMC’s relationship with the Gideons has been strained. Gideon Sunday has long been a target for progressives in the church, who take issue with the Gideons’ commitment to biblical inerrancy and solely male membership. Women are welcome into the Gideons’ Auxiliary, but the gender issue has proven a helpful wedge to justify disassociation by progressive pastors. Many more liberal jurisdictions have quietly disinvited Gideon speakers from their parishes this year, closing ranks around the gay marriage issue and distancing from organizations that hold to traditional Christian teaching on the matter.
The antipathy between the UMC and the Gideons is mutual. Currently, the Gideons have not blanketly disaffiliated from United Methodist churches due to sympathy for congregations who could not afford to exit the denomination. Rather, the Gideons have adopted a case-by-case standard for continued involvement with UMC churches, but they have not retreated from their firm opposition to same-sex marriage or noncelibate homosexual leadership. Collaboration with UMC churches will require conversations with pastors to ensure that traditional sexual ethics are held. Faithful churches trapped in the UMC are, thus, still permitted to collaborate with the Gideons, conditioned on their repudiation of same-sex marriage and noncelibate LGBT clergy.
Despite the Gideons’ willingness to exercise mercy towards individual congregations, as they report to Juicy Ecumenism, “most UMC churches will be ineligible moving forward from today.” Given the UMC’s doubling down on LGBT issues, this likely spells the end of Gideon’s collaboration with the United Methodist Church writ large in the foreseeable future.
The Gideons’ ministry will continue with or without the United Methodist Church. Gideon Sunday remains a tradition in Global Methodist, conservative Lutheran, Baptist, and other denominations that have maintained their commitment to historic Christian teachings.
The UMC’s General Conference decisions have not only cost the denomination a quarter of its churches but also dislocated the UMC from its own traditions in real time. For the past three years, the UMC has used #BeUMC as a slogan, but its decisions at the General Conference have made the authentic practice of United Methodism, as historically conceived, nearly impossible. In the interest of contemporary politics, the church claiming John Wesley’s mantle, whose devotion to the Bible was so intense that he described himself as a “man of one book,” has now ostracized one of the largest organizations propagating God’s Word.