“The world is shrinking,” George H. Freeman told ENI in an interview as he prepared to take up his new job with the council when Methodists hold their next world assembly, in July in Brighton, England. “It’s important that we realize that when we worship on Sunday morning, other people in our tradition are doing that all over the world.”
Freeman, aged 54, is an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church (UMC), one of the biggest Protestant denominations in the United States and the WMC’s biggest member church. The UMC also has many congregations abroad and a total membership of 9.9 million members, 8.4 million of them within the U.S.
In his new job, Freeman will head a council of 74 churches, which together have 36 million baptized members in 130 countries.
The council’s aim is not to legislate or formally establish doctrine, but rather to promote a common Methodist identity and unity. Freeman told ENI that Methodists were linked by founder John Wesley’s belief in holy living, a personal relationship with God, and their tradition of social action. At an international level, the council engages in ecumenical dialogue with other Protestant denominations and with Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox churches. It also seeks to promote world evangelism.
Freeman said ecumenical dialogue was particularly important. But, he added, so was the strengthening of theological education to allow “pastoral succession” in the church. “I think we have to be very serious in asking the question: ‘Where are the leaders for the church of tomorrow’?”
Because the WMC did not legislate or deal with denominational polity issues, it did not deal with recent controversial topics such as sexuality and the ordination of openly gay and lesbian clergy, issues that have divided the UMC in recent years.
However, as an international body the World Methodist Council has spoken out on a number of global issues. A 1986 statement condemned apartheid in South Africa, and last year the council’s World Methodist Peace Award went to former South Africa president Nelson Mandela.
“Where there has been a need to speak out, the council has not been afraid to do so,” Freeman said, noting that the condemnation of apartheid was an important moment of “coming together” for the council. Freeman described his new job as “a unique position” in the Methodist family, but he said it did not make him principal spokesperson for the Methodist churches. As chief executive of the council he saw his role rather as being that of a “unifier” and of overseeing international Methodist programs.
The 500-delegate council, which sponsors a large international conference every five years, has its headquarters in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina.
Freeman was nominated for the position at a committee meeting last September in Cape Town, South Africa. He replaces Joe Hale, who has served as general secretary since 1976. Currently Freeman is a district superintendent in the UMC’s Virginia Annual Conference.
Copyright © 2001 ENI
