THE FUTURE OUTLOOK
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Pastor Says, "Tension Aroused
By Church"
Reprinted from Greensboro Daily News 4/20/70
By Harvey Harris, Daily News Staff Writer
The only Negro pastor chosen as a Western North Caro
lina Methodist Conference delegate to a special meeting
of America's Methodists in St. Louis believes fears of dis
turbances there are being aroused by some churchmen
who are unwilling to deal with their failures.
"It may be that the tension with which we approach
this conference has been aroused more by ourselves and
our failure to minister to people we call outsiders and
their legitimate grievances," said the Rev. Joseph B.
Bethea.
The pastor of St. Matthews United Methodist Church
in Greensboro reported in an interview at the Daily News
offices, "I'm sure the conference will hear from, in ad
dition to official legislative bodies and special commis
sions, some other folks."
Groups he expects there include Black Methodists for
Church Revival and the Black Economic Development
Conference (BEDC), the Black Manifesto organization.
"The logicaJ way to deal with problems in St. Louis,"
said Bethea, "is to listen, really listen, and respond in
keeping with who we are and what we are ? the Chris
tian Church."
He advocates a positive approach, without fear, ad
mitting that this conference will "probably be the parting
of the ways for many people who disagree as to what
that response should be."
Bishop Earl G. Hunt, Jr. of Charlotte in a pastoral letter
to WNC Conference clergy, said, "Many have feared that
the General Conference may experience interruptions and
actual invasions by militant pressure groups."
The Bishop told his pastors "the Church is obligated
to hear what that type of individual or group may feel
compelled to say, but the Church is also equally obligated
to analyze what it has heard and to formulate responses
that take into consideration both the problems of our day
and the proper conservation of the institutional Church
and its prophetic witness in the world."
The General Conference in session Monday-Friday in
Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis is slated to face problems of
civil disobedience, segregation in schools and churches,
church union and church renewal.
This is the first national convention of the United
Methodist Church, born in 1968 from union of Methodist
and United Bretheren Churches, that lost members and
gained in finances since the Dallas, Tex., meeting brought
it into existence.
Bethea is among many feeling that the former proce
dure of having General Conferences every four years "is
unwise" because "times are moving too fast, too many
events are taking place and things are changing too rapid
ly" to wait that long between national sessions of the
Church.
The Greensboro pastor explained that the 1968 General
Conference arranged the upcoming week's sessions so
the Church "could investigate its progress toward in
clusiveness and church union."
Bethea expects positive action from The Report On
Religion and Race because "we still have some segregated
conferences in the United Methodist Church." He also
wants to get deeper insights into "what has been accom
plished in two years of church union, and prospects for
its future."
The only other Negro among the WNC Conference's
24 delegates is a Greensboro layman, Clarence T. Win
chester, a member of Bethea's church. There are a num
ber of Negro alternate delegates, including the Rev. Wil
liam T. Brown of Greensboro.
This Weed's Sundav School Lesson
i SCATTERED TO WITNESS
BEGINNING WHERE YOU
ARE
Suppose someone in your
community were advocating
views and ideas you consider
subversive. What should you do
about it? What should you ex
pect your church to do? This is
no hypothetical question, for all
over the land today people are
proposing social and political re
forms and new styles of personal
life that others find frightening
and dangerous.
In this kind of situation many
remedies are proposed. Some
would censor speech and publi
cations. Others want stricter law
enforcement against "disturbers
o f the peace." Occasionally
groups may try to frighten un
welcome people into moving out
of the community.
In the early days of Chris
tianity the leaders of the Jew
ish community believed that the
new faith was endangering the
peace and stability of the com
munity. We have already seen
that the authorities had warned
Peter and John to be silent.
However, the apostles persisted
in public teaching, and more
persons were accepting the new
doctrines.
As long as these new views
were confined to a small group
of Galilean pilgrims, the rules
were prepared to be tolerant.
But now that the movement was
growing in strength in Jerusa
lem, it seemed time to act. As
we shall see, the repression by
the authorities produced the op
posite effect from that intended.
When we are tempted to try to
silence those whose viewB we
dislike, we might profitably re
flect upon what happened in Ju
dea long ago.
SEARCHING THE
scripturb.es
The Scripture for this lesson
is Acts 6:8 through 8:40; 10:1
through 11:18. Selected verses
are printed below.
Acts 8:lb-5
lb And on that day a great
persecution arose against the
church in Jerusalem; and they
were all scattered throughout
the region ol Judea and Sama
ria, except the apostles. 2 De
vout men buried Stephen, and
made great lamentation over
him. 3 But Saul laid waste the
church, and entering house al
ter house, he dragged off men
and women and committed them
to prison.
4 Now those who were scat
tered went about preaching the
word. 5 Philip went down to a
city ol Samaria, and proclaim
ed to them the Christ.
Acts 11:11-18
11 "At that very moment three
men arrived at the house in
which we were, sent to me from
Caesarea. 12 And the Spirit told
me to go with them, making no
distinction. These six brethren
also accompanied me, and we
entered the man's house. 13 And
he told us how he had seen the
angel standing in his house and
saying, 'Send to Joppa and bring
Simon called Peter; 14 he will
declare to you a message by
which you will be saved, you
and all your household.' IS As
I began to speak, the Holy Spirit
fell on them just as on us at
the beginning. 16 And I remem
bered the word ol the Lord, how
he said, 'John baptized with wa
ter, but you shall be baptized
with the Holy Spirit.' 17 If then
God gave the same gift to them
as he gave to us when we be
lieved in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was I that I could with
stand God?" 18 When they heard
this they were silenced. And
they glorified God, saying,
"Then to the Gentiles also God
has granted repentance unto
life."
: Memory Selection: We cannot
but speak of what we have seen
and heard. ? Acts 4:20
EXPLORING THE QUESTIONS
As you read the passages as
signed for study this week (Acts
6:8 through 8:40 and 10:1 through
i 11:18), you will note that the
; story of Jesus and his salvation
I was being told in ever-widening
I circles.
I First, we read of Stephen and
his teaching. Stephen, a Greek
speaking Jew, was one of those
who had been chosen to care for
the distribution of alms. (Acts
6:1-6) But he did more than this.
He taught so persuasively in
one of the synagogues that the
conservative members of the
synagogue were unable to cope
with his arguments. They there
fore brought him to the council
and produced false witnesses
against him. When he was al
lowed to speak in his own de
fense, he condemned the nation
so effectively that the people
were infuriated and stoned him
to death. (Acts 6:8 through 8:1a)
The death of the church's first
martyr was followed by perse
cution of known Christians in
Jerusalem, led by the young man
Saul. The apostles apparently
had enough prestige and respect
in the city that they could re
main. Many others, however,
fled to escape possible persecu
tion. (Acts 8:lb-3)
Those who escaped took the
good news with them. Among
these was Philip, not the disci
ple but the man named Stephen
in Acts 6:5. Philip preached with
great success to the Samaritans,
to the Ethiopian official on the
road to Gaza, and to the people
of the towns between Azotus and
Caesarea. (Acts 8:4-14) Thus
persecution actually spread the
new faith.
The last incident in our lesson
tells of a gentile convert, Corne
lius. His is one of the most fa
miliar stories in Acts. (Acts 10:1
through 11:18)
These three incidents ? the
martyrdom of Stephen, the
preaching of Philip, and the con
version of Cornelius ? raise
many interesting and important
questions.
Is it always necessary to stand
up for and speak out one's con
victions, even at the risk of
personal danger?
Is speech the only way to
witness? What are some exam
ples of a Christian witness
through deeds?
What sort of witness for Christ
might bring trouble to a person
in our day? Does It always ad
vance a cause to make martyrs
of its adherents? If so, why?
What lesson can we learn for
dealing with unpopular minority
movements today?
What barriers today are com
parable to Jewish-Samaritan
hostility in New Testament
times? Do you know any cases
where Christian love has over
come such hostility?
Why did the Jerusalem Christ
ians object to Peter's mission
to Cornelius? Why did they la
ter object to Paul's gentile con
verts? What is today's equiva
lent of the Jewish-gentile con
troversy?
FINDING HELP WITH TOUR
QUESTIONS
Having surveyed this section
of Acts as a whole and having
noted the pattern of expansion
it reveals; let us examine each
incident in more detail to see
what it can tell us about our
own situation.
The Church's First Martyr
We begin with Stephen. We
are told nothing about him ex
cept that he was a leader among
the Greek-speaking Jews in Jer
usalem, but we can infer much
more. He seems to have been
the first to take Christian teach
ing to the synagogue, the center
for Jewish reading and study
of the Scriptures. Further, the
synagogue where he taught was
frequented by Jews who had liv
ed in Greek sections of the em
pire. In preaching to them Ste
phen revealed an early under
standing that the new faith had
worldwide horizons, and was not
tied to its Jewish heritage.
As we read Stephen's speech
of defense, we can feel the pow
er of a first-class mind. Stephen
saw the bearing of history upon
the present, and he was able to
organize his ideas clearly and
forcefully. In him the new faith
had an able and brilliant de
fender.
We can find many parallels
between the trial of Stephen
and that of Jesus. False wit
nesses charged each of them with
blasphemy. Each was tried by
the Sanhedrin. Stephen, like Je
sus, asked forgiveness for his
executioners. Jesus commended
his spirit to the Father; Stephen,
to the "Lord Jesus."
In at least one respect, Jesus
and Stephen differed. Jesus did
not defend himself before Pi
late, but Stephen made a strong
attack on the Jewish leaders.
What do the life and death of
Stephen say to us?
In the first place, bis martyr
dom exposes the cruelty of good
people. Upright, respectable peo
ple killed Jesus and Stephen.
These leaders felt they were de
fending their religious and po
litical institutions, but they con
fused their own power and pres
tige with the will of God. Could
any of us do the same thing?
Second, this story speaks to
us of the courage of faithful peo
ple. How thrilling that one man
would dare stand up to the rul
ers of the nation! When we hear
someone speak the truth bold
ly, how it clears the air! A news
paper prints an unpopular truth,
and businesses cancel their ad
vertising. A lawyer undertakes
the defense of a notorious per
son, and his friends ignore
on the street. A teacher speaks
against bigotry and prejudice
and is wakened by malicious
telephone calls every night. But
these individual acts of courage
help strengthen the rest of us
to stand for the right
Third, the results of Stephen's
death illustrate the creative pow
( Continued en Pas* I)