As most of you know I serve as clergy in the United Methodist Church. If you are familiar with the UMC you have probably heard of the 3 Wesleyan Rules that we try to follow which is, “Do No Harm, Do Good, and Stay in Love with God”. The rule I want to speak on today is, “Do No Harm”. While this rule in itself seems like it should be pretty simple to follow, like most things it is often more complicated than that. When we commit acts of commission in this regard they are usually fairly easy to see. We can see churches that fight and clash with one another over minor details or personal preferences. For myself, I have often seen harm done in a church when we develop an “Us Vs. Them” mentality. This often leads to the villianization and tearing down of the other person or group. Yet, when we choose not to do harm to one another it has a powerful impact as Rueben P. Job points out when he says…

“When I am determined to do no harm to you, I lose my fear of you; and I am able to see you and hear you more clearly. Disarmed of the possibility to do harm, we find that good and solid place to stand where together we can seek the way forward in faithfulness to God.”- 3 Simple Rules

More than acts of commission in regards to our rule of “Do No Harm”, I want to specifically address the topic of acts of ommission, meaning when we don’t do the good we ought to do and that causes harm. It seems often we think as long as I didn’t say those hurtful things or do those harmful actions than am I fine. I have seen where clergy members have shared that someone in their church said really awful and personally degrading things to them in the midst of several others, this left the clergy person with a stunned look on their face and other people just remaining quiet. Yet, there were numerous times when one of those people who were standing around during the incident would meet with the pastor and tell them how they didn’t agree with this person who lashed out at them. This abuse far too often is allowed to continue in the church, which usually leads to those who were quiet and not causing issues to leave the church, and the pastor to eventually relocate to another church or resign from ministry. When lay people are silent or turn a blind eye to harm being caused it hurts the church and the community.

However, it is not always lay people causing harm. Sadly, pastors can cause harm just as often. When pastors are allowed to impliment a “my way or the highway” approach or make the church all about them, it disregards the culture and the rich history of that church. It disregards all of the hard work that has given throughout the decades to make a positive impact on the community around them. When lay people or staff members speak up to point out the harm that has been caused and those individuals are ignored, pushed out, or disregarded it emphasizes the idea that they do not matter. Far too often this leads to those people leaving the church for another or leaving church all together. If they don’t walk out the door in these types of situations then they are usually quietly removed from positions of influence and replaced with someone who will “get in line”.

In my close to two decades of serving in paid ministry roles in the church I think one of the most painful things I have had to experience or witness is when the higher up church leadership which is supposed to provide leadership and oversight to the pastors and the church refuse to engage when harm is being done. There has been a painful pattern in the organized church where when harm is being done, and hurt is being caused that it has been met with complacency, disbelief, or inaction. We have seen this in the many sexual scandals reported in the Southern Baptist Church and the Catholic Church. Yet, even as I reflect on the United Methodist Church in which I serve, people of color and women have been able to serve as clergy for many decades, yet there are still churches who will reject a POC or a woman as their pastor. Even if the POC or the woman is placed in that church to serve as the clergy member they face incredible challenges and sometimes with no support. There are churches who would see themselves as very progressive, who advocate for LGBT rights, but when they are actually appointed a pastor who is LGBT their tune often changes. Without directly stating it there actions say, “We are supportive of SOMEONE ELSE having a clergy member who is LGBT”.

Too often we hold onto our pride, we resist admitting negligence on our part at all costs, and we try to keep silent just hoping that the situation will somehow resolve itself. So, I want to proclaim that “Do No Harm” is more than just committing an act of harm ourselves, sometimes it is our silence, the turning the other way, or the dismissal of facts because it will be difficult to deal with the pain of that situation. Let us as the Church (no matter what denomination/or affiliation), whether this be lay people, clergy, or denominational leadership address harm when we see it being done.