Total Number of Pages: 3
Suggested Title: Organ and Tissue Donation
New Resolution
General Church Budget Implications: None
Global Implications: Yes
The life-giving donation of organs and tissue from one person to another can take many forms. One can donate blood and one’s second kidney without threatening one’s life. When one has died but blood and oxygen can be kept nourishing the organs, one can donate multiple organs for the use by others. In death, one can give life to as many as 50 different persons.
Transplantation of organs and tissues is scientifically proven to save the lives of persons with terminal diseases and improve the quality of life for the blind, the deaf, and persons with life threatening illnesses.
Organ donation may provide a positive outcome of a seemingly senseless death and is thereby comforting to the family of the deceased and is conducted with respect, and with the highest consideration for maintaining the dignity of the deceased and his or her family. Moral leaders around the world recognize organ and tissue donation as an expression of humanitarian ideals in giving life to another.
Christians naturally base their support for organ and tissue donation on the Great Commandment to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37- 39). Selfless consideration for the health and welfare of all persons is at the heart of the Christian ethic. The reluctance of some Christians who believe that they must approach the General Resurrection with intact physical bodies is clearly countered by St. Paul, who assures us that we die with physical bodies but are raised with spiritual bodies (1 Corinthians 15:35-49). Our physical bodies return to the dust, so the refusal to employ them to give life to others is an act of selfishness which denies life to others while conferring no benefit on ourselves. Organ donation
can be viewed in the context of St. Paul’s command to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, and that doing so is a spiritual service (Romans 12:1).
Depending on the country, one can become an organ donor by signing and carrying cards, driver’s licenses, or other forms of identification, attesting to their commitment of such organs upon their death to those in need. But the intentions of many donors are thwarted when they fail to talk to their loved ones about their wishes; once death has occurred, the decisions of loved ones often take precedence over the deceased’s commitments.
Because the need for life-saving organs is great, a traffic has arisen in the buying, selling, and trafficking of human organs. We oppose the commercial harvesting and sale of organs, and we oppose health systems that prioritize recipients of organs according to their financial or social status.
The United Methodist Church recognizes the life-giving benefits of organ and tissue donation and therefore:
1. encourages all United Methodist members and others to become organ and tissue donors by the mechanisms which exist in their own country, as a part of their ministry to others in the name of Christ, who gave his life that we might have life in its fullness;
2. encourages advocacy to promote the donation of organs, to promote medical research to increase the usefulness and success of organ transplantation and to discourage commercial harvesting and traffic in human organs, and
3. encourages its congregations to join in the ecumenical and interfaith observances such as National Donor Sabbath in the United States, in the interest of urging United Methodist members
and others to consider becoming future organ and tissue donors. Usually held two weekends before Thanksgiving, this event is an expression of our Christian gratitude for the gift of life. Congregations may choose a variety of ways to educate persons about organ and tissue donation. Examples of ways churches currently participate include developing special liturgies, bulletin inserts, sermons on the subject, and church-school discussions.
Date: August 26, 2019
The Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe
General Secretary
Bishop Sally Dyck
President of the Board
General Board of Church & Society
Phone: 202-488-5629
E-mail Address: gso@umcjustice.org