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What's going in in the United Methodist Church?
It's a question we've all faced together at times across the years, and it's one I've answered more frequently over the past couple of weeks since The Daily Times ran an article about some local United Methodist churches who have voted to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church.
I'll do my best to offer an objective summary here, but I also want to offer an invitation to conversation. On Sunday afternoons in February, I'll host some gatherings so that we can interact with each other, ask and answer questions, and engage in what we Methodists call "holy conferencing" together.
First, for some context and background . . .
Every four years--always scheduled the same years as summer Olympics and Presidential elections--the General Conference of the United Methodist Church meets. It consists of 600 to 1,000 elected delegates representing every annual conference, including our Holston Conference, of the United Methodist Church. This General Conference decides and defines the official structure, doctrine, and practices of the United Methodist Church.
Since 1972, human sexuality has been a major topic of deliberation for each General Conference. Reflective of the society and world around us, we United Methodists are people of great variety of political, theological, and social ideas. We have debated and disagreed, and the official policies we have embraced regarding human sexuality have usually been decided by only a few percentage points.
Across the years, the primary features of our official policy contained in The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church have been:
- that all persons of all sexual orientations are persons of sacred worth;
- that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching;
- that self-avowed practicing homosexuals are ineligible to be ordained pastors;
- that United Methodist pastors cannot lead same-sex marriage or union services; and
- that United Methodist facilities cannot host same-sex marriage or union services.
Every four years, at each General Conference, we have discussed and debated these tenets, and the decisions have always been by fairly narrow margins.
In 2019, the United Methodist Church convened a special session of the General Conference in hopes that we might arrive at a final consensus about these matters of sexuality. That conference considered allowing more regional autonomy over matters of sexuality, so that Methodists in various parts of the world might adopt their own policies concerning ordination and marriage. That conference ultimately opted to keep the provisions in The Book of Discipline printed above. The vote margin was 53% to 47%.
Realizing that there would be frustration and disappointment and that some United Methodists might not want to remain in the denomination, the 2019 General Conference also enacted a disaffiliation provision, allowing churches "a limited right" to disaffiliate "for reasons of conscience" concerning (a) the provisions adopted by the General Conference pertaining to sexuality or (b) their annual conference's actions or inactions regarding those provisions.
In sum, the 2019 General Conference retained the traditional language pertaining to human sexuality but offered a way to disaffiliate with church property intact.
The trust clause
A traditional practice of the United Methodist Church has been the requirement that every church property deed have a trust clause, according to which the property reverts to the United Methodist Church if the congregation dissolves or ceases to be United Methodist.
We are a missionary denomination whose mission is "to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world." That mission is based upon Jesus' great commission in Matthew 28 to "make disciples of all the nations." So, we want to be where people are. We have strived to be in every community. There are more United Methodist churches than United States post offices, and until recently, our denomination had at least one congregation in every county of the United States.
The trust clause ensured that we would continue to have a missional outpost, a place to launch a new United Methodist presence in any community in which the existing United Methodist church ceased to exist. Of course, congregations were hesitant to leave the denomination, since the church property would revert to the United Methodist Church. The disaffiliation process adopted by the 2019 General Conference, however, waives the trust clause.
The presumption was that liberal, progressive congregations would enter into this disaffiliation process to exit the denomination that had just affirmed a traditional/conservative view.
It wasn't once-and-for-all
Soon after the 2019 special session of the General Conference, local conferences began to nominate and elect their representatives to the 2020 General Conference, and in that process, it became clear that the conversation over human sexuality had not ended.
In the meantime, United Methodists in the Western Jurisdiction of the United States set aside the traditional provisions of The Book of Discipline by ordaining and affirming homosexual pastors and bishops.
In fatigue and frustration, some conservative, traditional United Methodists came to believe that it was time for United Methodists to separate from each other over seeming irreconcilable views over human sexuality.
The Wesleyan Covenant Association, a conservative advocacy group within the United Methodist Church planned the formation of the Global Methodist Church, a new conservative, traditional denomination.
In advance of the 2020 General Conference, a variety of United Methodist leaders representing a variety of perspectives in the United Methodist Church agreed upon a protocol that would provide funds for a new denomination and allow congregations and even annual conferences to disaffiliate.
Then Covid-19 came. The 2020 General Conference was postponed until 2021, and then to 2022, and ultimately until the next scheduled year, 2024. The agreed-upon protocol was never considered or adopted.
The Global Methodist Church
The Global Methodist Church launched on May 1, 2022, but without the protocol, it did not have the start-up funds or the process for conferences and congregations to disaffiliate. United Methodist bishops agreed that churches departing for the Global Methodist Church could disaffiliate by the process established in 2019's special session general conference.
That brings us to the present day, when congregations around us are making news by disaffiliating from the United Methodist Church.
The article in The Daily Times
I had a few frustrations with that article, which I want to address with you. First, it gave the false impression that all United Methodists are having to decide whether to leave or stay.
Disaffiliation is a minority movement. Earlier this week, Christianity Today reported that about 6% of United Methodists churches are departing nationwide. In our Holston Conference, around 12% to 15% of congregations are disaffiliating. Granted, there are several here in our local area, including First Alcoa, St. Mark's in Louisville, and perhaps Fairview here in Maryville. Their congregation will vote on Sunday. Please pray for them.
I'm also frustrated that the article allowed people who have decided to leave to make demeaning statements about the larger United Methodist Church. I say unhesitatingly and unequivocally that neither this congregation nor any of its leaders have "lower standards" for the authority of scripture. Nor do I feel that's a fair statement to make of the United Methodist Church in general. In the words of our founder John Wesley, we are people "of one book," the Holy Bible. We differ over interpretations of various passages, but all of us treat it with reverence.
I understand and share the frustration that United Methodists feel when others in the connection set aside or disregard parts of our covenant in The Book of Discipline, but I reject the claim that we have abandoned covenant-keeping. In our congregation and in our conference, we cherish the connectional nature of ministry within the United Methodist Church. We keep covenant with each other and believe we are stronger together, as we proved last weekend when four thousand students and adults gathered for Resurrection 2023.
I am frustrated by the use of inflammatory rhetoric like "exit fees" or "exit tax." As described above, the 2019 General Conference allowed a disaffiliation process which waives the trust clause for any congregation that fulfills its outstanding financial obligations. Those consist entirely of apportionments to the conference and pension liabilities. Since departing congregations will no longer be among us to contribute toward those ongoing expenses that we entered into by mutual agreement, the general conference required congregations to fulfill those liabilities before leaving the denomination with their property intact.
Are we going to vote on disaffiliation?
I would not willingly lead us into that process. Our congregation is large and diverse. I believe in the depths of my heart that no single political/theological perspective makes up two-thirds of our congregation. That's the majority we'd need to disaffiliate. Therefore, my view is that any kind of vote needlessly creates division among us. I feel that God calls us to remain united in mission. It is our love for Jesus Christ and each other that binds us.
Moreover, I don't believe we should disaffiliate. I am a United Methodist. I am proud of our theology of love and grace. I am proud of our mission of transformational disciple making. I am humbled by our love and compassion outpoured in ministries of service to our communities and world. I believe with all my heart that we are stronger together and that we do need each other to be the best, fullest version of the body of Christ. The Global Methodist Church hopes churches will vote, divide, and disaffiliate. I disagree with them.
Again, disaffiliation is a minority topic. I feel strongly that it is so newsworthy locally because Revs. Todd Chancey and Rowland Buck are trusted leaders of the Holston Conference Wesleyan Covenant Association and therefore of the Global Methodist Church in our region. Their ministry here in our community magnifies the disaffiliation movement.
One claim of the Global Methodist Church I vigorously dispute is that it is the denomination for United Methodists who are social conservatives. I disagree. There is proof within this congregation that the United Methodist Church is a denomination for all, regardless of our place on a political or theological spectrum. We have always claimed to be a "big tent" denomination. Ours is certainly a big tent congregation. Why should that change now?
Our Global Methodist brothers and sisters would likely answer that we should take advantage of the window of opportunity put in place by the 2019 General Conference because its disaffiliation provision expires on December 31 of this year.
Meanwhile, The Book of Discipline has not changed. The traditional plan adopted in 2019 remains in place. Perhaps it will change in 2024 or in a subsequent General Conference. For now, though, it seems disingenuous to assert a matter of conscience with the provisions of The Book of Discipline while embracing the provisions therein. Moreover, if there is a significant change, I trust that the General Conference will enact a similar provision and process for congregations to discern how they continue to fit within the Methodist connection.
Well friends, please pardon this lengthy message. I really tried to keep it shorter. As I mentioned earlier, though, I believe this topic is best suited for conversation. So, please watch your email for opportunities to sit and talk . . . together.
I love you, I appreciate you, and I thank God for you.
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