by Steve | Jul 5, 2024 | July-August 2024
Disaffiliation Ends
By Heather Hahn
July/August 2024
The United Methodist Church’s focus on disaffiliation has come to an end and a new push for regionalization is just beginning.
By a vote of 516 to 203, General Conference delegates supported the end of a disaffiliation policy added by the special 2019 General Conference and used by about a quarter of U.S. churches to leave The United Methodist Church.
“The season of disaffiliation ends today,” said Lonnie Chafin, a delegate from the Northern Illinois Conference and chair of the Conferences legislative committee. The committee supported and brought to the floor the petition that deletes Paragraph 2553 from the Book of Discipline. The paragraph only ever appeared in a digital addendum to the Discipline.
“Passing this petition will mean Paragraph 2553 will never appear in a printed edition of the Book of Discipline,” he told his fellow delegates, “and will send a message to our congregations that it’s time to speak of how we come together and share the love of God.”
During the same afternoon session, delegates approved by a vote of 629 to 96 a reaffiliation policy to welcome churches that wish to rejoin The United Methodist Church.
Delegates also adopted by a vote of 593 to 139 the last of the regionalization petitions aimed at giving church regions equal standing in decision-making.
But each proposal brought debate. Ahead of General Conference, the theologically conservative advocacy groups Good News, Wesleyan Covenant Association and Africa Initiative announced their intent to advocate for disaffiliation to be extended and expanded. The groups also opposed regionalization.
Nevertheless, unlike during the special 2019 General Conference, these groups did not see their legislative goals prevail.
Eliminating disaffiliation. The 2019 special General Conference adopted Paragraph 2553, which allowed congregations to depart the denomination with their property “for reasons of conscience” related to homosexuality, if they met certain procedural and financial requirements.
The church law essentially offered a limited way for congregations to gain release from The United Methodist Church’s centuries-old trust clause, which states that church property is held in trust for the benefit of the entire denomination.
Because of actions taken by the 2019 General Conference, Paragraph 2553 only applied in the U.S., but some parts of Europe used their authority under the denomination’s constitution to adapt the Discipline to allow congregations to leave.
Under the disaffiliation policy, more than 7,600 U.S. churches left before it expired at the end of last year.
Departures accelerated with the 2022 launch of the Global Methodist Church, a theologically conservative denomination formed with the support of Good News and the Wesleyan Covenant Association. Most of the churches that left the United Methodist fold were theologically conservative.
Many argued that it was only fair that the disaffiliation policy be extended in Africa.
However, the Rev. Guy Nyembo of the North Katanga Conference in Congo said through an interpreter that many African United Methodists want to remain part of the denomination that nurtured them and their ancestors.
“I want to say we are against disaffiliations from The United Methodist Church,” he said. But he added: “Please don’t inflict pain on our churches.”
Dixie Brewster, a delegate from the Great Plains Conference, spoke of her fear that churches troubled by the changes passed by General Conference will be trapped.
“I speak in favor of disaffiliation,” she said. “I’m very nervous because I want a place for our conservative churches with traditional values to have a way to go peacefully. I don’t want them to be caught up in our court system.”
Welcoming churches back. Far less controversial was the policy inviting churches to reaffiliate.
“With a spirit of grace, we welcome those churches which have disaffiliated or withdrawn to rejoin The United Methodist Church,” the newly adopted policy says.
“Where applicable, every annual conference shall have a policy of reaffiliation for the churches seeking to return to the connection.”
Delegates amended the petition to require that returning churches affirm their commitment to the denomination’s trust clause.
“I believe we need to leave the door open,” said Helen Ryde, a delegate from the Western North Carolina Conference and an organizer with the advocacy group Reconciling Ministries Network. “This movement to bring our church to a new place has never, ever been about asking people to leave.”
Regionalization. Over the past three days, delegates have passed the last three Worldwide Regionalization petitions that aim to put the different geographic regions of the denomination on equal footing.
Under the legislation, the U.S. and each central conference — church regions in Africa, Europe and the Philippines — would become regional conferences with the same authority to adapt the Book of Discipline, the denomination’s policy book, for more missional effectiveness.
At present, only central conferences have that authority under the denomination’s constitution to adapt the Discipline as missional needs and different legal contexts require.
Much of regionalization — including enabling the creation of a U.S. regional conference, which General Conference passed April 30 — is contingent upon the ratification of a constitutional amendment. Ratification requires a total of at least two-thirds of annual conference voters support the amendment.
General Conference already passed that amendment with 78% of the vote on April 25. Now, it will be up to annual conference voters whether the regionalization plan comes to fruition.
The ratification process by the annual conferences for the constitutional amendments in this petition shall begin no later than 30 days after the adjournment of the postponed 2020 General Conference, which means U.S. annual conferences could begin voting on the amendments in June.
The Council of Bishops likely will announce the results of the vote late next year.
But the petition debated on May 1 will take effect regardless of whether the constitutional amendment is ratified.
It creates a legislative committee at General Conference that would deal with solely U.S. matters, similar to the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters. Anything passed by the committee would have to go before the full General Conference plenary. If regionalization is ratified, the legislation creating the committee will expire.
The Rev. Jerry Kulah, a delegate from Liberia and leader in the Africa Initiative, said regionalization is “unacceptable.”
“You cannot claim to be one United Methodist Church when you compartmentalize,” he said.
Uchena Awa, a delegate from the New England Conference, said the U.S. should have the same level of autonomy enjoyed by the African central conferences.
The Rev. Dee Stickley-Miner, a delegate from West Ohio Conference and a standing committee member, anticipates that regionalization will ultimately strengthen the denomination’s connection.
“It’s going to allow us to commit to trusting each other and giving each other freedom without trying to dictate to one another,” she told United Methodist News.
“It’s a way of being able to live out the grace of Jesus Christ.”
Heather Hahn is assistant news editor at UM News. Image: Lonnie Chafin, a delegate from the Northern Illinois Conference and chair of the Conferences legislative committee, speaks May 1 during the United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C. The committee supported and brought to the floor a petition that deletes Paragraph 2553 from the Book of Discipline. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
by Steve | Jul 5, 2024 | July-August 2024
Ukranian Delegate Glad to be United Methodist
By Sam Hodges
The Rev. Yulia Starodubets came to the United Methodist General Conference from Ukraine, which is more than two years into a grinding war with Russia.
Because commercial air travel in her country remains impossible, her husband, the Rev. Oleg Starodubets, drove her to Budapest, Hungary. From there she flew to Munich, then on to Charlotte for the church lawmaking assembly that began April 23 and concludes May 3.
Starodubets said she is glad to be a General Conference delegate for the Ukraine-Moldova Provisional Conference, and serves on both the Committee on Reference and the Committee on Faith and Order.
“It’s more peaceful, more friendly,” she said of this General Conference, her third.
United Methodists in Ukraine have inspired many in the church with their mission-minded response to the war, and Starodubets and her husband have a fan in Nordic-Baltic Area Bishop Christian Alsted.
“They are excellent and committed leaders,” Alsted said. “I have the highest admiration for them, how they’re able to do ministry under these circumstances, the stress they’re under.”
Not long before leaving for the U.S., Starodubets had another emotional lift. She, her husband and fellow United Methodists — including Alsted — gathered April 7 in the village Kamyanitsa, near the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod, for the dedication of a new United Methodist center for internally displaced persons.
A $1.5 million grant from the United Methodist Committee on Relief made possible the purchase of a former hotel that will, once certified, have a mission beyond housing.
“We all see it as a rehabilitation center in the future,” Starodubets said. “We want to receive people with physical and psychological trauma.”
Alsted noted that Starodubets is a pediatrician as well as a clergywoman. Indeed, she’s currently teaching remotely for a medical school in Kyiv..
Sam Hodges is a reporter for United Methodists News Service. Image: The Rev. Yulia Starodubets (center) votes on legislation during the United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C. Starodubets is a delegate for the Ukraine-Moldova Conference. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
by Steve | Jul 5, 2024 | July-August 2024
Reduced Budget Passed
By Heather Hahn
General Conference delegates on May 3 approved a denominational budget with a bottom line that will vary by about $20 million, depending on giving collection rates over the next two years.
But no matter what happens, the total budget will be significantly smaller than what General Conference approved in 2016, and annual conferences will be asked to pay less to support denomination-wide ministries.
By a vote of 647 to 31 (a 95% majority), this year’s delegates approved a 2025-2028 denominational budget of $373.4 million. That total is contingent on collection rates being at 90% or more for the next two years. If giving is below that percentage, the budget bottom line will be $353.6 million.
What that means is that the budget will be between 38% and 41% lower compared to the $604 million budget the 2016 General Conference approved.
Why budget varies
The variation in budget is due to action General Conference took on April 30. That day, delegates voted to reduce the base rate — a key component of calculating annual conference apportionments.
The current base rate is 3.29 percent. Delegates voted for that base rate to go down to 2.6 percent in 2025 and 2026. They also voted to potentially raise the base rate to 2.9 percent in 2027 and 2028 if apportionment giving rates are at 90 percent or above. No matter what, annual conferences will be asked to pay lower apportionments than under the 2016 budget. Here’s what General Conference approved:
• $167.5 million or $158.5 million for the World Service Fund that supports most of the denomination’s 13 general agencies (including United Methodist Communications, which encompasses United Methodist News)
• $87.4 million or $82.8 million for the Episcopal Fund, which supports active bishops, their support staff, retired bishops, surviving spouses and minor children of deceased bishops
• $57.9 million or $54.8 million for the Ministerial Education Fund that supports United Methodist seminaries and provides financial aid for UM seminary students
• $23.1 million or $21.8 million for the Black College Fund that supports 11 United Methodist-related historically Black colleges and universities in the U.S.
• $30 million or $28.4 million f or the General Administration Fund, which supports General Conference, Judicial Council, the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History, and the General Council on Finance and Administration
• $5.2 million or $4.9 million for Africa University, a pan-African United Methodist university in Mutare, Zimbabwe.
• $2.4 million or $2.3 million for the Interdenominational Cooperation Fund, which supports the church’s ecumenical work.
Heather Hahn is the assistant news editor for UM News. Image: Moses Kumar reports on the work of the General Council on Finance and Administration.
by Steve | Jul 5, 2024 | July-August 2024
Eurasia Granted Disaffiliation, Liberia Denied
By Sam Hodges, UM News
July/August 2024
Early in its Charlotte deliberations, the Standing Committee on Central Conference matters nearly overwhelmingly approved a petition enabling four Eurasian annual conferences to leave The United Methodist Church.
The four conferences had submitted to the committee a constitution and main doctrinal standards for a new, autonomous church to be called The Christian Methodist Church in Eurasia.
The planned departure has long been in the works and owes, in part, to the predominant traditionalist theology in those areas and tensions with other annual conferences in the Northern Europe and Eurasia Central Conference.
The conferences plan to leave under Paragraph 572 of the United Methodist Book of Discipline, which deals with conferences outside the U.S. that want to become autonomous.
Bishop Eduard Khegay leads the Eurasia Episcopal Area and has signaled his own intention to leave The United Methodist Church. He spoke to the committee after its vote to approve the enabling petition.
“This is for us like leaving home,” Khegay said. “My hope is we can keep the friendships and relationships whenever it’s possible. … We want to remain your sisters and brothers.”
“We feel both the pain of leaving and also the grace of the way this could happen,” Bishop Harald Rückert said, noting that a sub-group of the standing committee had a key role in working with the Eurasian conferences as they sought autonomy.
The standing committee rejected a petition that would create a new disaffiliation path for annual conferences in the central conferences. The sponsor, the Rev. Julius Nelson of the Liberia Conference, was allowed to speak to the committee but the vote went solidly against his petition.
Sam Hodges is a news writer for United Methodist News Service. Image: Bishop Harald Rückert (left) of Germany puts his arm around Bishop Eduard Khegay after delegates to the United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C., voted on April 25 to allow the four conferences that Khegay oversees in the Eurasia Episcopal Area to leave the denomination. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
by Steve | Jul 5, 2024 | July-August 2024
Young People’s Address
By Eveline Chikwanah
To thunderous applause, Alejandra Salemi of the Florida Conference said the denomination’s lawmaking assembly is being held “in the midst of what feels like an emotional whirlpool that only something like divorce proceedings can stir up.”
…Over the past four years, more than 7,600 U.S. congregations have disaffiliated from The United Methodist Church.
“When time and money and energy go towards a divorce, it has to get subtracted from somewhere else, and I believe that our young people and local congregations are paying that price while resources go toward settling disagreements,” Alejandra Saemi (FL) said.
She said what is happening in the church is a microcosm to what is happening in the rest of the world and the most difficult thing to hear in an echo chamber is the quiet, knowing voice of the truth: God’s loving whisper that reminds people “to be still and know.”
Across the ocean, Senesie T.A. Rogers, who was unable to get a visa to travel to the U.S from his home in Sierra Leone, delivered his recorded address, reminding delegates that splits were normal in the Methodist Church.
“An inconvenient truth in our tradition is that the seeds needed to explore dividing the church were planted in the first General Conference in 1792, which was attended only by clergy. We have thereafter felt the effects of nine splits and one major schism in the first 100 years, or so, of the Methodist Church,” Senesie T.A. Rogers said.
Because of that history, he said, it is pointless to worry about splits and their effects when we already know that splits and Methodism are intertwined.
“Do you know that there is something else that is part of our tradition? Indeed. Reconciliation and coming together is part of our tradition. We must be more about uniting than dividing at this point,” Rogers said.
Chikwanah is a correspondent for UM News based in Harare, Zimbabwe. Image: Senesie Timothy Arounah Rogers, native of Sierra Leone, the Chairman of the United Methodist West Africa Central Conference Organization on Youth and Young Adults; and Alejandra Salemi, a PhD student at Duke University (photo from UMCYoungPeople.org)