by Steve | Jul 4, 2022 | July-August 2022
By Keith Boyette
In his book The Patient Ferment of the Early Church, Alan Kreider makes the case that Christians dramatically impacted the Roman Empire through their persistent, faithful living out of the lifestyle God calls them to in Jesus Christ. The world was not transformed by their persuasive words, their slick productions, or their carefully constructed evangelistic campaigns. Rather, they lived authentic, transparent lives that were transformed by the life of Christ. Their neighbors saw in them an integrity that communicated a hope and a future radically different than the culture that surrounded them.
God had promised he would act in the world, and they patiently waited for God to do what God alone would be able to do. In the words of Scripture, they stood. They were present as a witness – not so much by the words they spoke as the lives they lived. And over the course of four centuries, this movement that began with Jesus and a small band of disciples, women and men, overtook the world – they were more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who loved them.
I would hardly compare the journey we have been on as the Wesleyan Covenant Association to the journey of Christ followers in the first four centuries, but I think there are significant parallels. Five-and-one-half years ago, many of us gathered in a convention center near Chicago O’Hare Airport captivated by a vision of what God could do through his church if we lived as Jesus called us to live. Tired of being part of an institution that seemed to thrive on its internal conflicts, we longed for a better way. We dared to believe that Jesus could still be Lord of a movement birthed through the life of John Wesley and so many others.
We unabashedly believed in the singular message the early church proclaimed – the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the cross. We affirmed that everything necessary for salvation is contained in the pages of the Scriptures – the Old and New Testaments. We humbly confessed that those who had journeyed in this way before us – our mothers and fathers in the faith – had captured the beauty and vitality of the Christian faith in the great confessions of the church universal – in the Apostles and Nicene Creeds. We ordered our lives around the unique distinctives that have characterized Methodism since the days of Wesley as expressed in the Articles of Religion and the Confessions of Faith.
We have stood. We praised God that he enabled our movement to prevail in upholding the classical, historic tenets of our faith once again when we gathered as the church to conference together in 2019. We recognized that two irreconcilable visions of the church were seeking to co-exist in one body – each at odds with the other. We loved the bride of Christ – the Church – too much to be part of spoiling its witness to a world desperately in need of its message by extending that conflict indefinitely. Though our vision of the church prevailed, we recognized that the conflict within the church was still seething. With humility, we saw the need to step away from the endless cycle of conflict – to envision an expression of Methodism that would embody the best of the ancient Christian faith, boldly proclaiming its truths and unequivocally striving to live out its tenets.
We committed to dialogue with those who held a different vision of the church to see if, despite our significant differences, we could stop harming one another and part ways amicably and peacefully. And so we did the hard work of peacemaking with the hope that God would do a new thing. We dared to believe that we could be a witness to the world of how those who had profound differences could bless and send each other their separate ways. And so, the Protocol for Reconciliation and Grace through Separation emerged – envisioning the restructuring of our denomination through the creation of two or three new Methodist expressions. We committed to giving sacrificially of ourselves so that such a separation would be amicable. We did not want to see the witness of the church of which we have been a part be that of tearing and rending.
Together with others who shared our vision and commitments, we began the hard work of building a new Methodist church. Just days ago, that new expression became a reality with the launch of the Global Methodist Church. Hundreds of people have invested thousands of hours over the past two years in unseen ways to make that vision a reality. Because of your investment – your prayers – your labors, we now have an alternative – the opportunity to be part of a church that is:
• unreservedly committed to making disciples of Jesus Christ who are salt and light in the world;
• passionate in its worship – that authentically lives out its beliefs in every nook and cranny of the world – that takes its faith into the fields that are ripe for harvest;
• in love with Jesus and loves its neighbors extravagantly – striving to share generously the blessings of God in lives that reach the full potential God intended; and
• bold in its witness to the truths of Christianity – unashamed of the faith delivered to us by the saints – that demonstrates in word and deed the in-breaking of the kingdom of God.
Today, the Wesleyan Covenant Association pivots. We have completed one part of our vision and mission – to ensure that there is a faithful place for those captivated by the transforming love of God in Jesus Christ and committed to proclaiming the great truths of Scripture so we might encourage one another and serve God and our neighbors.
Our mission continues to include a bold and winsome witness to the Christian faith – contending for the classic, historic confessions of what it means to be marked by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We continue to long for renewal and revival so that the abundant life of Jesus is present in all we do. We continue to encourage and inspire those who hold to the vision of the church God has given us, and to connect them in vital community.
We now will focus on helping individuals and local churches navigate in this season of uncertainty. We will use our influence in the church to enable God’s new wine to fill the new wineskin he has created. Separation is no longer in the future. Separation has occurred. Significant work remains to be done to fulfill the call of God.
I am grateful for our regional chapter presidents, regional chapter councils, members and supporters, as well as those who have served with me on the staff and the WCA Council. No one will fully understand the depth and extent of your labors on behalf of so many.
God’s patient ferment continues. He continues to use ordinary people like you and me to do extraordinary things. Our journey is not without cost, but we are more than conquerors through Jesus who loves us. God has shepherded us through a wilderness season. He continues to go before us. A new day has dawned for the people called Methodist. May we be found faithful and may Jesus be glorified and honored in all we do.
“Now may the God of peace – who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood – may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen” (Hebrews 13:20-21, NLT).
Keith Boyette has served as the president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association since its inception and has just become the senior executive and administrative officer for the Global Methodist Church. This article is adapted from his address to the WCA Global Gathering in Indianapolis in May.
by Steve | Jul 4, 2022 | July-August 2022
By Suzanne Nicholson
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” – Philippians 2:5-11
The church has been described in a variety of ways, but I particularly like the imagery of an orchestra, where many different instruments play different harmonies, creating one beautiful piece of music. Of course, in the last few decades of The United Methodist Church, someone has dropped their tuba, the clarinets are squeaking, the drummers are all playing different competing rhythms, and who knows what the trumpets are doing! The many gifts and diverse contexts of the church only create beautiful music when we work off the same sheet music, when we are unified (as the apostle Paul says) by having the same mind that is in Christ Jesus.
The Philippians text, known as the Christ hymn, offers a pattern for believers to follow. It is a pattern that reveals the paradox of the cross: true power is not found in climbing to the top and grabbing power for oneself, but in our willingness to serve others with the heart of Christ. When John Wesley read Paul’s description in Philippians of Christ’s emptying himself, taking the form of a servant, and being obedient to death on a cross, Wesley declared that this is “the noblest theme of all the children of God on earth.” In fact, Wesley loved this passage so much that verse 5 – “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” – is Wesley’s most-quoted Scripture passage in all of his sermons: 52 times Wesley calls us to have the mind of Christ.
As the apostle Paul writes this letter to the Philippians, their church is experiencing opposition from nonbelievers in their city, as well as dissension within their own church. (Does that sound familiar?!) If you were a Christian walking through the streets of Philippi in the first century, you would not only walk past temples to various Greco-Roman gods and goddesses, but also two temples dedicated to worshipping Caesar and his family as divine. Many of the colonists in the city were from Rome, and many of these were retired military personnel. To be a Christian in this city and declare, “Jesus Christ is Lord” meant that you were making the political statement, “Caesar is not!” You would not make a lot of friends with the Roman colonists this way.
Paul certainly understands this kind of opposition. He’s sitting chained to a soldier in Rome when he writes this letter to the Philippians. If anyone has a right to be angry at the sting of injustice, to be horrified by his mistreatment, or to become frozen by his inability to itinerate where he can flourish, it’s him. Yet for Paul, the way to deal with those who oppose his gospel is not through griping or anger or retribution or becoming a troll on Twitter. He considers it a privilege to suffer for the cause of Christ (1:29). I don’t know about you, but that’s not my knee-jerk reaction when I experience suffering! Yet when Paul writes to these Philippian believers, he is full of joy, and he repeatedly encourages his brothers and sisters in Christ to rejoice as well.
Paul instructs these believers who have been wronged to “let your gentleness be known to everyone” (4:5). His overarching concern for this community – one that he repeats 17 times in this short letter – is that they have the proper mindset; that is, their thinking, and the actions that flow from right thinking, must reflect their participation in Christ. If you are playing in the symphony, you’ve got to follow the conductor.
When Paul starts chapter 2, he reminds his brothers and sisters that they have received encouragement in Christ. They have received the consolation of love from God the Father. They have shared in the Spirit. They have received compassion and sympathy from one another as a result. Since they have received these things, Paul urges the Philippians to make his joy complete by having the same mind together as a community.
New Testament scholar Lynn Cohick asks, “What does ministry look like if one’s goal is joy? It means, at least, that numbers don’t matter. It means that ‘the other’ is always in view. It means that achievements have to be understood in light of the congregation’s maturing in Christ. It means that the focus of ministry, the orientation of one’s goals, actions, and purposes, is to increasingly rejoice.” That, my friends, is a beautiful picture of the ministry of the body of Christ!
Paul further explains what this unity of mind and purpose must be focused on: doing nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility valuing others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of others. This is not only a hard word in our day, but it was especially hard in Paul’s day.
Humility was not a virtue in the Greco-Roman honor-shame culture. Your role in that culture was to increase your honor and the honor of your family and kin. Honor was competitive. If someone else was gaining honor, that meant you were losing honor. You look out for yourself and your own. You’ve got to have a better job than your neighbor. You’ve got to have a bigger house. You’ve got to throw better dinner parties, have a nicer car, get a better appointment to a bigger church, gain more “Likes” on social media than the pastor down the street. But Paul’s view of the cross-shaped life turns all of these priorities upside down. Instead of a protective, “get what’s mine” attitude, Paul says our attitude must be, “how can I help you get what you need, even if it comes at my own expense?” And this is all based on the model of Christ Jesus.
In what may well be one of the earliest hymns of the Christian church – whether written by Paul or used by Paul because it so well addresses what he wishes to say to the Philippians – we hear a magnificent description of Christ’s preexistence, incarnation, and glorification. Paul makes it clear that Jesus was in very nature God – he was in the form of God, the same essence or substance as God – but he did not “grasp” or cling to his equality. The NIV provides a good translation of what this means: Jesus did not consider his divinity as something “to be used to his own advantage.” He could have used his high status to act like an influential millionaire or a celebrity actor who expects everyone around him to wait on him hand and foot, doting on his every need, whether practical or moral or not. Recent stories of celebrities paying huge bribes to get their kids into top-level universities demonstrates this kind of power that “grasps” after any privilege it can find.
But instead of clinging to his status, Jesus “emptied himself” and took the form of a slave. Many theological arguments have occurred over this statement – in what way did Jesus “empty” himself? Let’s be clear: he did not in any way empty himself of his divinity. Jesus was fully divine, and then he became fully human in addition to being fully divine. This involves a change in status, not a decrease in divine essence. Even though Jesus rightly deserved to be worshipped 24/7 in heaven, he set aside that right so that he could become human, submitting himself to a frail body that could succumb to hunger, thirst, flogging, nail piercings, and death. Even so, he never stopped being divine.
Consider it like when your family gathers for Christmas – brothers and sisters and uncles and aunts and extended family members – and you have to set up a table for the adults and a table for the children. If there are too many adults, you might step down from the adult table to make room for Grandma Martha, and you eat with the kids. This doesn’t mean you’ve suddenly changed your essence from adult to child – but it does mean you give up the adult conversation and instead you may end up talking about Blues Clues or Paw Patrol. Yet in stepping down to the kids’ table to make room for Grandma, the whole family learns something about you. You’re that relative who is kind and generous and thinks about others before thinking about themselves.
That’s what Christ does. In stooping down to become human, Christ shows us what true divinity is all about. The Lord of the universe demonstrates the depths of his love by becoming one of us, to redeem us, to restore our relationship with him. Or, as Charles Wesley so aptly put it,
He left His Father’s throne above–
So free, so infinite His grace–
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race…
Amazing love, indeed! Jesus’s obedience, all the way to the cross, shows us the depth of God’s love for us. Rather than turning his back on those who betrayed him with their sins, the Lord of Life experienced the cruelest form of torture and death. The Roman punishment was so awful that Roman citizens were almost never crucified. It was reserved for people of low status – for criminals and slaves. And so Jesus – the one in the form of a slave – suffered a slave’s death, despite being the master of all.
God the Father responded to Christ’s loving obedience by raising Jesus to the highest place, giving him the name above all names – that is, Jesus is indeed “Lord.” This does not mean that Jesus wasn’t Lord prior to his exaltation – he is not receiving a new status. Rather, this exaltation means that Jesus is now publicly recognized as Lord. The ones listening in Philippi to Paul’s letter being read who were familiar with the Jewish Scriptures would hear in this section echoes of Isaiah 45:23. There the Lord Yahweh declares that to him “every knee will bow and every tongue confess.” How remarkable that this statement about Yahweh is now applied to Jesus, a first-century Jew who walked the dusty roads of Galilee!
The language of “trinity” may not have been fully formed until the later church councils, but the theology is clearly present here in the earliest days of the church. Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And Paul makes it exceedingly clear that there is no realm where Jesus is not Lord. Whether among the spiritual beings in the heavens, among humans upon earth, or even among the dead “under the earth,” Jesus Christ is Lord. When Christ returns to judge the living and the dead, every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess, whether willingly or unwillingly. No creature will be able to deny the Lordship of Christ, and all will be held accountable to that lordship.
And yet. This Lordship, this authority, this kingly reign, all demonstrated a very different way of ruling. New Testament scholar Dean Flemming describes it this way: “That the one who was humiliated and crucified by Roman power is declared universally sovereign directly challenges the empire’s version of how to achieve world rule.”
Brothers and sisters, those who are in Christ must not give in to the worldly temptation of ruling by grasping for power. By hanging on to what’s “theirs.” By using budgets and bylaws to place a stranglehold on vibrant ministries. By twisting rules and trust clauses to maintain dying institutions. As we recognize the Spirit’s movement in the birth of the Global Methodist Church, we must take care not to grasp after money or position or influence. Because Paul’s declaration that one day “every knee will bow and every tongue confess” applies to us, too.
One day, we will give an account to our Lord of how we have treated one another. Have we been grasping and clawing after power and recognition, or have we rejoiced in our suffering for the sake of Christ and set our minds upon serving one another?
The beautiful Christology of the Christ hymn is not merely a piece of theology. Paul directs the Philippians to this doctrinal description because the Philippians must live out this theology. They are to have the same attitude as Christ Jesus.
Make no mistake – our theology is always practical. We cannot ever divorce head and heart. Too often we talk about seminary education as if it is merely a mental exercise. Too often we talk about ministry as only boots-on-the-ground, practical activity. But our practice is shaped by our theology. And our theology is dead if it is not lived out. We need strong, orthodox seminaries training strong Christian thinkers in the church to guide our footsteps and make sure that the boots on the ground are not walking in the wrong direction!
And so Paul writes this theology to urge the Philippians to walk in the direction of humility. We are more than conquerors through the cross of Christ which brings atonement for our sins. But this redemption, this reconciliation with God that comes through the cross of Christ, is only the beginning. Christ justifies us so that he might sanctify us. And when we are transformed, we are transformed from power-hungry, self-seeking manipulators into Christ-followers who lay down their lives to serve others. If we follow Paul’s leading, then we must cultivate an attitude that sees the needs of others as greater than our own.
In a global church, the way we live out this attitude will look different in different contexts. In Philippi, this meant that believers like Euodia and Syntyche needed to stop quarreling with one another. In Corinth, this meant not clinging to one’s right to eat idol meats when such practices might cause a brother or sister in Christ to stumble. In Thessalonica, it meant a willingness to suffer persecution for preaching the Gospel. In the United States, it means we must generously share our financial resources by building schools in inner-city Detroit and digging wells in Kenya, as well as listening to the Holy-Spirit-inspired leadership of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world. In Liberia it means rescuing the perishing and caring for the dying by providing tuition for school children, care for the poor and jobless, and fighting corruption in government. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it means speaking the truth, sharing justice with all, and putting the poor at the center of ministry efforts. In Russia, it means opening new ministries such as soup kitchens and shelters, as well as defending the victims of war despite the dangers of an oppressive authoritarian government. The challenges may be different across the globe, but the call is the same: we must have the mind of Christ.
A global church that has the mind of Christ serves as a witness to the world that true strength does not come through domination. True lordship does not come by stepping on others. Rather, the Lord of the universe is the Lord of love who came to seek and save the lost, to heal the wounded, to feed the poor and free the oppressed. When the world looks at us, will they see Christ? Our job as the church, as Dr. Cohick puts it, is to serve as “an echo of Christ’s work; the echo imitates the original sound but is always secondary to it.”
May the other-centered, love-filled symphony of the new Methodist movement echo through the back alleys, the tenement halls, the hospitals, the schools, the rehab centers, the prisons, and the government corridors of the globe so that all the world may know that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Suzanne Nicholson is professor of New Testament at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. She is a deacon in The United Methodist Church and serves on the Global Council of the Wesleyan Covenant Association. Dr. Nicholson is author of two books, her latest being Women in the New Testament, and is the assistant lead editor of the online magazine, Firebrand. This article is adapted from her address to the Wesleyan Covenant Association Global Gathering in Indianapolis in May.
by Steve | Jul 4, 2022 | July-August 2022
News analysis by Thomas Lambrecht
In a highly anticipated decision, the Judicial Council has ruled that annual conferences in the U.S. cannot unilaterally withdraw from The United Methodist Church. The Council of Bishops had asked for a declaratory decision on six questions related to that issue.
In Decision 1366 (pages 43-44), issued in the run-up to the 2019 General Conference, the Judicial Council had ruled that annual conferences could withdraw from the denomination. “An annual conference has the right to vote to withdraw from The United Methodist Church. This reserved right, however, is not absolute but must be counterbalanced by the General Conference’s power to ‘define and fix the powers and duties of annual conferences’ in ¶16.3.”
Traditionalists had argued that a right reserved to the annual conference could not be nullified by the fact that General Conference had failed to act. Just because General Conference had previously declined to adopt a process for annual conferences to withdraw did not mean that such withdrawal could not take place.
The recently-issued Decision 1444 now clarifies that “the General Conference must first enact enabling legislation to establish the right to withdraw.” The decision goes on to say, “An annual conference has the right to vote. However, the right to vote is constitutionally distinct from the right to withdraw – the former being a ‘reserved right’ under ¶33 and the latter a right granted and regulated exclusively by the General Conference through exercise of its ‘full legislative powers’ under ¶16.3” (emphasis original).
This reasoning is basically a way for the Judicial Council to walk back its plain statement in Decision 1366 about an annual conference’s right to withdraw without saying that it had changed its mind. Decision 1366 says, “An annual conference has the right to vote to withdraw.” The purpose of the vote is withdrawal. The idea of voting is meaningless without the effect of the vote being withdrawal. To separate the two and say an annual conference has the right to vote but not to withdraw is pure sophistry.
The Judicial Council has essentially changed its mind and now believes that the matter of annual conference withdrawal is a “distinctively connectional matter” (¶16) and therefore needs General Conference action before it can take place.
In a side note, the decision implies that annual conferences outside the U.S. must follow the process outlined in ¶572 to become “autonomous Methodist churches.” “Autonomy – that is separation – of an annual conference outside the United States can be granted and effectuated only through enabling legislation passed by the General Conference” (emphasis original). Even though annual conferences outside the U.S. would not become autonomous, but would join the Global Methodist Church, Decision 1444 implies that separation is the same as autonomy, and annual conferences would be expected to use the ¶572 process.
The Bulgaria-Romania Annual Conference has already withdrawn and changed its legal standing, so Decision 1444 will not affect them. Other annual conferences, however, will need to secure the approval of the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters, their particular central conference, a two-thirds vote by the annual conference members in their central conference, and the General Conference before separation can be achieved.
The fact that General Conference approval is required for annual conference withdrawal both within and outside the U.S. demonstrates how egregious the decision was to postpone General Conference for a third time until 2024. Again, the church is hamstrung and unable to act to end decades of conflict over theological and ethical issues.
Impact of the Decision. What will this decision mean for the church going forward? It will force some traditionalist churches to remain in the denomination that would otherwise prefer to withdraw and join the Global Methodist Church – at least in the short term. Some churches that had a majority in favor of withdrawal but could not reach the two-thirds vote required under ¶2553 were hoping that they could exit as a part of their annual conference withdrawing. Those “stuck” churches will be reluctant participants in United Methodism going forward. They might even reduce or eliminate their financial support of the denomination through apportionments.
Many will pin their hopes on passing the Protocol or something like it in 2024 that would include a process for annual conferences to withdraw and ease the requirements for local churches under ¶2553. Such a strategy pins hope on the support of some centrist and progressive delegates to enact it, as traditionalists may not hold a majority of delegates at the 2024 General Conference.
A few annual conferences in states with favorable trust law may look at the possibility of ignoring the Judicial Council decision and moving ahead with disaffiliation through the legal process. There have been instances in some states where whole Episcopal dioceses (the equivalent of our annual conference) were able to withdraw from that denomination under neutral principles of trust law. Of course, that moves us into a more adversarial strategy, which we were hoping to avoid. But the punitive response of some UM bishops and annual conferences in stoutly refusing to allow local church disaffiliation under any kind of reasonable terms has already brought us into a confrontational situation.
It would have been a cleaner and more amicable process of separation if annual conferences had been allowed to withdraw. Absent that possibility, we find ourselves in an increasingly adversarial environment. Our hopes for a mutual “bless and send” approach to separation in some places is being replaced by a “tear and rend” approach that will only do harm to local congregations and backfire against the United Methodist desire for a “big tent” welcoming posture and a positive future.
Thomas Lambrecht is a United Methodist clergyperson and the vice president of Good News.
by Steve | Jun 27, 2022 | In the News
By Walter B. Fenton
When The United Methodist Church’s Commission on General Conference postponed the 2020 General Conference for the third time, theologically conservative local churches wanting to exit the denomination were forced to set their sights on their annual conference gatherings to gain some sense of how they might leave the denomination with all their property and assets.
It was widely believed the General Conference would, like many other large international gatherings, meet this year to approve a plan of separation called the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation. The plan clearly spelled out how theologically conservative local churches could exit the UM Church and join a new Methodist body.
As the annual conference season unfolds for United Methodists in the U.S., local churches are learning provisions and terms for departing the denomination can vary widely among the 53 UM annual conferences in the U.S. Why the terms vary depends on the bishop who leads an annual conference. Clergy and lay leaders from thousands of theologically conservative local churches have shared exit terms that run the gamut from amicable and gracious to onerous and punitive.
Earlier this year the UM Council of Bishops “affirmed by an overwhelming majority” that a disaffiliation process approved at the 2019 Special General Conference “would be the primary [process] used for disaffiliation and separation.” This disaffiliation process is just one way local churches can exit the denomination, and bishops know there are alternative processes. The majority simply decided it was the process they wanted to use.
Bishops and annual conferences could just as easily allow local churches to move to another denomination (e.g., the Global Methodist Church) rather than disaffiliate. The terms in such a process could be clarified in a comity agreement that is fair to all parties, allowing for an amicable and orderly transfer of a local church.
In fact, Bishop Tom Bickerton, president of the Council of Bishops, immediate past presidents, Bishops Cynthia Harvey and Ken Carter, and other bishops worked for months with theologically conservative leaders to develop a comity agreement based on a provision in the UM Church’s Book of Discipline.
The parties entered the negotiations to create an amicable and orderly fallback plan annual conferences could use if the General Conference was postponed and the Protocol could not be approved. The negotiations only broke down when it became apparent that some bishops were insisting on terms not in keeping with the letter and the spirit of the Protocol.
“It was an opportunity missed,” said the Rev. Keith Boyette, the Global Methodist Church’s senior executive officer. “As originally conceived, the comity agreement adopted as much of the Protocol as possible so centrist, conservative, and progressive Methodists could go their separate ways sooner than later. Unfortunately, what is now unfolding are sundry approaches to separation, some laudable, but others appear driven by exacting as high a price as possible for local church exits.”
In annual conferences where exit terms are reasonable, theologically conservative local churches are planning to accept them as soon as possible. They typically allow churches to disaffiliate after paying apportionments, pension payments, and other nominal fees, in return for clear title to all the local church’s property and assets.
Where terms are officious, burdensome, and impose prohibitively high financial costs, many theologically conservative local churches have decided they have no choice but to remain in the denomination to work for the passage of the Protocol at the 2024 General Conference, and failing that, return to the long battle for a reformed UM Church where leaders abide by its teachings and hold others accountable to them. The only other alternative is to resort to litigation in the secular courts.
“I am very grateful the Wesleyan Covenant Association’s Global Legislative Assembly decided to push forward on behalf of these trapped local churches,” said Boyette. “I know Africa Initiative, the Confessing Movement, Good News, and UMAction will come alongside them to do the great organizing they’ve always done on behalf of theologically conservative United Methodists, particularly those in annual conferences with bishops exhibiting a heart of war rather than a heart of peace.”
Considering the haphazard approach the UM Church has adopted for allowing theologically conservative local churches to leave the denomination, the 2024 General Conference is likely to be an ugly repeat of the infamous 2019 special General Conference. Centrist and progressive United Methodists erupted in anger when a coalition of international delegates from Africa, Europe and Eurasia, the Philippines, and the U.S. soundly defeated a plan to liberalize the UM Church’s sexual ethics that was championed largely by denominational elites and progressives based in the U.S.
“It makes no sense to me to drag out a bitter conflict that continues to drive down UM membership, worship attendance, and financial support, but that’s the UM bishops’ decision, not mine,” said Boyette. “For our part, we in the Global Methodist Church will continue to welcome new congregations and pastors to the fledgling denomination. We stand ready to do whatever we can to assist them as they seek to exit the UM Church.”
Theologically conservative local churches wanting to explore the steps necessary to join the Global Methodist Church should visit the Frequently Asked Questions section of the new denomination’s website, giving particular attention to the second question and the helpful links included in the answer. Learn more about the Global Methodist Church by exploring its website.
The Rev. Walter Fenton is the Deputy Connectional Officer for the Global Methodist Church. Image: Marianne Bos/Unsplash.
