Finding Effective Leaders

by Steve | Aug 30, 2024 | In the News, Perspective / News

Finding Effective Leaders

By Rob Renfroe

Recently I had a conversation with a friend who is grateful for the Global Methodist Church but who is concerned for its future. Not because of anything that is presently occurring but because “we’re all human and we all have a tendency to drift from our good intentions and commitments.” He wondered how we can ensure that the GMC will remain committed to the Bible, to making disciples and to refusing to conform to the world. He is wise enough to understand the GMC may not be in danger of losing its way anytime soon, but now is the time to put in place policies and structures which will encourage, if not guarantee, that future generations are true to the vision of the church’s founders.

After a good conversation about structures that will make bishops and pastors accountable to the church unlike what we’ve seen in my lifetime, I told my friend what may be an overstatement, but I believe it. “Just about any system can work if you have the right people in place. No system will work if the wrong people are in charge.”

That’s a clumsy way of stating what I know to be true, as leadership expert John Maxwell says: “Everything rises and falls with leadership.” Great corporations, great schools, great governments, great churches have great leaders. They have leaders who cast vision, inspire people, equip others to be effective, raise up and empower additional leaders, keep the organization faithful to its purpose and remove those who would subvert its mission.

The role of bishops within the GMC is still being determined. There are differing ideas concerning how much authority they should possess and whether they will serve primarily as teachers and exhorters or whether they will also be deeply involved in the administrative affairs of an annual conference. I have my preference, but this is one where good people can differ.

Either way, it is critical that we elect people who are right for the role of leadership. In my past denomination, persons were often chosen for the episcopacy because he or she had been a district superintendent, the bishop’s executive officer, or had served the church on a national board. Others were elected because they were genuinely likeable and could work with all kinds of people. Some rose to the top because they represented a faction within a conference that wanted to promote a particular agenda. In other words – position, personality, politics. An organization that chooses its leadership using those criteria will over time drift from its mission, decline in numbers and likely implode because of competing visions.

At the upcoming General Conference in San Jose the GMC may for the first time elect six interim bishops who will serve for two years and who may be re-elected for a longer term at the following General Conference in 2026. If we should not elect our episcopal leaders based on past positions, personality or politics, what then should we use as criteria? Competence, compassion and character.

Competence: Has the person been effective in ministry? Ministry is a broad term. It encompasses everything from hospital visits to setting budgets to delivering a sermon. Are we looking for persons who capable jacks-of-all-trades? No. We are looking for people who have a proven track record of making disciples of Jesus Christ. We need men and women who have inspired and equipped others to live holy, godly lives; who know what it takes and can teach others how “to grow a church;” and who have led congregations that have impacted their communities through ministries of caring for the poor and the dispossessed.

I once served under a bishop I admired in many ways, though our theologies differed a bit. She loved Jesus and wanted the church to grow. To her credit she brought a respected church growth expert to our conference who spoke about the need to plant new churches. She followed his presentation with her vision of starting many new congregations and stated her commitment to support the pastors who were willing to answer the call. Many did. It was exciting to witness. At the next meeting she presented these pastors to us so we might pray for them. Then she asked those who would be mentoring and leading these mainly young pastors in their new ministries to stand. They were the twelve district superintendents of our conference. One of the twelve had started a church. Practically none had ever grown a church. They were expected to teach what they had never done and what they had shown no capacity to be able to do. Sad to say, we heard very little about this new initiative in the following months and years. Why? Because the wrong persons had been chosen to lead.

The GMC needs bishops who are more than good guys and nice gals with fine intentions and a desire to serve. We need leaders who have done the work and who can teach the rest of us how to do our work in a better, more effective way.

Compassion. We need leaders who are committed to the truth of the Gospel and the authority of the Scriptures. Here there can be no compromise. At the same time, I believe the philosopher-theologian Francis Schaeffer was correct when he wrote: “There is nothing more ugly than an orthodoxy without understanding or without compassion.” Jesus was effective because he came with “grace and truth.” Not one without the other. Not one more than the other but both together.

One reason those referred to as “the sinners” in Jesus’ day listened to him when he told them to “repent because the Kingdom of God is at hand” was because they believed he cared for them. Unlike the Pharisees who also told them to repent, when “sinners” heard Jesus say those words, they felt his love for them. They understood that his intention was to lift them up to an abundant life not put them down because of the life they had lived.

We need bishops who love people – lost people, hurting people, sinful people, angry people, people who are difficult to love. Why? Because that’s our mission. The GMC was not brought into existence to create a church where you and I are comfortable, or where there’s no liberal influence, or where the doctrine is just right. The GMC exists to change the world. Our mission is to “make disciples” – that means reaching people who are lost and hurting and sinful and being used by God to transform their lives. We do not reach people if we do not love them. They will not care what we know until they know we care for them. We need bishops who know that we exist for others, not for ourselves, and who will compel us to be in mission because he or she loves people the way Jesus did.

Character. For a person to lead, he or she must have followers. For people to follow you, they must trust you. To trust you, people must believe you will do what’s right – not what’s easy, not what’s popular, not what’s best for you, not what creates the least disruption or controversy – but what’s right for the mission.

Leadership is never easy. Leaders must do difficult things, and they often must act when they are uncertain what is best. People will forgive mistakes in judgment. But they will never trust or follow a person who is lacking in integrity. Our bishops must be persons who have no personal agendas, no desire to be praised, no reticence to do what is difficult even if it is unpopular. People do not expect perfection. But they must be able to say to themselves, “I don’t know why he did that. But I know who he is, so I will trust him. I don’t understand her decision. But I am certain she believed it was best for achieving our mission together.” Little inspires people more than a person of character who is strong and true under pressure. And nothing destroys leadership as quickly as a lack of integrity. So, our bishops must not simply be good people. They must be persons who are strong and courageous and who live for an audience of One.

How can we guarantee the future of the GMC? Good policies and structures, along with real accountability, will certainly help. But ultimately, it will come down to leadership. Leadership that is characterized by competence, compassion, and character.

Please be in prayer for the delegates to the upcoming General Conference this September. They have important work to accomplish. But nothing will be more important than choosing who will  lead us into the new future that God has graciously provided for us.

Rob Renfroe is a Global Methodist clergyperson and president and publisher of Good News. Photo: United Methodist church leaders confer during a business session of their 2024 General Conference in Charlotte, N.C. From left are the Rev. Gary Graves, secretary of the conference, and Bishops Bruce Ough and Carlo A. Rapanut. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

A Parting Thank You

by Steve | Aug 19, 2024 | In the News, Perspective / News

A Parting Thank You

By Rob Renfroe and Thomas Lambrecht

Good News was founded in 1967 to be a voice for scriptural Christianity within what would in 1968 become The United Methodist Church. Now, fifty-seven years later, our board of directors and our executive leadership team have determined it is time for Good News to conclude its work.

So, over the next few months we will be in the process of closing our office and one final edition of the magazine will be published after the first General Conference of the Global Methodist Church this September. We will continue to publish the weekly Perspective into the fall, and our website will continue to be available as an archive of Good News’ ministry and history.

By God’s grace, Good News played an instrumental role in forming the Global Methodist Church and in helping over 7,000 churches leave The UM Church. We need to thank God for how he has used our efforts in the past and now step into the future he has for Wesleyan Christians who are committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of the Bible.

I became president of Good News in 2009. Tom Lambrecht, after many years as a board member, board secretary, and board chair, moved from Wisconsin to Texas and took on the role of vice president in 2011. We are writing this editorial together primarily to say, “thank you.”

Earlier this summer, each of us transferred our ministerial credentials from the UM Church to the Global Methodist Church. We had remained within the UM Church so we might attend one final General Conference and work on behalf of our African and other international friends who wanted the same opportunity to disaffiliate that we in the U.S. had been given.

But each of us has now said good-bye to The United Methodist Church. Given all we have said and written, much of it critical of The UM Church, it may be surprising that what fills our hearts at this time is gratitude. We are immensely thankful for the lives and ministries God has given us and for the opportunities provided to us by the UM Church.

There is no higher calling on a human life than preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and shepherding his people. For some reason that is difficult to fathom, God in his grace gave us the immense privilege of proclaiming his word and serving his church as pastors. For his calling on our lives and the opportunity to minister to his people, we shall be forever grateful.

We were pastors within The United Methodist Church, each of us for over 40 years – Rob in East Texas and Tom in Wisconsin. It was the UM Church that recognized our gifts, affirmed our calling, and allowed us to serve its congregations. Welcoming us with open arms over forty years ago may be a decision some within the UM Church have come to lament. But we are grateful for a church that made a place for us to be in ministry, to do the work of God, and to fulfill his calling on our lives.

Even more, we are grateful for The United Methodist Church because it was there we came to faith in Jesus Christ. For Rob, it was a summer youth director hired by the First United Methodist Church of Texas City, Texas, in the summer of 1972. His name was Eddie Wills. It was the beauty of his relationship with Jesus that showed me there was more to Christianity than going to church and being a good kid – and that caused me late one night to kneel by my bed and ask Jesus to come into my life.

For Tom, it was a confirmation class led by a student pastor serving as an intern in 1968 at Memorial United Methodist Church in Greenfield, Wisconsin, where I grew up. His name was Jerry Cline, who worked at our church one year while studying at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. That confirmation class helped me understand the Bible, the message of God’s love, and God’s desire that I become a disciple. When we sang “O Jesus, I have promised” on confirmation Sunday, I gave my commitment to follow Jesus for a lifetime, and he has never let me down.

There’s a well-known line that a year from now you will be the same person you are today except for the books you read and the people with whom you spend time. What’s true of a year is also true of a lifetime. And we have known the best people. The best – because of The United Methodist Church. Through our work to renew and reform the church we were blessed to spend time with, learn from, be inspired and formed by many of “the greats” – Maxie Dunnam, Bill Hinson, Eddie Fox, John Ed Mathison, Jimmy Buskirk, Ira Gallaway, Ed Robb, Jr., Ed Robb III, Jim Heidinger, Billy Abraham, Kenneth Kinghorn, Gary Moore, Ben Witherington III, John Grenfell Jr., Riley Case, Pat Miller, and a host of others. There was a time when we were in awe to be in the same room as these giants of the faith, sitting in a corner, listening closely to what they said, hoping not to say anything foolish in their presence if called upon to speak. And later as they passed the torch to us, we continued their work, so desperately wanting to make them proud. Many of them have gone to be with the Lord, while others have retired from active ministry, but none are gone from our hearts. For this blessing we will be forever grateful.

How would the story of The United Methodist Church have played out if Good News had never existed? If Charles Keysor had not written that first article “Methodism’s Silent Minority” that gave so many Bible-believing Methodists a reason to stay in the church instead of giving up and walking away nearly five decades ago? If the original board members had not held national conferences that brought UM evangelicals together – in fact, created a movement? If they had not done the hard work for decades at General Conference after General Conference? If they had not been willing to suffer the slings and arrows, the false accusations and the demeaning attacks of liberal and institutionalist church leaders back when the fight was truly difficult and often mean-spirited? If Jim Heidinger, a prince of the church with a gracious spirit and a backbone of steel, had not taken up the work after Keysor? How the story would have gone, we don’t know. But we are sure of this – there would be no Global Methodist Church. The vast majority of traditionalists would have left years ago, the UM Church would have gone radically progressive long before now, and whatever evangelical movement might have come out of it would, at best, be a mere shell of the GMC.

So, we are grateful for Good News. Grateful for its work, its influence, and its successes. And we are beyond grateful that God was gracious enough to allow us to help lead its efforts for the past fifteen years. Following Chuck Keysor and Jim Heidinger – what an honor and a privilege God has given us.

As we leave The United Methodist Church and as we conclude the work of Good News, we look at our lives and we are reminded of the words of the psalmist: “Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely, I have a delightful inheritance” (Psalm 16.5-6).

The lines have fallen in pleasant places for us. We could not imagine better lives than the ones God has given us. Nor could we be more grateful. Grateful to The United Methodist Church that provided us the opportunity to be in ministry, to those who led us to faith in Christ, to our wives and children who upheld us in ministry, to the congregations that blessed us, to the men and women who inspired us, and to all of you who have supported us and the work of Good News. Please know you are dear to us, and we will forever be thankful for you.

Rob Renfroe is a Global Methodist clergyperson and president and publisher of Good News. 

Thomas Lambrecht is a ​​​​​​​Global Methodist clergyperson and vice president of Good News.

Nigerian Conflict and Chaos

by Steve | Aug 12, 2024 | In the News, Perspective / News

Nigerian Conflict and Chaos

By Thomas Lambrecht

This has been a difficult summer for the Good News office. Hurricane Beryl caused two weeks of power outages, preventing us from working in the office or accomplishing much of anything. Technical issues caused our website to go down, leaving some people to believe we had gone out of business (we have not!). Then our email failed to work for several days. Everything is in the process of being fixed, and we are back up and running again. We are resuming our regular schedule of Perspective e-newsletters.

As some would say, this chaos is a “first-world problem,” in that most of the world is not so dependent upon electricity or technology as we are in the U.S. The United Methodist Church of Nigeria (UMCN) has experienced a fair amount of chaos this summer, as well, and its chaos is much more damaging.

As reported by the Global Methodist Church, the four annual conferences of UMCN have voted unanimously to withdraw from The United Methodist Church and join the Global Methodist Church. In the wake of that decision, Bishop John Wesley Yohanna resigned from the UM Church and was received as a bishop of the GM Church. Presidents pro tempore were appointed for the four annual conferences, and they have begun to operate as annual conferences of the GM Church.

That paragraph makes this transition sound simple and easy, but it was anything but.

As we and others have reported in the past, the Nigerian church has been riven with conflict since 2012, when Bishop Yohanna was elected bishop. One faction of the church refused to accept him as their bishop and withdrew from the UM Church to establish their own independent Methodist church. Repeated attempts at reconciliation over the years have been unsuccessful.

Several years ago, a key leader in the UMCN, Ande Emmanuel, began to resist the authority of Bishop Yohanna. He, too, has gathered a faction of supporters within the church and attempts to portray his group as the true UM Church in Nigeria. According to sources in Nigeria, there are allegations that Emmanuel has fomented violence against fellow church members by hiring “thugs” to attack and beat persons belonging to the mainstream Yohanna part of the church, disrupting worship services and other church activities. Emmanuel filed lawsuits in court attempting to take over the property of the UMCN.

Emmanuel filed complaints against Yohanna through the church accountability process, and Yohanna filed complaints against Emmanuel and his group. Those complaints were supposedly resolved by a Just Resolution last year agreed to by all parties. However, the terms of the agreement appear not to have been fully implemented. Each side accuses the other of failing to live up to the terms of the agreement.

The conflict came to a head around the time of the 2024 General Conference, when Emmanuel became a frequent speaker on the floor of the conference advocating for regionalization, which the bulk of the Nigerian church opposes. When Emmanuel and other delegates returned to Nigeria, they were greeted by protesters opposing regionalization and what they characterized as the LGBTQ+ agenda. Emmanuel’s group engaged in counter protests, and the threat of violence caused the local government in one city to close all United Methodist churches for a month to allow things to cool off.

Meanwhile, the court ruled that Emmanuel’s lawsuit was without merit, dismissed the lawsuit, and fined Emmanuel for bringing the suit. Many Nigerian members unhappy with the General Conference actions agitated for the UMCN to show its opposition to those actions.

Bishop John Schol (Greater New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania) was sent to Nigeria in June to attempt to negotiate a resolution of the conflict between Emmanuel and Yohanna and their groups. Instead, Schol reportedly got an earful from the annual conference cabinets voicing their displeasure at the General Conference actions. He was unable to fulfill his mission of reconciliation and was apparently escorted to the airport for his own security.

Bishop Yohanna had called special sessions of the four Nigerian annual conferences. The four conferences voted unanimously to exit The United Methodist Church with all their properties to join the Global Methodist Church. Bishop Yohanna and nearly all the district superintendents of the four conferences then resigned from the UM Church to become Global Methodist.

The UM Council of Bishops then appointed Bishops Schol, Nhiwatiwa (Zimbabwe), and Streiff (Southern Europe, retired) to serve as a team of interim bishops in Nigeria. In their communication, the bishops allege the special annual conference sessions were not held according to the Discipline. “There are reports that Annual Conferences were held, and Conferences voted to leave The United Methodist Church. This is not true. There were no Conference Sessions convened according to our Book of Discipline, and most delegates/conference members were not invited to these gatherings.”

Reports on the ground and official communications from UMCN leaders, including a press conference held by Bishop Yohanna, state that the conference sessions were held and that they did take action to withdraw. It is probable that annual conference members belonging to Emmanuel’s group may not have been included in the conferences, since they had renounced the authority of Bishop Yohanna. But reports on the ground indicate at least two of the conferences had over 80 percent attendance.

The bishops’ letter also alleges that “a group of United Methodists were [sic] imprisoned due to complaints by the former cabinet and leaders because they are committed to staying with The United Methodist Church.” However, a church leader identified with the GM Church reported on Tuesday, “Four members of Sunkani District are in detention yesterday morning. Two of them are GMC members while two are UMCN members. They were in detention due to what happened in Sunkani District on Sunday, August 4, that led to the closure of our Church. [This alludes to the threat of violence I mentioned above that caused the government to close the churches for a time.] The DS and the Church secretary of Sunkani District are our GMC members who were in detention along with two members of the UMCN.”

Information received on Wednesday indicated that the members were released from detention. Based on this report, the detention was due to the threat of violent altercation, rather than because some members wanted to remain in the UM Church. Indeed, two of the four detainees were GM Church leaders, not those wanting to remain in the UM Church.

In the midst of this chaotic situation, the bulk of the Nigerian church is moving to the GM Church. Some individual congregations and pastors have yet to decide which way they want to move. Out of a church that most recently reported 600,000 members, several hundred thousand of them are moving to the GM Church. It will be a number of months until the dust settles and we know for sure what proportion of the UMCN is now GMC.

This move of Nigeria is significant. It was done according to the laws of Nigeria, rather than by any process that is in the Discipline. While the General Conference closed the door on any official disaffiliation pathways in the UM Church, legal realities in many countries could still allow disaffiliation by annual conferences.

The members of Nigeria join a rapidly growing GM Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Tanzania, Kenya-Ethiopia (which is also growing dramatically), and South Africa. A number of other countries are poised to inaugurate the GM Church, as well, with other countries moving toward that goal. It appears that only a handful of the African countries that have a United Methodist presence do not already have a movement to establish the GM Church in their country. That means 20 or more African countries may have GM conferences in the next year or so.

The Global Methodist Church is truly growing as a global movement of the Holy Spirit. Many are looking forward to the convening General Conference September 20-26 in Costa Rica as a seminal moment in reinforcing the solid foundations for this new denomination.

Thomas Lambrecht is a ​​​​​​​Global Methodist clergyperson and vice president of Good News. Photo: Nigeria Area Bishop John Wesley Yohanna says a prayer alongside members of his cabinet during a gathering of United Methodists from the North East and Southern Nigeria annual conferences on July 24 at McBride United Methodist Church in Jalingo. Yohanna announced July 29 that he has left The United Methodist Church. Photo by Ramson Danjuma, communications director for the North East Nigeria Conference (via United Methodist News).

A Promise Kept and a Promise Spurned

by Steve | Jun 14, 2024 | In the News, Perspective / News

A Promise Kept and a Promise Spurned

By Thomas Lambrecht

As United Methodists continue to become aware of the actions taken by the 2024 General Conference, responses range from celebration to confusion to disagreement to disenchantment. Many are asking the question: What does this mean for me and my church?

For congregations, there will probably be little short-term change. United Methodist life will go on pretty much as it has in the past. However, clergy will be able to officiate for same-sex weddings and churches will be able to host such weddings. How that could affect your congregation will be unique to your situation.

Longer-term, there will be an evolution of dramatic change. United Methodism has redefined marriage to include same-sex unions. The expectation that sex is reserved for marriage has been removed. The definition of “immorality” has been deleted, weakening its enforcement. It is likely that any sexual relationship between consenting adult clergy (to say nothing about laity) will be permitted or at least ignored.

Apportionment money will be spent to promote the acceptance of homosexuality. This includes the LGBTQ+ history institute announced at the General Conference by the Commission on Archives and History. LGBTQ persons must be nominated and elected to serve on all the general church boards and agencies. “Sexual orientation” has been defined as an immutable class similar to race and (male/female) gender. Local churches are to be trained to accept LGBTQ persons as their pastor, and appointments are to be made regardless of sexual orientation. While a gay pastor may not initially be forced upon a congregation, all congregations will be expected to become open to receiving a gay pastor, just as they are now expected to be open to receiving a woman pastor or a pastor of a different race or ethnicity.

Congregations that find themselves uncomfortable with the direction set for the denomination by the 2024 General Conference have few options. Their ability to disaffiliate and retain their property depends upon the grace of their particular annual conference. This week demonstrated two opposite approaches to the question of disaffiliation.

South Carolina Faithfulness

The South Carolina Annual Conference was one of the last conferences to permit congregational disaffiliation. Bishop Jonathan Holston ruled that Par. 2553 could not be used in South Carolina because the annual conference was enforcing the Book of Discipline’s requirements around marriage, sexuality, and LGBTQ persons. Finally last year, the conference decided that it would use Par. 2549 to allow churches to disaffiliate and retain their property through closure. The church would be closed and the property resold to the congregation in exchange for an established fee similar to what was required under Par. 2553 plus ten percent of the property value. Under these provisions, 113 churches disaffiliated in 2023.

Although disaffiliation under Par. 2553 was to end on December 31, 2023, South Carolina promised to allow further disaffiliations under Par. 2549 following the 2024 General Conference.

This week the South Carolina Conference kept its promise and voted to allow 112 more churches to disaffiliate under the same terms. As reported by an annual conference press release, the conference acknowledged that these churches “find themselves unable to serve the purpose for which they were organized, because issues related to human sexuality have prevented them, in that they cannot accept the actions taken in The United Methodist Church.”

The disaffiliating churches represented over 13 percent of the conference’s congregations and about 12 percent of the conference’s membership. They ranged in size from 11 members to 2,110 members. Altogether, about 24 percent of the conference’s pre-Covid congregations have disaffiliated.

The conference further voted to recommend to its trustees that one more round of disaffiliations be allowed in 2024, to be approved by the 2025 annual conference. The trustees will make the final determination on that recommendation. If carried out, it would represent a good faith effort to provide churches that cannot continue within United Methodism a fair way to disaffiliate (albeit at a somewhat elevated cost).

The Northeastern Jurisdiction

In a dramatically contrary move, the College of Bishops of the Northeastern Jurisdiction released a letter outlining their position on disaffiliation. Their letter announced that “The NEJ College of Bishops will uphold the decision made by the delegates at the postponed 2020 General Conference to discontinue any disaffiliation process and NOT support any more disaffiliations.”

These bishops adopted the interpretation that the 2024 General Conference eliminated all disaffiliation pathways and effectively forbid further disaffiliations from taking place. “To be clear, the General Conference indicated through the legislation it approved that disaffiliation is no longer a path for leaving the denomination. There was no extension of disaffiliation, and the disaffiliation paragraph was removed from The Book of Discipline.”

(The tenor of the debate at the General Conference was that annual conferences were able to set their own terms for releasing congregations without those terms being set by the General Conference. While some delegates thought all disaffiliations should end, other delegates preferred to allow annual conferences to make that determination. The General Conference did not forbid disaffiliation. It just failed to provide a uniform disaffiliation pathway for the whole church.)

The bishops’ statement leaves the door open a crack for using Par. 2549, the closure paragraph. “People have inquired about the use of other disciplinary paragraphs to allow disaffiliations. … Two paragraphs were considered in the past: paragraph 2548 was ruled by the Judicial Council of The United Methodist Church not to be used for disaffiliations, and paragraph 2549 is for a church closure and how to handle the property. Now that disaffiliations have concluded, the College of Bishops will ensure that annual conferences receive the best value for any sold property.”

It appears bishops might be willing to sell a church’s property back to the congregation for “the best value” they can get for it, which might be higher than the costs imposed by Par. 2553. A recent communication from Bishop John Schol of Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater New Jersey indicated a congregation could buy its property for its appraised value. Some congregations may be able to afford such a cost, but many may not.

Back to the Individual

This brings the question back to the impact of the 2024 General Conference’s actions on each individual United Methodist. Some will welcome and celebrate those actions. Others may not have an opinion on the matter and be willing to tolerate whatever comes. Others may disagree with those actions but are willing to remain in the denomination despite those disagreements. Some of this last group may conceive their calling as continuing a traditionalist witness within the UM Church, despite its overwhelming bent toward a more progressive understanding of the faith.

For others, however, remaining United Methodist poses a dilemma of conscience in being part of a church that affirms and promotes types of relationship that the Bible names as sinful. For these individuals, there are several options:

• If a supermajority of their congregation’s members agree that this dilemma of conscience necessitates disaffiliation, the members could pursue the possibility through the established channels of their annual conference.
• Where the annual conference has closed the door on disaffiliation, the congregation cannot afford the cost of disaffiliation to retain the buildings and assets, or a significant group of members falls short of reaching the two-thirds vote required for disaffiliation, a group of departing members could form the core of a new church. This is happening in many places across the U.S., Africa, and the Philippines. The Global Methodist Church and its partner ministry the River Network have training, support, and some resources available to assist new congregations in being formed. There are advantages to taking this route, including the ability to envision and structure the church for 21^st century ministry, rather than being saddled with outdated buildings, organizational structures, and ministry patterns. Starting afresh also poses challenges in terms of the time and energy involved in creating a new ministry. Where the people and resources are available, this approach can be an exciting avenue to expand Gospel ministry.
• Where congregational disaffiliation or creating a new church are not possible, individuals may need to seek out a new church for conscience’s sake that more closely identifies with their theological perspective. Wesleyan or Wesleyan-friendly denominations include the Free Methodist, Wesleyan, Nazarene, Christian and Missionary Alliance, and Assemblies of God denominations, among others. Most non-denominational churches are not Wesleyan in theology, although some are. Careful searching could yield a compatible congregation nearby that would further one’s growth in discipleship and provide opportunities to serve in ministering to the community.

These are all weighty decisions, both at the congregational and individual levels. They need to be surrounded in prayer and consultation with family and friends. Resources for congregations and individuals are available from the Wesleyan Covenant Association’s Revive! collection. A number of valuable and practical presentations have been recorded and are being prepared for posting through their website.

One hopes that more annual conferences will follow the South Carolina model of providing a good faith approach graciously allowing churches to disaffiliate who find they can no longer function under the New United Methodism. As I was writing this, word came that the Kentucky Conference voted “to encourage the bishop and Cabinet of the Kentucky Annual Conference to explore the Book of Discipline Paragraph 2549 as a potential means for facilitating a fair and just pathway for churches to exit The United Methodist Church.” One fears that many conferences will take the approach of the Northeastern College of Bishops in denying disaffiliation and holding on to churches for every last dime they can get. One wonders which approach might more closely reflect the spirit of Jesus and set a hospitable and positive tone for the new Methodism.

Thomas Lambrecht is a ​​​​​​​United Methodist clergyperson and vice president of Good News. The South Carolina Annual Conference is attempting to create a bridge for churches. Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in South Carolina. Photo by David Martin Jr. (Pexels).

Turmoil After General Conference

by Steve | Jun 7, 2024 | In the News, Perspective / News

Turmoil After General Conference

By Thomas Lambrecht

The actions of the 2024 General Conference are reverberating around the church. Right now, they are mostly reverberating around Africa. Some African bishops have yet to return home, but members are hearing reports from delegates and others, and many of the members are not happy.

Ivory Coast

Barely two weeks after the adjournment of the General Conference, the Ivory Coast Annual Conference voted unanimously to depart from the UM Church. Reports on the number of members involved range up to 1.2 million by some sources. The 2016 official number is 677,355 (unchanged from 2012).

The reasons given for the Ivory Coast action included the reversal of the Traditional Plan adopted by the 2019 General Conference and the “promotion of organization based on regionalization which enshrines the adoption of the practice of homosexuality.”

In a press statement received by Good News, Ivory Coast makes the case that “The United Methodist Church, in its new policy of Regionalization, is now based on cultural facts and not on the Word of God, so that Regionalization asks it to adapt the Book of Discipline to the cultural standards in different contexts.” After citing a number of Scripture references related to homosexuality and marriage, the statement goes on to ask, “How can we maintain that marriage between people of the same sex and all its LGBTQIA+ corollaries up to their ordination in the Church, is a matter of culture?”

“Therefore, it is rather the cultural frame of reference opposed to biblical values ​​which poses a problem, and which forms the basis of the position of the Ivory Coast Annual Conference not to rally behind the new policy of Regionalization of The United Methodist Church.”

Having rejected regionalization, the statement turns its attention to the definition of marriage. “Why does The United Methodist Church choose its own terms to define marriage, this divine institution as old as the world, in abandoning what has always been biblically known?”

The statement cites its agreement with biblical teaching and Ivoirian law, which defines marriage as “the union of a man and a woman.”

The statement continues, “The singular definition of marriage as being ‘the union between two people of faith’ is a pernicious deviation from the Word of God, and from the teaching of the Church of Jesus Christ from its beginning until this day. And yet, the Social Principles [containing this definition] are intended to serve as an official summary of the beliefs expressed by the Church on the important questions of the world.” (Note that the Social Principles may not be adapted by conferences outside the U.S. to fit their cultural context.)

“The change in language related to sanctions in the 2016 Book of Discipline seriously violates the Wesleyan principle which rests the Methodist Church on two key pillars: doctrine, on the one hand, and discipline, on the other. Thus, doctrinally, from the point of view of biblical orthodoxy, it is no longer a question, we believe, since The United Methodist Church calls into question the Bible as the Word of God, encourages sin, and no longer teaches the confession of sins and repentance. There is also no longer any question of discipline, since the Church now opens the way to a libertine and abject life. It authorizes sin and advocates the theology of cheap grace (Cf. Romans, chapter 6).”

“As a result of the above, the Ivory Coast Annual Conference has unanimously by the delegates adopted the following resolution:

1. that The United Methodist Church, resulting from the 2020 General Conference postponed to 2024, held from April 23 to May 3, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina of the USA, is not based on any biblical and disciplinary values;
2. that The United Methodist Church is now based instead on values of diverse socio-cultural contexts, which consumed its doctrinal and disciplinary integrity in the “Regionalization Plan;”
3. that The United Methodist Church actually preferred to sacrifice its honorability and integrity to promote worldly practices;
4. that the new profile of The United Methodist Church, resulting from the General Conference of Charlotte, which stands out from the Holy Scriptures, is not suitable any more for the Ivory Coast Annual Conference.

That, therefore, the Ivory Coast Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, meeting in extraordinary session on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, at the Temple EMUCI—the Jubilee of Cocody, out of conscience before God and before his Word, supreme authority in matters of faith and life, decides to leave the denomination United Methodist Church.”

It is yet to be determined whether the conference will withdraw immediately or will seek to use the Par. 572 disaffiliation process that could take a number of years. It is also uncertain whether the conference will become an independent Methodist church or will align with the Global Methodist Church or another denomination. Ivory Coast was originally part of British Methodism. It became an independent Methodist church in 1984 and then joined The United Methodist Church in 2004.

Rwanda

The Rwanda Provisional Annual Conference, reporting 6,200 members in 2016, met on May 30 to respond to the actions of the General Conference. It voted unanimously to withdraw from the denomination. It is currently constituting itself as an independent Methodist church.

Nigeria

The four annual conferences of Nigeria, reporting 464,000 members in 2016, met in special session together on June 1 to hear reports of the General Conference. During debate, the delegates adopted a resolution declaring:

• This General Conference removed restrictive language and changed the definition of marriage, which no longer aligns with our traditional Biblical beliefs.
• The current United Methodist Church has altered the original language of our Discipline to accommodate cultural values divergent from ours;
• The United Methodist Church now prioritizes the LBGQ+ community over the traditional beliefs held by many United Methodists in Nigeria;
• The New UMC has changed our doctrinal beliefs.

Accordingly, the combined conferences voted “to leave the United Methodist Church pending the determination of litigations.” The four annual conferences will meet individually later this summer to elect officers and carry out the other business of the annual conference.

The original purpose of the special session was to attempt once again a reconciliation with a breakaway group headed by the Rev. Ande Emmanuel. Emmanuel was the bishop’s secretary but was removed from that position three years ago. He still claims to be the conference secretary, although he was not elected to that position. He served as a General Conference delegate and spoke several times on the floor of the conference in Charlotte. He claims to be the true spokesperson for the Nigeria United Methodist Church, while making the false claim that Bishop John Wesley Yohanna has left the denomination for the Global Methodist Church.

Several attempts at reconciliation have been made, involving bishops from Africa and the U.S. as mediators. Legal cases were filed in Nigerian courts. Complaints were filed against Yohanna and also against Emmanuel. The complaints were resolved through a “just resolution” process. However, it was alleged that Emmanuel has not lived up to the agreed terms of the just resolution.

This recent special conference was disrupted for several hours by armed ruffians who attempted to prevent the meeting from taking place, allegedly having been hired by Emmanuel’s faction. Security was called and several were arrested, so that the meeting could continue.

As reported by Nigerian leaders, in light of Emmanuel’s alleged continued failure to live up to the terms of the just resolution, his spreading falsehoods, his refusal to withdraw legal cases, and his disruption of the meeting, the body voted that “The breakaway members are welcome back into the United Methodist Church by following all the required procedures or may continue their stay outside the bar of the conference.” Regrettably, these reconciliation attempts appear to have failed. Unfortunately, Bishop John Schol, who was scheduled to attend the conference as a mediator, was unable to be there due to problems with his visa to enter Nigeria.

Zambia

The Zambia Annual Conference, with nearly 130,000 members reported in 2016, met this week in their regular session. After hearing reports from the delegates to the General Conference, much debate ensued, but no vote on withdrawal from the UM Church was taken. At that point, two districts and their superintendents announced their withdrawal from the UM Church with all of their churches. Other individual clergy and churches also announced their withdrawal.

Liberia and Zimbabwe

Lay leaders and other laity staged demonstrations outside the respective annual conference headquarters clamoring for the bishops to hold a special session of the annual conference to consider the results of the General Conference. Sentiment is strong for withdrawal in both conferences, but it remains to be seen what decision they will ultimately make and whether their bishops will hold special annual conference sessions as they promised prior to the General Conference.

Other annual conferences in Africa continue to learn about the actions of the General Conference and formulate their responses, which will be forthcoming over the next six months.

The United States

Congregations in many conferences in the U.S. are learning that their annual conference has no plans to allow them to disaffiliate now, despite promises they could do so after the General Conference met. A few conferences are allowing disaffiliations under Par. 2549, the paragraph that allows the conference to close a church and sell its property – in this case to the departing congregation. When it is impractical for a congregation to disaffiliate, some members are voting with their feet. Some are leaving to start a new congregation. Others are leaving to find a home in a more compatible church.

Two court cases were resolved in opposite ways recently. In Alabama, 48 churches sued the Alabama-West Florida Conference because it changed its rules in the middle of 2023 to disallow further disaffiliations. The supreme court of Alabama ruled that it had no jurisdiction to decide the matter because it involved religious beliefs and practices.

However, two of the justices went out of their way to call out the unfairness of the conference’s rule change. Associate Justice Tommy Bryan wrote in his opinion, “There is something extremely unsettling about changing the rules during the course of the game. I question whether this process was fair. However, as noted, we simply do not have the jurisdiction to decide this matter.”

Associate Justice Greg Cook wrote, “I write separately to express my sympathy for the predicament faced by the churches in this case. In particular, I am concerned by the churches’ claim that the Conference unfairly engineered the disaffiliation process to prevent their departure from the UMC.”

“Although I sympathize with the fairness concerns raised by the churches, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (and our existing caselaw) leave this Court with no choice but to deny their request for relief. Instead, the only remedy for the conduct alleged by the churches in this case must come from the members of the Judicial Council, the UMC’s ecclesiastical tribunal (that is, its own judicial system), guided by their faith, consciences, and the principles of Biblical justice,” he added.

It remains to be seen whether this appeal will be heard by the conference, resulting in a change of heart. Of course, if the court cannot intervene in an intra-church dispute, maybe those local churches could just depart, and the conference could do nothing about it. (Just speculating here.)

That is what happened in the Rio Texas Conference. Forty-four churches withdrew from the conference without going through the Par. 2553 disaffiliation process. The conference sued the churches, and the court recently dismissed the suit. In Texas, the trust clause is almost unenforceable.

As United Methodists around the world continue to digest the results of the General Conference, it is definitely causing turmoil and conflict. It will be a while before the dust settles and the final outcomes are known.

Thomas Lambrecht is a ​​​​​​​United Methodist clergyperson and vice president of Good News. Photo: Children dance during Sunday school at Temple Emmanuel United Methodist Church in Man, Côte d’Ivoire, in 2015. Photo: Members of the choir, under the direction of Martin Edi Ori (center) welcome visitors to Macedonia United Methodist Church in Yapo-Kpa, Côte d’Ivoire, in 2018. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.