by Steve | Apr 30, 2024 | In the News, Perspective / News
The Disconnection of the UM Church
By Thomas Lambrecht
Monday was the beginning of the second week of the postponed 2020 General Conference of the UM Church, meeting in Charlotte, NC. The tone and atmosphere of this conference is very different from previous conferences and demonstrates that we are in a new UM Church.
The first week of the conference was taken up primarily by committee meetings acting on over 1,100 petitions submitted by members and organizations of the church to make changes to church laws and procedures.
Due to the disaffiliation of over one-fourth of U.S. UM congregations, the number of conservative/traditionalist delegates is dramatically reduced. In addition, more than one-fourth of the delegates from Africa, who typically represent a more conservative/traditionalist viewpoint, could not obtain visas to attend the conference. The reduction of traditionalist voices and votes became apparent in committee votes, as well as votes by the plenary session. What would normally be 55/45 percent conservative margins have become 66/34 liberal outcomes.
The dramatic shift in power toward a much more liberal perspective means that the progressive agenda is moving forward at the conference unimpeded. One observer described it as taking the brakes off the liberal train.
Who Is Welcome?
The conference started with a sermon by Council of Bishops President Thomas J. Bickerton, who asked, “Are you willing to move forward in a spirit of hope and embrace a season of reformation, commit to the revitalization of The United Methodist Church and work for a culture marked by compassion, courage, and companionship?” If not, he said, “Maybe you are in the wrong place.”
Several times in that opening sermon, Bickerton gave the impression that if one did not agree with the new direction to be taken by the UM Church, one was not welcome in the room, contributing to the deliberations and decisions to be made. One got the impression that the new direction of the church is set in stone and anyone who disagrees is to stay out of the way or get run over.
The African delegates already felt unwelcome because their invitation letters to obtain visas came so late, which impacted their ability to obtain visas and led to the absence of around 75 African delegates. The message of Bickerton’s sermon was not welcoming and inclusive, but rather one that drew lines and seemed to exclude those not in agreement with the leaders’ direction.
So far, this is the most tightly scripted General Conference of the nine I have experienced. Most official speakers are reading from a teleprompter. Presiding bishops are often reading from a prepared script, even when calling for votes. One benefit of that script is that fewer errors are being made by presiders in administering parliamentary procedure.
But the tight script contributes to a feeling of inevitability and pre-planned outcomes. Access to the microphone by delegates is tightly controlled, and delegates who mistakenly press the wrong button to gain the ability to speak are told to sit down and press the correct button. Unlike past General Conferences, delegates are not allowed to address the conference with a personal message. Only motions and speeches on the motions are allowed (unless one is on the official agenda).
Regionalization
The main item of business during the first week was the adoption of constitutional amendments moving the UM Church to a regionalized form of church governance. Rather than having the General Conference set the rules and policies for the entire global church, each region (possibly even each jurisdiction) will be able to craft its own rules and policies on a wide variety of matters. Each region will have its own Book of Discipline, its own rules regarding qualifications for clergy ordination, definition of marriage, ability to perform same-sex weddings, and other important issues.
As we have said before, regionalization holds the potential to de-connect our connectional denomination. As each region establishes its own policies and rules, they can grow apart from each other. Since connectionalism is our essential DNA as Methodists, anything that weakens it would be damaging to the fabric of our church.
Initial reaction from observers in Africa has been hostile to the passage of regionalization. While a makeshift version of regionalization through a separate committee of U.S. delegates can sail through on a simple majority vote, the constitutional amendments to implement full-blown regionalization require a two-thirds vote of all global annual conference members. Concerted opposition from the conferences in Africa could sink those amendments.
At the same time, a change in the definition of marriage may push African conferences to disaffiliate from the UM Church. Such a move would then subtract negative votes from the amendment ratification, making ratification more likely. Given the barriers put in the way of African participation at this General Conference and how unwelcome it is making the Africans feel, it would not take much to convince them they would be better off leaving the UM Church.
What’s Ahead
It is a foregone conclusion that the conference will pass proposals later in the week changing the definition of marriage to “two persons” from “one man and one woman.” Most of the other rules inhibiting full participation in leadership by LGBT persons will also be deleted.
The goal of the progressive-centrist coalition is to make the Book of Discipline “neutral” on homosexuality. If the Discipline neither affirms nor opposes homosexuality, each region can make its own decision. Of course, doing so sets aside the clear teaching of Scripture and substitutes human judgment for divine revelation.
Neutrality is the first step, but not the end of the journey. Proponents aim to make affirmation of homosexuality their cause in future General Conferences. The more traditionalists leave the UM Church, the easier it will be to implement that kind of affirmation. Of course, the progressive-centrist coalition has a majority now and could do so, but they don’t want to alienate Africa too badly until after the regionalization plan is ratified. Once that happens, it will be a full-court press to affirm the practice of homosexuality.
The Good News team is working long days here at the General Conference to support our African partners and to witness to the truth. We continue to promote new disaffiliation pathways for churches that cannot in good conscience remain United Methodist in the aftermath of the seismic changes the denomination will experience at this General Conference.
So far, centrists and progressives have not been open to supporting continued disaffiliation pathways. The pain of previous disaffiliations and the resentment they feel toward what they believe were misrepresentations about United Methodism have led them to adopt a vindictive refusal to provide any disaffiliation relief. (Of course, their very actions at this General Conference prove that what we said about the direction of the UM Church was correct.)
Thank you for your prayers and support during this time of upheaval in our denomination. We will be back later in the week with additional reporting on the decisions of the General Conference and their implications for the future.
by Steve | Apr 30, 2024 | In the News, Perspective / News
The Disconnection of the UM Church
A General Conference Progress Report
By Thomas Lambrecht
April 30, 2024
Monday was the beginning of the second week of the postponed 2020 General Conference of the UM Church, meeting in Charlotte, NC. The tone and atmosphere of this conference is very different from previous conferences and demonstrates that we are in a new era in the UM Church.
The first week of the conference was taken up primarily by committee meetings acting on over 1,100 petitions submitted by members and organizations of the church to make changes to church laws and procedures.
Due to the disaffiliation of over one-fourth of U.S. UM congregations, the number of conservative/traditionalist delegates is dramatically reduced. In addition, more than one-fourth of the delegates from Africa, who typically represent a more conservative/traditionalist viewpoint, could not obtain visas to attend the conference. The reduction of traditionalist voices and votes became apparent in committee votes, as well as votes by the plenary session. What, in the past, would normally be 55/45 percent conservative majority margins have become 66/34 liberal outcomes.
The dramatic shift in power toward a much more liberal perspective means that the progressive agenda is moving forward at the conference unimpeded. One observer described it as taking the brakes off the liberal train.
Who Is Welcome?
The conference started with a pointed sermon by Council of Bishops President Thomas J. Bickerton, who asked, “Are you willing to move forward in a spirit of hope and embrace a season of reformation, commit to the revitalization of The United Methodist Church and work for a culture marked by compassion, courage, and companionship?” If not, he said, “Maybe you are in the wrong place.”
Several times in that opening sermon, Bickerton gave the impression that if one did not agree with the new direction to be taken by the UM Church, one was not welcome in the room, contributing to the deliberations and decisions to be made. One got the impression that the new direction of the church is set in stone and anyone who disagrees is to stay out of the way or get run over.
The African delegates already felt unwelcome because their invitation letters to obtain visas came so late, which impacted their ability to obtain visas and led to the absence of around 75 African delegates. The message of Bickerton’s sermon was not welcoming and inclusive, but was rather terse, one that drew lines, and seemed to exclude those not in agreement with the leaders’ direction.
So far, this is the most tightly scripted General Conference of the nine I have experienced. Most official speakers are reading from a teleprompter. Presiding bishops are often reading from a prepared script, even when calling for votes. One benefit of that script is that fewer errors are being made by presiders in administering parliamentary procedure.
But the tight script contributes to a feeling of inevitability and pre-planned outcomes. Access to the microphone by delegates is tightly controlled, and delegates (especially non-U.S.) who mistakenly press the wrong button to gain the ability to speak are unceremoniously told to sit down and press the correct button. Unlike past General Conferences, delegates are not allowed to address the conference with a personal message. Only motions and speeches on the motions are allowed (unless one is on the official agenda).
Regionalization
The main item of business during the first week was the adoption of constitutional amendments moving the UM Church to a regionalized form of church governance. Rather than having the General Conference set the rules and policies for the entire global church, each region (possibly even each jurisdiction) will be able to craft its own rules and policies on a wide variety of matters. Each region will have its own Book of Discipline, its own rules regarding qualifications for clergy ordination, definition of marriage, ability to perform same-sex weddings, and other important issues.
As we have said before, regionalization holds the potential to de-connect our connectional denomination. As each region establishes its own policies and rules, they can grow apart from each other. Since connectionalism is our essential DNA as Methodists, anything that weakens it would be damaging to the fabric of our church.
Initial reaction from many observers in Africa has been hostile to the passage of regionalization. While a makeshift version of regionalization through a separate committee of U.S. delegates can sail through on a simple majority vote, the constitutional amendments to implement full-blown regionalization require a two-thirds vote of all global annual conference members. Concerted opposition from the conferences in Africa could sink those amendments.
At the same time, a change in the definition of marriage may push African conferences to disaffiliate from the UM Church. Such disaffiliation would then subtract negative votes from the amendment ratification, making ratification more likely. Given the barriers put in the way of African participation at this General Conference and how unwelcome it is making the Africans feel, it would not take much to convince them they would be better off leaving the UM Church.
What’s Ahead
It is a foregone conclusion that the conference will pass proposals later in the week changing the definition of marriage to “two persons” from “one man and one woman.” Most of the other rules inhibiting full participation in leadership by LGBT persons will also be deleted.
The goal of the progressive-centrist coalition is to make the Book of Discipline “neutral” on homosexuality. If the Discipline neither affirms nor opposes homosexuality, each region can make its own decision. Of course, doing so sets aside the clear teaching of Scripture and substitutes human judgment for divine revelation.
Neutrality is the first step, but not the end of the journey. Proponents aim to make affirmation of homosexuality their cause in future General Conferences. As more traditionalists leave the UM Church, it will be easier to implement that kind of affirmation. Of course, the progressive-centrist coalition has a majority now and could do so, but they don’t want to alienate Africa too badly until after the regionalization plan is ratified. Once that happens, it will be a full-court press to affirm the practice of homosexuality.
The Good News team is working long days here at the General Conference to support our African partners and to witness to the truth. We continue to promote new disaffiliation pathways for churches that cannot in good conscience remain United Methodist in the aftermath of the seismic changes the denomination will experience at this General Conference.
Not surprisingly, centrists and progressives have not been open to supporting continued disaffiliation pathways. The pain of previous disaffiliations and the resentment they feel toward what they believe were misrepresentations about United Methodism have led them to adopt a vindictive refusal to provide any disaffiliation relief. (Of course, their very actions at this General Conference prove that what we said about the direction of the UM Church was correct.)
Thank you for your prayers and support during this time of upheaval in our denomination. We will be back later in the week with additional reporting on the decisions of the General Conference and their implications for the future.
Thomas Lambrecht is a United Methodist clergyperson and vice president of Good News. A legislative committee considers actions to be taken by the plenary at the 2024 United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, NC. Photo by Paul Jeffrey/UM News.
by Steve | Apr 26, 2024 | In the News, Perspective / News
Africans Disenfranchised at General Conference
By Thomas Lambrecht
April 26, 2024
Good News is attending the 2024 General Conference of The United Methodist Church meeting in Charlotte, NC, from April 23 to May 3. Our efforts are focused on providing a disaffiliation pathway for annual conferences and local churches that have not had a fair opportunity to discern their future. This particularly applies to United Methodists outside the United States, who have not had the same opportunity to consider disaffiliating under the current provisions that U.S. members had through Par. 2553.
It is widely expected that this General Conference will change the denomination’s definition of marriage to include same-sex marriage, to permit clergy to perform same-sex weddings, and to permit the ordination and appointment of partnered gay and lesbian clergy. There is also a strong push to create a regionalized governance of the UM Church that would have each region of the church developing its own Book of Discipline and creating its own standards and policies for many aspects of the church’s life. (More explanation on regionalization may be found here and here.)
One of the leading stories at the 2024 General Conference is the disenfranchisement of African voices and votes. A significant percentage of African delegates are not present in Charlotte.
Best estimates are that at least 77 of the 278 African delegates are not present at the conference. More than one-fourth of African voices and votes will be lost, due to this underrepresentation.
A “normal” General Conference experiences about 30-40 delegates who do not obtain their visas to travel to the United States. The number of absent delegates this year is twice the level of a “normal” year. Why is this so?
The Commission on the General Conference and its staff are responsible for obtaining the list of duly elected delegates from each annual conference secretary. They then send out invitation letters to the delegates to enable them to make appointments at the U.S. embassy to apply for a visa.
This year, as part of the backlog due to the Covid pandemic, the wait times for visa appointments in some countries is four to six months. Those responsible did not process the needed information in a timely way and sometimes failed to send the letters of invitation early enough to enable delegates to schedule an interview. Some delegates never received an invitation letter. Others traveled to another country at extra expense to have an interview at a different U.S. embassy. Such a tactic often leads to higher rates of visa denial.
When delegates are denied a visa in a “normal” year, elected alternates would apply for a visa in their place. Unfortunately, this year the letters of invitation often did not even reach alternates or did not reach them in time for them to make a visa appointment. The original delegates’ letters were so late that, by the time it became clear that an alternate was needed, the window for available appointments in time to attend the General Conference was past. So, that delegate’s place is going unfilled.
Even after visas were obtained, many African delegates did not receive their travel information (air tickets and hotel) until a week before their departure or less. This gave them little assurance that they would be able to attend the conference and deprived them of adequate time to prepare.
This disenfranchisement of African voices and votes affected different delegations differently.
The Africa Central Conference, with countries in eastern and southern Africa, experienced only four denials out of 25 delegates – a 16 percent denial rate. (15 delegates from this central conference are unaccounted for in our informal survey.)
The Congo Central Conference had 39 denials out of 139 delegates, with five unaccounted for – a 28 percent denial rate.
The West Africa Central Conference had 34 denials out of 86 delegates – a 40 percent denial rate. Cote d’Ivoire lost 47 percent of its delegates. Nigeria lost 68 percent of its delegates. Only Sierra Leone was perfect in seating all its 14 delegates.
This level of disenfranchisement further reduces an already underrepresented part of the church. Currently, Africa contains more United Methodist members than the U.S. However, on paper, African delegates account for only 34 percent of General Conference delegates, while the U.S. has 56 percent. With the further reductions imposed by disenfranchisement, Africans will probably have only 26 percent of GC delegates.
Disenfranchisement extended to the replacement of elected delegates by unelected ones. In at least one annual conference, two duly elected delegates who had received letters of invitation had those letters revoked without explanation.
Even at the site of the General Conference, duly elected alternate delegates that are present in Charlotte are being refused a seat for delegates who did not receive their visas. This leaves the seat empty and deprives their delegation of a vote.
The General Conference plenary session recognized the injustice posed by this situation by approving a resolution with a 95 percent vote calling for an investigation and transparent report to the conference to initiate remedial action for a future General Conference. Of course, that does not fix the current injustice. The disrespectful treatment of African delegates may push Africans to doubt their future with the UM Church and motivate them to consider disaffiliation by whatever means necessary. Such treatment indicates the strong move to railroad through the General Conference both regionalization and the removal of Scriptural language about marriage and human sexuality.
Thomas Lambrecht is a United Methodists clergyperson the vie president 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 Ought and Carlo A. Rapanut. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
by Steve | Apr 19, 2024 | In the News, Perspective / News
Africa Initiative’s Pre-General Conference Prayer Retreat
The Africa Initiative, a biblically-committed and Christ-centered advocacy movement within the three Central Conferences of Africa, convened a prayer retreat for African delegates to the upcoming 2024 United Methodist General Conference. One hundred and fifty (150) African leaders and delegates participated in the retreat held at the Desmond Tutu Conference Center in Nairobi, Kenya, from 8-12 April 2024. The theme of the retreat was, “Reclaiming our Identity,” based on the scriptural text, Matthew 5:13-16.
The purpose of the retreat was to evaluate the past (historicity of the birth of Christianity in Africa, leading to its current massive growth), to understand the present (contextual and global realities influencing the church in Africa), and to envision and anticipate a future with hope. This was in a bid to reclaim our identity in Jesus Christ alone – as our Savior, Lord, Provider, and Sustainer – and to renew our unwavering commitment to sustaining biblical Christianity in Africa.
Among many other things, participants reflected on the Scripture, in the context of “reclaiming our identity,” and held frank discussions on the current state of the UMC worldwide, regarding the issue of regionalization, and factors necessitating discernment on disaffiliation. They also discussed episcopal elections across the three central conferences in Africa, self-sustainability of annual conferences, the need to redirect theological education for African pastors from the West to Africa, and factors for sustaining biblical leadership and church growth in Africa. At the close of the retreat, leaders of the Africa Initiative and delegates to the 2024 General Conference prayerfully voted and committed themselves to the following resolutions:
1. No Regionalization of the UMC. Participants took a unanimous vote against the passage of the proposed regionalization petition that is currently before the 2024 General Conference for the following reasons:
(a) Regionalization contradicts our current connectional system that brings together quadrennial representatives from all United Methodist annual conferences worldwide to decide on social, economic, political, and theological issues of concerns to the Denomination.
(b) Regionalization fragments our one worldwide UMC into several regional denominations, allowing each region to govern itself with its own book of discipline, exclusive of the other regions. Under such an arrangement, if regionalization passes, no region would have a say in what another region believes, teaches, or practices. We would be a divided church preaching different gospels, pretending to be one denomination. Additionally, for Africa, regionalization is reminiscent of the 1885 Berlin Conference where the partitioning and parceling out of Africa took place. We reject this subtle plan to take contemporary Africa back to that colonial era in the name of regionalization.
(c) Regionalization is a recipe for fragmenting the message of the gospel, and thereby presenting a distorted Christianity to the world that contradicts the biblically based liberating message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
(d) Regionalization is an economic death trap for the UMC in Africa and other central conferences with limited financial resources. The Regionalization proposal aims to group the five jurisdictions in America into one region, while disintegrating the three central conferences in Africa into three regions. Given that the five jurisdictions of the UMC in America are combining their economic resources and political forces to be one region at the expense of other central conferences they are proposing will stand alone as individual regions, any attempt to regionalize the denomination could financially disenfranchise the rest of the UMC worldwide, Africa in particular. Such a decision would give the American UMC the controlling power economically and politically, even though they are fast declining in number. It could also create greater financial dependency on the West, with perilous consequences for the rest.
(e) Regionalization would liberalize the UMC worldwide, thus making the denomination biblically and theologically unsafe and unwelcome for evangelicals and conservatives. The liberals and progressives within the UMC have publicly indicated in print and electronic media that they will remove the restrictive language in the denomination’s Social Principles regarding sexual orientation, same-gendered marriage, ordination of LGBTQIA+ persons as clergy, and the election and consecration of gays and lesbians as bishops. Regionalization supports this plan. We therefore reject the regionalization petition.
2. Reject Changes to the Definition of Marriage and all petitions that attempt to liberalize our sexual ethics.Participants voted to reject any petition to change the definition of marriage as contained in the denomination’s Social Principles and Book of Discipline. There are petitions before the 2024 General Conference from some liberals and progressives within the UMC to change the language of the Social Principles regarding marriage and sexual ethics. In support of same-gender marriage, they are proposing to change the current definition of marriage, which states that, “Marriage is a covenant relationship between a man and a woman,” to a new definition that states, “Marriage is a relationship between two people of faith.” We reject these petitions because Scripture teaches that same-gender union is sin (Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1:24-27; Romans 1:10; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11) and thus incompatible with Christian living.
3. Strong Support for Disaffiliation Petitions for fairness and justice. The disaffiliation petitions propose that the General Conference should vote to give the Central Conferences in Africa, Asia, and Europe the right to pray, discern, and make their own decisions regarding the issue of disaffiliation, just as the annual conferences of the five jurisdictions in the United States had that right. This is an issue of fairness and justice. At the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference, delegates from the worldwide UMC, including African delegates, voted to pass paragraph 2553, which gives the right to all local churches within the global denomination to pray and discern whether to sever their relationship with the denomination or not. The decision was not an exclusive right to the UMC in America, but to all. However, when the time came for its implementation, the central conferences in Africa were denied the right to participate in the discernment process and determine their own future. We believe this result was unfair and grossly disenfranchised annual conferences in Africa. We believe we have been treated as second-class members of the one denomination to which we all belong. We believe that what is good and fair for annual conferences of jurisdictions in America should be good and fair for annual conferences in Africa. We therefore support the petitions to allow the annual conferences and local churches in Africa, Asia, and Europe the right to go through the process of discernment and make their own decisions whether or not to remain a part of the UMC denomination. The General Conference must do at least one honorable thing by making things right.
4. Requests Episcopal Elections within 3 months after General Conference. Consistent with directives of the 2016 Book of Discipline, participants to the Prayer Retreat resolved to request a Declaratory Decision from the Judicial Council on the issue of episcopal elections following the holding of General Conference in May 2024. According to the Book of Discipline, paragraph 408.1b, “A bishop in a central conference shall be retired at a date no later than three months following the adjournment of General Conference.” However, some influential leaders within the UMC appear to be making efforts to extend the stay of some bishops who are overdue for retirement into office until December 2024 before conducting episcopal elections in the Central Conferences of Africa. This proposed plan, if implemented, would be a gross violation of the Book of Discipline. Delegates to the Prayer Retreat reject this proposed plan. Following General Conference in May, Central Conferences should conduct episcopal elections in August 2024, and new bishops take office as of September 2024, in keeping with the mandates of the 2016 Book of Discipline.
Following the passing of these resolutions, delegates elected by their annual conferences to the 2020 General Conference lamented their disenfranchisement by the Commission on General Conference and its staff. We are deeply grieved that the Commission has alienated some of our delegates from participating in the events of the General Conference by its poor handling of the General Conference matters. The Commission staff communicated poorly with heads of delegations regarding their delegates’ registration and participation. It sent out invitation letters to some delegates only two months before General Conference, while others did not receive their invitation letters until one month ago, unlike previous General Conferences where the process was better organized, knowing very well that it takes four to six months to process visas at most American embassies in Africa.
Some delegates who succeeded at booking interviews and were denied could not be replaced because the Commission staff failed to timely send invitation letters to official alternate delegates, despite endless appeals from heads of delegation. Therefore, for the first time in General Conference history, about 60-80 official delegates from Africa may be absent at the General Conference, not by their choice, but due to failures on the part of the Commission on General Conference and its staff, which appear to the casual observer to have the purpose of marginalizing African delegates and reducing their delegation.
We want the world to know that leaders and staff of the Commission on the 2024 General Conference have treated the delegates from the Central Conferences in Africa very unfairly and with disdain. We come to this General Conference with a deep sense of rejection, unacceptance, and gross disenfranchisement, as if we do not matter. This brings to question the credibility of a General Conference session held under such conditions. Our confidence in the leaders and staff responsible for the 2024 General Conference is totally lost.
We, however, come to contend for the faith once entrusted to our ancestors, and now to us, by many American missionaries whose burial tombs all across Africa are a testimony of their sacrificial labor in proclaiming the liberating Gospel of Jesus Christ that we dare to sustain in Africa. To God be the glory!
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Rev. Dr. Jerry P. Kulah, General Coordinator, UMC Africa Initiative
Rev. Dr. John Pena Auta, West Africa Central Conference Coordinator, UMC Africa Initiative
Rev. Ben Ilunga Banza, Congo Central Conference Coordinator, UMC Africa Initiative
Mr. Simon Mafunda, Africa Central Conference Coordinator, UMC Africa Initiative
On behalf of Africa Initiative Members and Delegates to the 2024 General Conference
Image: Facebook), Desmond Tutu Retreat Center Nairobi, Kenya is operated by the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC).
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by Steve | Apr 12, 2024 | In the News, Perspective / News
Fair for Some, Fair for All
By Simon Mafunda
The recent commentary written by Christine Schneider for UM News of March 28 needs to be addressed. It directly responds to a commentary by Rob Renfroe, the president of Good News, who was addressing criticism regarding the planned presence of Good News at the upcoming GC in Charlotte. However, I find Christine’s article to be lacking in its representation of the facts and attempting to compare two provisions in the UMC Book of Discipline that should not be compared.
Firstly, I agree with Rob Renfroe that disaffiliation is still an ongoing issue. Claims made by our American liberal counterparts that disaffiliation is no longer relevant can be interpreted as simply an attempt to silence central conference voices, particularly those from Africa, and strip away our rights. There have been statements suggesting that some American liberals believe the UMC belongs to them, with missions overseas being considered secondary. Mark Holland of Mainstream UMC has said that the UMC should be prepared to lose Africa if necessary to accommodate LGBTQ marriage and ordination. In his August 1 article, Holland stated : “We may lose Africa and the Philippines: This is the hardest truth with which we must wrestle. It hurts to be rejected” (emphasis in original).
It is not surprising then that many Americans view the American UMC as the denomination itself, disregarding the contributions and perspectives of those outside of America, treating them as second-class members without regard for their rights and fairness.
The UM News commentary by Christine Schneider, a reserve General Conference delegate from Switzerland, fails to accurately represent the facts, especially when it comes to Africa. As a fellow member of the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters, Schneider has heard the plea of Africans to be treated fairly. Indeed, at one point it appeared to me that Shneider seemed agreeable and supportive of a disaffiliation pathway for the central conferences. Apparently, she has changed her mind. As Africans, we are simply demanding fairness and justice. In Africa, ¶2553, which has now expired, was never implemented. The Council of Bishops failed to seek a work-around in light of the postponement of the 2020 General Conference that would enable Par. 2553 to apply outside the U.S. This failure was surprising and disappointing to us because Par. 2553 was never intended to segregate us. In some African conferences, it was even communicated that the provision would only be implemented once it had been fully translated into the official General Conference languages applicable to Africa. Nowhere in the provision does it explicitly state that the “reasons of conscience” are exclusively applicable to America.
While it is true that ¶572 is available for conferences outside of America, its provisions are different from those in ¶2553 that the Americans utilized. Paragraph 572 pertains to annual conferences opting to become autonomous Methodists, affiliated autonomous Methodists, or affiliated United Churches from central conferences. Paragraph 2553 pertains to local church disaffiliation. We have always been aware of this annual conference provision, but as Africa, we are not interested in utilizing it. Paragraph 572 involves a lengthy and arduous process that could take an extensive amount of time and energy to complete. It also involves extensive involvement of the denomination’s entities, including the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters, the Central Conference, all central conference annual conferences, and the General Conference, making the vote to leave uncertain. Any of these entities could block an annual conference from disaffiliating. The process could take up to four years or more, including multiple votes and ratifications at various levels. Moreover, we have not come across any conferences in Africa expressing a desire to become autonomous. It is unfair to require African annual conferences to create their own Book of Discipline as paragraph 572 does, when what they desire is to align with a different Wesleyan denomination that already has a Book of Discipline.
Furthermore, paragraph 572 does not allow local churches to disaffiliate. There are some annual conferences in Africa that will undoubtedly want to remain United Methodist. Since some annual conferences own the church buildings and parsonages outright, it is not a question of releasing the trust clause. Rather, a new provision needs to enable the annual conference to deed the property to a local church desiring to disaffiliate.
There is also a fundamental difference between the African context and the European context. European bishops and central conferences have been willing to amicably negotiate a process of disaffiliation for annual conferences and local churches that is not in the Book of Discipline. Such amicable negotiations have allowed disaffiliation to take place. In Africa, several bishops have declared their adamant opposition to allowing any disaffiliation to take place. In some areas, pastors inquiring about disaffiliation have been summarily fired without any due process, depriving them of both house and livelihood. Around September 2022, a majority of African bishops meeting at Africa University took a combative stance and banned activities of both Africa Initiative and Wesleyan Covenant Association known for advocating for justice and fairness with regards to these disaffiliation rights. The prospect of amicable negotiations in these situations is unlikely.
European churches may be able to disaffiliate if they desire. So far, the only churches in Africa to do so had to defy their bishop and overcome his opposition, using processes that may not be found in the Book of Discipline. For disaffiliation to be a fair consideration in Africa, a general church enactment is needed that trumps the resistance of autocratic-minded bishops.
As we approach the upcoming GC in Charlotte, it is crucial to take the disaffiliation matters seriously, particularly with the lens of fairness and justice. What is fair for some should be fair for all.
Simon Mafunda lives in Zimbabwe. He is a member of the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters, the WCA Vice President for Africa, and Africa Initiative Coordinator. Members of the United Methodist Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters gather for Communion at Canaan United Methodist Church in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Consecrating the elements is Bishop Benjamin Boni (center). Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.
by Steve | Apr 11, 2024 | Home Page Hero Slider, In the News
Fondly Remembering Carolyn Elias (1931-2024)
The Good News staff and board of directors were saddened to hear of the passing of our longtime friend and treasured colleague, Carolyn Parrish Elias (1931-2024). The Good News Board of directors presented its eighth annual Edmund W. Robb, Jr. United Methodist Renewal Award to Carolyn Elias at its fall meeting in November 2010. The award, named after long-time Good News board member and renewal leader, Dr. Ed Robb, is given to a United Methodist who has made a significant and lasting contribution to renewal within the United Methodist Church.
“Carolyn was a thoroughly unique woman of deep faith with a zest and flare for life – she was a joy to be with. She loved her husband, Barney, and their entire family, studying the Bible, reforming the Methodist church, and cheering for Razorback football,” said Steve Beard, editor of Good News. “She will be deeply missed by all of us who loved her.”
Elias was a leader in the evangelical Methodist renewal movement in the Central Illinois Conference before she and her husband, Barney, moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1991. She became active in the First United Methodist Church. She worked with the Good News General Conference team in 1988 in St. Louis, 1992 in Louisville, and 1996 in Denver.
In 2000, Carolyn was elected a lay delegate to the General Conference—in fact, she was the first lay person elected in her delegation. “Carolyn’s election as the first lay delegate in the North Little Rock Conference after a decade of serving as a member of the Good News board and being actively involved with the Renew Network was really remarkable! It spoke clearly about her ability to be a firm and gracious witness to her evangelical faith while also working effectively with others who might not necessarily agree with her theological commitments,” said the Rev. James V. Heidinger II, Good News President and Publisher emeritus, who made the presentation to Elias at the board meeting banquet. (Elias became an honorary life member of the Good New Board of Drirectors in 2001.)
Carolyn served as Chair of the Conference Episcopacy Committee for Bishop Janet Riggle Huey and also was on the South Central Jurisdiction Committee on Episcopacy, the group charged with the important quadrennial task of assigning bishops for the entire jurisdiction. She was again elected a General Conference delegate in 2004.
Ever since moving to Hot Springs, Elias has been an important part of the leadership of the Evangelical Fellowship in the conference, which now is referred to as the Arkansas Confessing Movement. She has had the responsibility of arranging the morning breakfast meeting of the fellowship at annual conference.
In addition to her United Methodist involvement, Carolyn was, for 13 years, a leader in Bible Study Fellowship in North Little Rock. She also started a spin-off of BSF, called Explorers Bible Study, with as many as 300 women involved at one time. That Bible study continues.
“In Carolyn, we see a mature, gracious, theologically-grounded, and discerning United Methodist laywoman. She is highly respected by all who have worked with her. She has a warm, kind spirit but Carolyn can also be firm when firmness is needed,” Heidinger said to board members, family, and guests attending the 2010 banquet on the campus of Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky.
-Good News Media Service. This is adapted from a story about Carolyn in hrt eJanury/February 2011 issue of Good News. Archive Photo: James v. Heidinger II, Carolyn Elias, and Rob Renfroe in 2010. Photo by Steve Beard.
