Seven Next Steps for the Global Methodist Church —

by Timothy C. Tennent (March/April 2025) —

Most of are familiar with the ancient Egyptian myth of the Phoenix who dies in the ashes, but rises again with renewed life. As Christians, this myth became reality in the person of Jesus Christ who died and rose bodily again in real history. Resurrection is at the heart of our identity as Christians.

The Global Methodist Church has arisen out of the ashes of decades of struggle for historic orthodoxy and faithful scriptural witness to our Wesleyan heritage. In May of 2022, the Global Methodist Church rose out of the ashes and in September of 2024 held their first General Conference. I have had the privilege of traveling across the country and around the world and speaking firsthand with many pastors and lay leaders during the disaffiliation process.

Despite the arduous process of disaffiliation, the optimism and excitement about this new chapter for the “people called Methodist” is palpable. There is a powerful sense that a new day is dawning for us! The question is, “What Now?” What should be the top priorities and defining pathways that will help to set the DNA of the Global Methodist Church for decades to come? I suggest that we consider the next seven steps.

Disaffiliation to Affiliation

First, we must shift from the “disaffiliation” process to the “affiliation” process. The last few years witnessed around 20 percent of United Methodist churches voting to disaffiliate. This resulted in over 4,500 congregations uniting with the GMC, bringing our membership to over 650,000 members! This means that the GMC is already larger than many of the smaller Wesleyan denominations. However, despite that remarkable initial surge in membership, there are still over 3,000 congregations who successfully disaffiliated, but who have not yet united with the GMC or any other denomination. If those congregations were to be brought into the GMC, then we would have over one million members. There needs to be a concerted effort to demonstrate the value of our connectional system and why we are better together.

While the GMC is structured to empower the local church as the locus of ministry, the wider denomination can provide important support structures, discipleship materials, accountability, and sharing of best practices which can help the denomination as a whole to thrive. We cannot let the dysfunction of the UMC structures we once suffered under lead us to distrust the new faithful leaders God has raised up in the GMC. Let’s seize the opportunity to collaborate and rebuild trust in the connectional system which has historically served us so well. When functioning well it will allow the church to be guided doctrinally and missionally in fruitful and faithful ways.

We must also not neglect the thousands of men and women in congregations who held a vote for disaffiliation but were not able to reach the 2/3 vote required to disaffiliate. Many of those departing members are finding their way into GMC churches, but others have left their congregations and not yet found any church home. This is the best time to complete the affiliation process by also reaching out to these brothers and sisters, bringing them into new, more orthodox fellowships. 

Evangelism and Church Planting

Second, we must have a renewed emphasis on evangelism and church planting. The last few years have rightly focused on disaffiliation and bringing thousands of existing congregations into the GMC fold. However, now is the time to renew our commitment to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with those who have no memory of the struggles which gave birth to a new denomination. The percentage of people in N. America who identify as religious “nones” has risen in my lifetime from around two percent of the population to a peak in 2022 at an astonishing 28 percent. This dramatic rise has mostly been among the younger generations – millennials (born 1981-1996) and Gen Z (born 1996-2012). Yet, beginning in 2023 this number has begun to drop for the first time in over twenty years. This reflects a growing dissatisfaction among young people, including record levels of isolation, depression, anxiety and loss of meaning. This has, in turn, created a new openness to the power of the gospel and having an authentic encounter with the risen Lord.

We saw this firsthand during the 2023 outpouring at Asbury University and Seminary. During those 16 days we saw thousands of young people encountering Christ in fresh ways. Since that time, this awakening has continued to spread across the nation and the world. The church must not lose this opportunity to bear witness to Christ in our day, especially among the young adults of our nation.

The GMC mission statement calls us to “witness boldly.” This will not happen without establishing a spiritual culture of witnessing in the GMC. When I was a pastor, I took time to train our lay people how to witness for Christ. Our evangelism strategy cannot be merely hoping people in our community will visit our church. There must be a commitment to intentionally reach out to those who otherwise would never set foot in our churches.

Another area for effective church planting is among the emerging immigrant populations in N. America.  The fastest growing churches in N. America are the immigrant churches. Extending hospitality to these groups, as well as offering language specific services must be central to our mission. We need to start new congregations with services in Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, and Portuguese in particular (the ethnic groups vary based on where you live in the country).  Furthermore, there are over one million new homes built in the USA every year, and a half a million new apartments. These new housing developments are wonderful opportunities for evangelism and starting new churches. The Alpha Course is a series of conversations, discussions and video presentations in a relaxed setting (often over a meal) which has has proved to be one of the most effective evangelisms tools for a secular society such as ours.

Embracing Networks

Third, the Global Methodist Church must actively engage in a range of new networks that will connect us to the wider Body of Christ. The 16th century gave birth to the proliferation of denominations in the world-wide Protestant movement. When the Reformation spawned three distinct movements (Anglican, Reformed and Lutheran), it provided clear boundaries of belonging within very large groupings of Christians, spanning entire countries or regions. However, as time progressed the number of denominations grew dramatically.

The Methodists, for example, were a renewal movement out of the Anglican church, and now there are over 80 distinct wesleyan denominations. The number of global denominations of all kinds now exceeds 45,000. The vast majority of these new denominations have emerged since 1970. There are around 500 new denominations started every year around the world. The Global Methodist Church is one of these. We must see that the Protestant and independent churches are becoming segmented into smaller and smaller groupings of Christians. While denominations can help define our identity as Christians, they can also silo us off from other Christians.

If our view of the church only reaches the horizon of our particular denomination, we will experience the church in a narrow, almost tribal way. However, there are amazing things happening all across the wider church which we can learn from. We need to model much greater collaboration with other evangelical movements around the world. This mostly happens through our participation in networks which share ideas and insights in areas which are of interest to all Christians.

There are trans-denominational networks dedicated to areas as diverse as community outreach, evangelism, worship design, youth ministry, older adult ministries, missions, and so forth.

The Global Methodist church must become a highly networked church which works collaboratively across the larger evangelical church for more effective witness and service for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Denominations are useful for defining theology and producing structural support for ministry, but the actual work of ministry will be greatly enhanced through our participation in networks. I have already mentioned the importance of the Alpha Course network which is helping to equip churches all over the world in evangelism. Marriage Encounter a network which has helped millions of marriages grow stronger. The Lausanne movement is the largest global network for empowering the church for missions. Pastors and churches throughout the GMC should be deeply networked within the Lausanne movement. These large networks will be crucial for the vibrancy of the GMC.

World Missions

Fourth, the Global Methodist Church must help to foster a strategy to mobilize and deploy hundreds of Christians to bring the gospel to those who have not heard. In recent decades, the United Methodist Church was not a significant contributor to bringing the gospel to those who have not yet heard.

The GMC must re-engage the world with a vibrant global witness. When Jesus gave the Great Commission, he called us to preach the gospel and to disciple “all nations.” He did not use the word for nation as we often use it today which refers to political countries. Instead, he called us to bring the gospel to every people-group in the world. There are 195 political countries in the world, but there are 17,466 distinct people-groups in the world. Of those, there remain 7,400 people groups with no church. In addition, there are 1,000 languages which still do not have a single verse of Scripture in their tongue. It is the responsibility of all churches to give attention to this great need.

This is where a denomination can help foster a deep awareness of the global need for evangelism and church planting by helping to network with mission agencies like TMS Global or OMS to bring the gospel to the hundreds of people-groups who otherwise would not hear the gospel.

Our daughter Bethany has spent the last fifteen years doing church planting and Bible translation among the Alagwa in Tanzania. They are one of those 7,400 who had no access to the gospel until she and her team arrived fifteen years ago. Today, a small church has been planted and a good portion of the New Testament has been translated into their language for the first time. The GMC must be reinvigorated as a mission sending church.

Ministries of compassion and hope

Fifth, the Global Methodist Church must connect with the local communities to be a shining light of hope and grace for those who are hurting and in need of the ministry of the church. The Scriptures have several summary statements which describe the ministry of Jesus around preaching, teaching and healing (Matt. 4:23, 9:35). This is a powerful reminder that we should not only be preaching and teaching the gospel, but we should also be bringing healing to our communities, which itself is a powerful testimony to the inbreaking of the kingdom of God.

When I was President of Asbury Theological Seminary, I used to regularly exhort our students to go to the town mayor or county officials where they would be located and ask what keeps them awake at night. Once you learn what the biggest problems are in your community, then organize your church to address that need. It might be homelessness. It might be opioid addictions. It might be hunger or poverty. It might be catastrophic levels of anxiety and depression. Whatever needs are in your community, your church should be seen as an integral part of the solution.

The mission statement of the GMC calls for us to “love extravagantly.” So, let’s build that into our founding identity as a church! Every new GMC church should take time to build relationships with those in their community who are vulnerable and living on the margins, as well as those facing acute needs which the power of the gospel addresses.

Biblical Literacy and catechesis

Sixth, the Global Methodist Church must be committed to the teaching and training ministry of the church. The Great Commission commands us to “teach everything he has commanded us.” The American Bible Society conducts an annual survey which asks Christians how often they engage with the Bible. This percentage has been in steady decline for many years. For example, if someone engages with Bible even 3-4 times per year outside of church, they are counted as having “engaged” the Bible. Even with that very low bar, only 53 percent of Christians in 2014 engaged with the Bible 3-4 times per year or more. Today, that percentage has dropped to 39 percent. In fact, this past year, the survey found that 40 percent of all Christians never engage the Bible outside of church. Only 21 percent engaged in the Bible on a weekly or daily basis.

The growing biblical illiteracy, even in the church, is astonishing. We must encourage the regular reading of Scripture in our churches. We need a deep commitment to train new believers in the basics of the faith. If we simply encourage a “conversion” experience and regard the rest as optional, we will carry the same lethargy we inherited from the mainline churches into our new church.

Warm heartedness is highly regarded in our churches, and that is a good thing, but we also need people who understand the teachings of Scripture and who can think as well-informed Christians. Formation is a matter of the head as well as the heart.

Vibrant Worship

Finally, the opening phrase of the Global Methodist Church’s mission statement is to “worship passionately.” Worship has always been central to our movement. We should be known first and foremost as a people of worship.

John Wesley was known for his commitment to preach, teach, organize and disciple the emerging movement. But we should not forget the ministry of Charles Wesley, whose commitment to hymn writing and worship dramatically influenced the early formation of the Methodist movement during the Great Awakening. It was significant that every delegate at the founding GMC General Conference was gifted with a hymn book, O For a Heart to Praise My God, which is a collection of Charles Wesley hymns. It was a reminder of the amazing legacy of theologically solid hymns that have influenced not only Methodism, but much of the global church as well. The hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise was published to coincide with the founding of the GMC in order to establish a solid foundation for worship in our churches. The tension in our day is not the classic tension between “contemporary” and “traditional” worship. Rather, the tension is between those hymns or choruses which reflect solid theology and those which do not.

We must be ever mindful that the content of our worship is one of the primary ways men and women, young people and children are shaped and formed theologically. The church has historically embraced the phrase, “lex orandi, lex credendi” which loosely translated means, “how we worship is how we believe.” The genius of Methodism was historically rooted in an understanding of this, .and it should not be neglected by the GMC

In conclusion, the future of the GMC is bright.  We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help shape and form the DNA of this new denomination. May the Lord bless and guide this new movement for His glory and our good.

Timothy C. Tennent served for fifteen years as the President of Asbury Theological Seminary. He currently holds the Methodist Chair of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University. This article appeared in the March/April 2025 issue of Good News. Photo by Steve Beard.