There has been a lot of talk recently about the Wesleyan Covenant Association and the Global Methodist Church as they have made recent headlines in the Oklahoman.
I want to point out some important facts about The United Methodist Church as I have been ordained to uphold the order of the church and have represented our denomination through the Oklahoma Conference delegation since 2004. As a recent appointee to become the next Crossroads District Superintendent in July, I also represent United Methodists across this region as well as our conference.
The General Conference is the only organization that has the authority to pass legislation that would allow any kind of formal exit to a different denomination. Currently, local churches may leave the denomination if they work out an agreement with the annual conference Board of Trustees. This is because all United Methodist property is owned by the annual conference where it resides.
There is a trust clause in the deed of all United Methodist property that states this.
One of the other sticking points for leaving would be for a congregation to continue to cover the pension payments for all the years of clergy who served their church. Most annual conferences will come up with a dollar amount that is fair. This ensures that these churches are paying their fair share for services received through the years (and those of us who are remaining are not stuck with their bill).
For longer than I have been in ministry, there have been groups that have sought to remove the trust clause from the Discipline which is our governing document. There have been a variety of reasons for leaving the denomination. The latest seems to revolve around how we are in ministry with LGBTQ persons.
Currently, our Discipline does not allow for same gender weddings or for clergy who are in a same gender relationship to serve. The penalties for violating these policies come through the annual conference and there are places within United Methodism which ignore this language. In other words, the feeling in those regions is that these behaviors are not punishable. Others in more conservative regions disagree.
I know of no public violations of these policies within the Oklahoma Conference. No one is currently on trial in our conference for these violations.
Some in our conference feel that violations in other annual conferences are too close for comfort. They are seeking to leave (with others) to start the Global Methodist Church. Currently, this denomination does not yet exist. There is also movement to start a more progressive denomination called the Liberation Methodist Connexion. So far, I've not heard of any Oklahoma churches seeking to join this denomination. The United Methodist Church remains in the center. There is no guarantee that any legislation will be passed that will pave the way for an easier exit toward any other denomination.
General Conference has been postponed due to the pandemic to August of 2022. Because we have delegates attending from Africa, Asia and Europe, it would be impossible to gather at this time. Because of our rules (and time zones and translation issues and sheer size), we are not able to gather online. How quickly the world can successfully vaccinate will largely determine whether General Conference is able to meet in 2022.
I have always been outspoken in my desire to stay within The United Methodist Church. Even though not all agree about this particular issue, there are far greater things that we accomplish together. When I have worked on ecumenical groups that seek to bring denominations together, we never start with the things on which we disagree.
As we move through a pandemic, we have seen a lot of division occur. The election, race issues and how we respond to the coronavirus have all been things on which we have polarized as a country. Not being able to worship together as a whole and not being able to sit down with one another in Sunday school makes it easier to go our separate ways. We have had some in our congregation choose to leave because they believed that I was too lenient on the matter of how we should be in ministry with our LGBTQ siblings. I would be naïve if I thought that the issues I mentioned above did not also contribute. However, I try to lead with grace as a pastor and this has always been how I would prefer to characterize my ministry. I wish those who seek to find other places of worship blessing. I give thanks for the gifts and talents they shared with us.
When we lose people over any issue, it is always difficult. We grieve and sometimes those who are left behind feel like this position was more important to them than our relationship. As we see emails and groups trying to pull others away from The United Methodist Church, this is the easiest time to sow division. We aren't able to meet as we normally would.
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| When we walk the road together, we find strength for the journey. |
The harder thing is often to stay in relationship with one another, but as we consider that we will be reunited in heaven, it makes sense to me that we should seek to work out our disagreements here.
I'm proud of our church. I'm proud of our denomination. I would seek for others to be in Christ with us through our Wesleyan understanding of grace. This Sunday, we'll continue to share in faith through our Easter series, "Abiding in the Resurrection" on First John. My sermon title is "What if the Sin Just Sneaks Up on Me?" and is based on 1 John 3:1-7. I would invite you to join us!
In Christ,
Sam
Photo by Ian Sane via Flickr.com. Used under the Creative Commons license.
Thank you for explaining everything so clearly and putting into perspective the recent issues. We appreciate you!
ReplyDeleteHappy it was helpful - it is a difficult time for sure!
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