Discernment Team Update (11/30/22)
The Discernment Team has met four times since forming in mid-October. The last meeting was held on November 16th at 6pm.
At the last two meetings, the team listed all the available options available to Wilmore UMC. The options fall under two main categories: 1) Remain a United Methodist Church; and 2) Disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church. There are a variety of options that fall under these two main categories and the team is working to gather the information necessary in order to filter through those options.
In the weeks ahead, the team will also be asking for your feedback through a survey. It is important to the team that they represent the heart of the congregation as they discern through the available options. Be on the lookout for that survey sometime in December.
As a reminder, the Discernment Team members are Sheila Lovell, Matt Hadley (Lay Leader), Andrew Baker, Kim Sayre, Susan Brabon, Mel Noah, Jay Endicott, and Pastor D. Merricks (ex-officio).
Please continue to pray for this team, their work of discernment, and our church. The next meetings are scheduled for Wednesday, December 7th and Wednesday, December 14th.
Discernment Team Update
The Discernment Team has met twice since forming in mid-October. The last meeting was held on October 26th at 6pm.
The first meeting included each person introducing themselves and answering the questions: 1) How did you first come to Wilmore UMC? and 2) What do you love about our church?
Pastor D. then led the group through a teaching on discernment in order to set the tone for what the team’s work will be about. Part of the teaching included looking at Acts 15 – the story of how early believers overcame great disagreement to eventually establish that one did not have to be Jewish first to be a Christian. Acts 15:28 has been adopted as a kind of theme verse for the discernment team: “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.”
The second meeting began with a devotional from 1 Samuel and seeing how Eli and Samuel learned to discern the Lord’s voice. Samuel’s response became the team’s prayer that evening, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
After the devotional, Matt Hadley led the group in an exercise to establish in the primary question the discernment team will be working on. This included naming the many issues surrounding our church and our denomination – both large and small. The question adopted for now is, “What will be Wilmore UMC’s relationship be to the United Methodist Church?” The team understands that the question may change a little as more conversations are had in the coming weeks.
Please continue to pray for this team, their work of discernment, and our church. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 10th at 6pm.
Discernment Team Members: Sheila Lovell, Matt Hadley, Andrew Baker, Kim Sayre, Susan Brabon, Mel Noah, Jay Endicott, D. Merricks (ex-officio)
Is the denomination already dividing?
This is the second in a series of articles about the current state of the United Methodist Church. These articles are meant to inform the congregation of what is happening in the broader church and give context to the work of the Discernment Team. To read the first article, What is the divide really about?, click here.
Is the denomination dividing already?
If you mention you are United Methodist to someone, chances are the next question will be, “Isn’t there a split happening in the United Methodist Church?” It can be argued that the United Methodist Church has been splitting for quite some time, but an actual split (where churches are formally leaving the denomination) is now underway.
In 2019, a called General Conference was convened to consider the proposals from the Commission on a Way Forward. (See a review of that in the first article). After the Traditional Plan1 was passed, a new paragraph was added to the Book of Discipline, paragraph 2553.2 The new paragraph outlined a process for individual churches to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church for reasons of conscience. This was the first time in the history of the United Methodist Church that local churches were given the ability to separate from the denomination. Disaffiliation means that the church continues to be a worshiping congregation, but is no longer a part of the United Methodist Church; it does not dissolve, it simply separates.
Paragraph 2553 contains the following:
- A local church may disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church by a two-thirds majority vote at a duly called charge conference.
- The trust clause, which binds all the property of all United Methodist Churches together, is suspended. If the terms of disaffiliation are met by the local church, the church property and buildings are deeded over to the local congregation.
- The local church must pay the disaffiliation terms. They are:
- Any unpaid apportionments for the 12 months prior to disaffiliation, as well as an additional 12 months of apportionments. (This includes both conference and district apportionments.)
- The local church shall contribute withdrawal liability in an amount equal to its pro rata share of any aggregate unfunded pension obligations to the annual conference.
- A church is officially disaffiliated after a vote of the Annual Conference.
- Paragraph 2553 is in effect until December 31, 2023; meaning it is no longer valid after that date unless renewed at General Conference in 2024.
Originally, many people believed that the more progressive churches of the UMC would disaffiliate given that the Traditional Plan was passed at GC2019. However, when the regularly scheduled General Conference for 2020 was postponed and then postponed again, a sentiment grew among traditionally minded United Methodists that the denomination would stall out once again. Instead of waiting two more years for change that may or may not happen, the Global Methodist Church launched on May 1, 2022. (The next article will answer the question, What is the Global Methodist Church?”)
The launch of the Global Methodist Church has precipitated a movement within some local churches to disaffiliate according to the terms of paragraph 2553. As of October 24, 2022, a total of 1035 local churches have disaffiliated or been discontinued from the United Methodist Church.3 Please note that not all disaffiliating churches are joining the Global Methodist Church. Some are looking at other denominations (i.e. Free Methodist, Nazarene, Wesleyan) or remaining independent. Disaffiliations will continue to grow as Special Annual Conferences are held in November and December as well as during next summer’s regular annual conference season. A Special Kentucky Annual Conference will be held on December 4, 2022 for the purpose of approving the disaffiliation of churches in our conference who have already met the terms of paragraph 2553.
1 You can see all the plans on this handout: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Website_Properties_UGC/learn/documents/GC2019-Plan-comparison.pdf
2 The paragraph can be read in full here: https://www.umc.org/en/content/book-of-discipline-2553-disaffiliation-over-human-sexuality
What’s happening in United Methodism?
Over the last few weeks, several church members have asked me about what’s going on within the larger United Methodist Church. Questions like:
What is the divide really about?
Is the denomination dividing already?
What is the Global Methodist Church?
Will our church stay United Methodist?
These are big questions that do not have simple answers. However, I will do my best to address each one and provide a resource for further reading.
What is the divide really about?
The simple answer to this question is the place of LGBTQ persons in the life of the church. A debate that is over 50 years old.
The United Methodist Church was formed in 1968 by the merger of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the United Brethren. The uniting of these two traditions brought together a diverse group of people under the umbrella of one denomination. Each tradition had members we might call “conservative” and “liberal.” Every denomination contains a theological spectrum, meaning that while all identify as Christian, there are some aspects of the faith in which there is disagreement.
One aspect of faith that came up at the 1972 General Conference was the place of LGBTQ individuals in the life of the church. A commission that was tasked with studying the issue proposed “naming homosexuals as people of sacred worth, welcome in the fellowship of the church, and persons whose rights should be protected.”1 What this language failed to do was outline the specific behavior that was right or wrong. After much debate on the conference floor, an amendment was proposed and adopted which stated, “we do not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.”2 This is the language that still exists today.
With the passage of time, Americans have drastically shifted their views on the practice of homosexuality. A study by Pew Research in 2019 revealed that 61% of Americans supported same-sex marriage.3 This shift has also taken place within churches as can be seen by the division of the Presbyterian Church, the Episcopal Church, and the Mennonite Church USA, to name a few.
At the 2016 General Conference, the question of LGBTQ inclusion came to a head and a new commission was formed. This time it was not language that was studied, but the commission was tasked with finding a way forward for the denomination. At a special called General Conference in 2019, the commission presented three proposals for moving forward: the One Church Plan, the Connectional Conference Plan, and the Traditional Plan.4
1) One Church Plan – giving clergy the right to perform same-sex weddings and changing the “incompatibility” language in the Book of Discipline.
2) Connectional Conference Plan – this proposal would allow regions to decide for themselves what to change or not change while maintaining the umbrella of the United Methodist Church.
3) Traditional Plan – maintains the current language in the Book of Discipline and offers a mandatory and generous off-ramp for those conferences, congregations, and clergy who do not agree.
At the 2019 Called General Conference, a Modified Traditional Plan passed by a vote of 438 to 384 (53% to 47%), upholding the historic language and practice of the United Methodist Church.5 This surprised many in attendance and advocates for full LGBTQ inclusion were hurt and dismayed. For many years, there were clergy and congregations who did not follow the church’s stance on inclusion; clergy conducted same-sex weddings, practicing LGBTQ persons were ordained as clergy and even as bishop. After GC2019 many more followed suit stating that they simply could not follow rules that went against their conscience.
In 2020, a regularly scheduled General Conference was to meet and a new proposal was going to be presented to move the denomination forward. The Protocol for Grace and Reconciliation through Separation was a compromise reached by leaders representing each side of the debate. The main provision of the protocol was a gracious exit for any congregation wishing to leave the United Methodist Church and join an alternative denomination in the Methodist tradition. There was great hope around the passing of the protocol in 2020, but COVID-19 has effectively cancelled that General Conference and some of the original support for the protocol has been withdrawn.
So, is the divide really about the inclusion of LGBTQ persons? Yes and no. There are many in the United Methodist Church who disagree about same-sex marriage, LGBTQ clergy, and whether or not the practice of homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching.” But these disagreements are rooted in each person’s reading and interpretation of Scripture. Therefore, the divide is less about LGBTQ inclusion and more about differences in biblical interpretation and theological reasoning. When discussing this, we should be careful about using terms like “conservative,” “liberal,” “orthodox,” or “progressive.” These are broad categories used to define groups of people, but rarely clearly articulate a person’s beliefs. The divide is also about whether or not we can be in denominational connection with those with which we deeply disagree.
Footnotes:
1 UPDATED: The Fifty-Year Fight over Scripture & Sexuality in the #UMC (People Need Jesus blog)
2 The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, 2016 (Nashville, Tenn.: United Methodist Publishing House, 2016), ¶116.
3 Attitude on Same-Sex Marriage, Pew Research
4 First Read: The Way Forward Report (People Need Jesus blog)
5 #GC2019: Update 5 (People Need Jesus blog)
Page 2 of 5