What to Do with the 'We Can Also' (WCA) Group in My Church: A Parable

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Clearly I am not Jesus, so this parable will not be of that standard, but here we go:

There is a new group within my church, called "We Can Also" and I do not know how to minister to and with them.

This group upholds all the same beliefs of The United Methodist Church, but requires group members to meet the group's financial dues. The group has a leadership that is self appointed and outside the due process of the lay leadership team nominations and the administrative council approval outline in the Book of Discipline. And while I love prayer, they are asking the whole church to pray for the group's creation even as many disagree with the creation of the group. Additionally, they are asking group members to advocate for the group's interests and seek out new people to join the group. The group's leadership sets its events on dates that the church has events already scheduled and members are forced to decide if they should attend the new group's events or attend to the previously scheduled church events. The group also seems to downplay the resources from Cokesbury and Upper Room for a newer publishing house.

The group's leadership does not see the creation of this group as violating the Discipline. However, the group's requirements on financial contributions and attendance puts people in a precarious position of choosing whether or not they will take their time and treasure from the larger church in order to support this new group.

The new group has been asked to consider the harm they are doing to the church (thus violating the first rule of the UMC), but the new group says they will continue their work since they do not see a violation of the Discipline. And when reminded that there is a higher authority on the interpretation of the Discipline (namely, the Judicial Council), they state that "We Can Also" interpret the Discipline. They go on to write to their group members that their pastor was out of line to say they are breaking the Discipline and that to call this group's creation into question is just another way members of this group are threatened. They explain they are only forming We Can Also to support those who interpret the Discipline they way they do. When asked about how they interpret the Discipline, the group leadership said that they understand it the "right way" and that if I interpret it differently then they will consider leaving the church.

I have a three primary concerns with the We Can Also group in my church: 

  1. I am concerned We Can Also exists in an echo chamber behind a paywall. I am concerned that  the unintended consequence will be this group will become enslaved to their own thinking and that their hearts will harden (like that of Pharaoh in Exodus).
  2. I am concerned others will be inspired by We Can Also to create their own group, and that the local Body of Christ will become not a body of cooperating members, but an assembly disconnected parts (like that of the church in Corinth).
  3. I am concerned that if membership to We Can Also requires that one agrees with their positions and pays dues, then does offering communion at their meetings violate the UMC's theology of the open table of Christ?

The Rev. Jason Valendy, along with his wife, the Rev. Estee Valendy, serves as co-pastor of Saginaw (Texas) United Methodist Church. He blogs at JasonValendy.net, from which this post is republished with the author's permission.