Bishops Urge Halt to Côte d’Ivoire Funding

by

Nov. 15, 2024 | ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. (UM News)

The United Methodist Council of Bishops is asking the denomination’s finance agency to suspend all funding for bishop compensation and related expenses in Côte d’Ivoire.

The bishops also urge the General Council on Finance and Administration to review denominational funding projects and secure United Methodist property in the country.

The two requests come after the Côte d’Ivoire Conference registered with the West African nation’s government as an independent Methodist church.

The bishops voted for the actions shortly before adjourning their Nov. 3-8 meeting at the Epworth by the Sea Conference Center on St. Simons Island, Georgia. The requests will go to the General Council on Finance and Administration board, which already planned to meet Nov. 20.

Côte d’Ivoire Conference staff did not immediately respond to a United Methodist News request for comment.

In late May, the Côte d’Ivoire Conference held a vote to leave The United Methodist Church, citing opposition to recent General Conference actions.

Council of Bishops President Tracy S. Malone told her colleagues that at the time, the bishops received indications that the conference was willing to follow the procedures under The United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline for becoming an autonomous denomination. Using that process, the conference would continue to receive denominational funding and not become fully independent until the end of 2028 at the earliest.

But for months, the bishops did not hear any responses when they tried to reach out to conference leaders. Instead, the week before its fall meeting, the Council of Bishops office received notice that the conference had other plans.

“The United Methodist Church is no longer registered in Côte d’Ivoire,” Malone, who also leads the Indiana Conference, told her colleagues. Instead, she said, the conference is registered as an independent entity.

“So in light of that, the executive committee took action, and in order for the funding to be suspended, we needed to bring a motion before the full council,” she said.

The bishops also supported a motion brought by Liberia Conference Bishop Samuel Quire to ask the finance agency to inspect and do what it can to hold onto denominational property in the country.

Quire said that since Côte d’Ivoire joined The United Methodist Church about 16 years ago, the denomination has funded ministry projects to support the conference. He added the Book of Discipline, the denomination’s law book, includes the trust clause that states all church property must be held in trust for the benefit of the broader denomination. The Methodist trust clause originated with Methodism’s founder John Wesley.

“We are supposed to be contending for our property, unless The United Methodist Church does not want to do that,” Quire said. “But this will serve as a deterrent for any United Methodist church where people want to just walk away from The United Methodist Church with property.”

The Methodist Protestant Church of Côte d’Ivoire was already autonomous when it sought to join The United Methodist Church, first provisionally in 2004 and then fully in 2008. It previously had been part of the British Methodist Church before becoming autonomous in 1985.

Bishop Benjamin Boni, the conference’s current episcopal leader, led the way for Côte d’Ivoire to officially join The United Methodist Church. He already was set to retire at the end of this year. He did not attend the Council of Bishops meeting.

While Côte d’Ivoire has left the United Methodist fold, its districts in Senegal and Cameroon plan to remain United Methodist. Cameroonian United Methodists recently held a vote announcing their intensions to stay.  

Heather Hahn is assistant news editor for UM News.