A Deeper Look at the Mt. Bethel UMC Conflict

Analysis

by

Interpretive Analysis

If you are a United Methodist who is paying any attention at all to news stories about Mt. Bethel UMC in the North Georgia Conference, you have heard conflicting accounts of what is going on. Mt. Bethel’s leadership alleges that Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson appointed their pastor, Jody Ray, to another position after five years of being their senior pastor with no prior notice as a punishment for the church’s views on a number of issues. The bishop, on the other hand, says that she moved Dr. Ray because she needed his leadership on her staff and she had a traditional pastor of proven capabilities to appoint to Mt. Bethel, in part to help them improve their financial situation. Mt. Bethel is behind in its apportionments by $1.5 million and has been in arrears for many years. And there are rumors that it is having trouble meeting its payroll.

Bishop Sue states that when the District Superintendent advised Rev. Ray of this change, he refused to even talk to her. He has since surrendered his ministerial credentials and is no longer a United Methodist Elder in full connection. When the bishop’s assistant called the Staff Parish Relations chairperson to discuss this change, she hung up the telephone on him. It is true that these calls took place beyond the normal lead time to announce changes in appointments; however, it is also true that the bishop has the absolute authority to make these changes.

If your only source is Juicy Ecumenism, a blog site of the IRD, you have read that Bishop Sue is the devil herself acting beyond her authority. She is punishing Mt. Bethel for supporting the Wesleyan Covenant Association. However, anyone who accesses this site regularly is probably not reading posts on Progressive Methodists. If you read the North Georgia Conference web-site, you will see a more balanced account of the situation.

Currently, the North Georgia Conference Trustees have, by unanimous approval of the Bishop’s cabinet, assumed control of the assets of Mt. Bethel. Why did they do this? There are several reasons:

1. Mt. Bethel has for a long time defied the rules of the Book of Discipline by not paying or underpaying their apportionments.

2. When Dr. Ray surrendered his credentials, Mt. Bethel made him CEO and lead pastor of the congregation.

3. When his successor, Dr. Steve Usry, appointed by the Bishop, showed up to begin his appointment, Mt. Bethel refused to give him an office, reduced his salary to the bottom of his category, and told him he would report to Dr. Ray, the CEO.

4. Mt. Bethel has made major financial commitments with no consultation with the conference.

5. Mt. Bethel has violated many provisions of the Book of Discipline.

As problematic as these items are, the long history of Mt. Bethel is even more concerning. It sponsored a world meeting of United Methodist supporters of the WCA in 2019 prepping them on how to vote in the Special General Conference of 2019. It has not paid its full apportionment in many years, long before Bishop Sue arrived in 2016. It dismissed its music director a few years ago when it learned that he was a gay man. He was immediately hired by a UMC in the same county. Mt Bethel operates a Christian school with 300 employees. Rumors are that indebtedness for building the school has been integrated into the church’s finances in order to discourage the conference from acting to take over the church. Many people at Mt. Bethel went to the Bishop asking her to intervene. A fairly tight group of laity has been in control of the church for a long time.

News articles stated that Mt. Bethel is the largest church in the conference with over 10,000 members. The articles do not say how many attend on Sunday morning. UMC data show less than 2,000, about 20% in a conference with average Sunday morning attendance of about 35%. Indications are that Mt. Bethel intends to initiate disaffiliation. Many question whether it can legitimately raise the two-thirds congregational vote necessary to move forward with that action. This also begs the question of how a church whose assets have been assumed by the conference can proceed with disaffiliation.

This is truly the “atomic bomb” of UMC events, a conference taking over a church. But it has been a long time coming. Bishop Sue did not create this problem; she inherited it. Mt. Bethel has been defying UMC rules and directives for a long time. The bishop made 70 appointments this year that moved clergy. 69 of them were well received. The itinerant system is as Methodist as dinner on the grounds. In fact, John Wesley initiated it and stated that he hoped it would last until Jesus returned. Unfortunately, this is just the kind of church news that makes the papers. It has been on page one of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, while Bishop Sue’s initiative to bring people of all views together at the table of reconciliation has gone unreported.

This is a sad day for the United Methodist Church, however one views it, because of the adverse publicity and the deepening division within the church. But in the end, we are a denomination with rules that must be followed. Bishop Sue has stated clearly and publicly that she will follow the Book of Discipline, and she has.

Pete Fleming, a United Methodist layman, lives in Duluth, Ga. This post is republished with the author's permission from the Progressive Methodists Facebook group.