Reusable hygiene
Terri Hokeness, Linda Bair and Carol Ford pf Riverside United Methodist Church helped make reusable cloth feminine hygiene kits. (Photo Courtesy of Riverside UMC)

Beyond Headlines, United Methodists Muster New Energy to Do Good

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Recent news headlines have screamed that the United Methodist Church in the United States has lost one-fifth of its congregations in a split over acceptance and inclusion of LGBTQ persons. What the articles typically don't tell are the ways in which remaining United Methodists are regrouping, rededicating and forging ahead with ministries that heal themselves and sustain their surrounding communities.

There's no doubt that this year has been woeful spiritually, emotionally and practically for the United Methodist Church. As of July 1, the unofficial tally totaled 6,182 departing churches out of 30,000 U.S. congregations. There also have been disaffiliations beyond the United States, mostly recently in the Estonia district of the Nordic-Baltic Central Conference where 32 churches voted to form their own independent Methodist Church.

Each time a significant number of disaffiliations is approved, the denomination has revised its top-level budget that supports worldwide ministry in expectation of lowered revenue. Significant downsizing and restructuring of its top-level organization are expected next spring when the UMC's legislative assembly, the General Conference, meets in Charlotte, N.C.

While disaffiliations picked up in the past two months as U.S. annual conferences (regional units) met to ratify church exits, not everyone in the departing churches wants to leave. In such cases, loyalists have transferred to other United Methodist churches or formed new congregations, as occurred in Houston and Amarillo, Texas. So, while secular news sources have focused on the latest results of a split that has been going on for a year, remaining United Methodists already are moving past the departures' trauma, gaining new energy to fulfill one of founder John Wesley's primary instructions, to "do good."

Following are notes on recent events drawn from articles that have appeared on United Methodist Insight and other news sources.

'Get up off the mat'

This year's U.S. annual conference sessions saw bishops and lay leaders focus on comforting and encouraging United Methodists to "get up off the mat" and forge ahead, as Bishop Delores J. Williamston told the Louisiana Conference. Likewise, Iowa United Methodists praised the episcopal address of their new bishop, Kennetha Bigham-Tsai, who urged them to "go a mile deep" in their discipleship. Bigham-Tsai gave all annual conference member copies of a new book, "Unrelenting Grace: A United Methodist Way of Life," by her colleague, Bishop Kenneth H. Carter Jr. of Western North Carolina Conference, to aid their study.

In the North Texas Annual Conference, Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. wrote an affirming op-ed published in the Dallas Morning News:

"Although separation can be painful and bring sorrow, it ultimately helps to clarify and strengthen our Christian identity and witness in the Wesleyan tradition as United Methodists. Our commitment to our historic doctrines remains steadfast, and we strive to unite our personal holiness with God’s vision for a just society."

Bishop Saenz's article mirrored a similar essay, "There is more to the United Methodist Church than the debate over human sexuality," penned in June by Kentucky Conference Bishop Leonard Fairley for the Louisville Courier-Journal. Acknowledging the 286 Kentucky churches that left the denomination, Bishop Fairley wrote:

"Our remaining members are ready to step into a new reality with a leaner, nimbler desire to 'Show the Love of God' – which just happened to be the theme of our 2023 gathering. As United Methodists, both clergy and nonclergy, we are called to serve as disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world."

In Holston Conference, which covers portions of north Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and southwestern Virginia, clergywoman Carol Wilson drew together 64 about their church experiences stories from self-selected United Methodists. Posted on the conference website, the stories also document the many ways in which United Methodist churches have made a difference in their communities.

"We’ve got to hear each other better, to find a way to share our stories in a way that helps us thrive,” she told Holston newsletter editor Annette Spence in a report.

The Chicago-based Northern Illinois Conference saw a similar effort at reconciliation. Laity co-leader Mark Manzi taught attendees techniques for having "Christlike conversations" with people with whom they disagree. He told the group to start with humility, one of Jesus' key qualities, and to listen to others with the intention of understanding them, not persuading them to adopt a different theological stance.

“It’s impossible to love Christ and hate others,” Manzi was quoted in a Northern Illinois report.

Even before the latest round of disaffiliations, layman Tracy Merrick, a progressive, and the Rev. Bob Zilhaver, a traditionalist, worked with each other for more than 20 years to build cooperation among churches and clergy in the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference. Part of Western Pennsylvania's "Intentional Missional Alignment Process" task force, the pair was recently profiled by UM News' Sam Hodges as an example of how some United Methodists are working "across the aisle" to foster new unity in diversity for the UMC.

While disaffiliation's institutional ramifications roll on, United Methodists also have been tending to the needs of others while they strive to heal from their own emotional wounds.

'Really brought our church together'

The Holston Conference stood out once more with the collection of health, home and school-supply kits for people in Liberia and Zimbabwe, countries outside the United States where the UMC is strong. Holston churches collected and packed 4,478 kits valued at $114,000.

Rosemary Archer, lay leader at Andersonville United Methodist Church in Andersonville, Tenn., told Holston communicator Annette Spence: “This really brought our church together, I think, because everyone participated.” Andersonville UMC lost members after it voted to stay in the denomination, but still delivered 17 food buckets for the Ishe Anesu mission in Zimbabwe, Spence wrote.

In Minnesota, members of Riverside United Methodist in Park Rapids and their pastor Roger Grafenstein went to the Midwest Mission Center in Pawnee, Illinois June 5-8 to help pack items for shipping overseas.

“This year, there was a lot of medical equipment that came in to meet the needs of people who have been injured in Ukraine,” Grafenstein said in an article by Lorrie Skarpness in the Park Rapids Enterprise. “Wheelchairs, walkers, canes, leg and arm braces, crutches. These items came in from all over Minnesota and needed to be cleaned up before they were shipped out, so we helped with that.”

In Mountain Top, Pa., volunteers with the United Methodist Action Reach-Out Mission by Youth program or UM ARMY turned their attention to helping homeowners. Camp director Darlene Thomas told Chelsea Strub of WNEP Newswatch 16 that UM ARMY serves as "a youth-focused organization that provides leadership development, spiritual development, and opportunities to serve." This summer students from churches in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Missouri spent a week in Luzerne County on various home improvement projects.

Through a string of United Methodist connections, a young refugee found his way from war-torn Ukraine to Michigan’s Adrian College to begin a new life, reported John E. Harnish of Michigan Conference Communications. Nikita Samsonenko has been sponsored by UMC-related Adrian College and First UMC of Birmingham, Mich., after being helped to escape the war by United Methodists in eastern Europe.

In another effort to aid Ukraine, a small hospital in western Ukraine has become a vital place of healing for internally displaced people, reported Urs Schweizer, a United Methodist bishop's assistant in Germany. The Methodist Church in the Czech Republic supports the hospital's activities along with contributions from German United Methodists.

United Methodists in the North Carolina Conference partnered with Liberian United Methodists to create a boon for the local economy: a pig butchery, valued at more than $20,000. The Rev. Bill Haddock of the North Carolina Conference told E. Julu Swen of UM News: “We want (Liberian United Methodists) to make money that will enable them to feed their family, send their children to school and be generous givers to the work of the church in Liberia."

This year, for the first time in the Baltimore-Washington Conference’s 239-year history, conference members engaged in a service project during the 2023 session. Clergy and laypeople performed building maintenance and repairs at six sites "where young people live and learn," wrote communications director Melissa Lauber. In addition, conference members wrote “love notes” to encourage Baltimore school children and packed 2,000 bags with $15,000 worth of school supplies, Lauber reported.

A joint project between United Methodists and the United Church of Christ resulted in 850 fruit tree saplings planted by children and youths to fight climate change in Zimbabwe. Each denomination planted half the saplings, which included Eureka lemons, Washington navel oranges, mangoes, Mandarin oranges and Clementine naartjies (an Asian citrus tree). Tendai Rebecca Gurupira, coordinator of the United Methodist ministry with women, children and youth in Zimbabwe, said the UMC “planted 425 trees at Murewa Mission amid joyful celebration,” according to a UM News story by Kudzai Chingwe.

In June, members of St. Paul's UMC in Helena, Mont., supported a climate lawsuit, Held vs. State of Montana, brought by 16 young people alleging the state was failing in its constitutional mandate to protect the environment. Cathy Velasquez Eberhart of UM Creation Justice Movement reported that St. Paul's sponsors the Creation Advocacy Network and church member David Hemion posted notes and photos through their Facebook group.

In April, a Volunteers in Mission team from Florida traveled to Quéssua Mission Station in Angola for  projects ranging from health care to nutrition to infrastructure. A Tampa nonprofit executive, Russ Montgomery, worked with the Florida Annual Conference to provide a surgeon and medical equipment to perform cataract surgery for dozens of Angolans. The project was made possible by the restoration of consistent electricity for the clinic. Electrical engineer Ed Lobnitz and electrical contractor David Johnston, volunteer team members, rewired the clinic's power connections to get the generator running properly, reported Joey Butler of UM News.

More anecdotes about soup kitchens, food distribution, health clinics, school projects, clothing closets, aid for seniors, community engagement and more can be told in every United Methodist church around the world. While their institutional situation roils with dissension, United Methodists remain unified in their commitment to founder John Wesley's instruction to do good in the world.

Veteran award-winning religion journalist Cynthia B. Astle has reported on The United Methodist Church at all levels for 35 years. She serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, an online journal she founded in 2011 as a media channel for marginalized and under-served United Methodist news and views. This article is an updated version of a feature that appeared previously on Baptist News Global.