NC Disaster Response
United Methodist Forward NC's "Held Together in Christ" open letter affirms: "We have connected hands and heart of faith, through every natural disaster, and have repaired or rebuilt thousands of homes for disaster survivors, over 3,000 homes for Hurricanes Florence, Dorian, and Matthew." (Photo Courtesy of North Carolina Annual Conference)
United Methodism’s vibrancy has brought many blessings to our state, its communities, and across the globe. We represent thousands of people who have discovered a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, whether as cradle Methodists or as those who made their way into the church in adulthood.
We have connected hands and heart of faith, through every natural disaster, and have repaired or rebuilt thousands of homes for disaster survivors, over 3,000 homes for Hurricanes Florence, Dorian, and Matthew. We have served tens of thousands of students through the decade-long ministry of Congregations for Children. Across the globe, we have built scores of churches, hospitals, and schools, and we sent the first United Methodist missionary to Africa.
As servants and leaders who love this church and who long for a hopeful future, we call you to join us in inspirited witness to God’s great future. We celebrate a church that has increased our faith, confirmed our hope, and is working still to perfect us in love.
And yet we know that same church now lives in deep conflict–an experience the church knows all too well. Since the church’s beginning, when it has seemed impossible to find consensus, we struggled together in prayer and in love to be able to say “it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us.” (Acts 15:28). And since Methodism’s earliest days, we share a commitment to holy lives, where what we believe animates how we live out the love of Jesus in our world.In light of the Holy Spirit’s continuing grace working in us, we reaffirm our calling to be Christ’s representatives in this corner of our world, preaching our historic faith in God who became truly human for our salvation. Our preaching finds its source in scripture, our theological task, Articles of Religion, and the faith we sing in our hymns. These sources are not negotiable for us, now or ever.
We are disciple-making people who believe in Holy Scripture’s primary authority as the witness to Jesus’s resurrection from the dead as our sure hope in this life and the life of the world to come.
We are justice-seeking people who proclaim that God is reconciling all things together in Christ, the church’s ancient message for today’s world.
We are missional people who believe that our holiness is evidenced by how we work to care for all creation and God’s beloved creatures.
We are committed, grace-filled people who believe that we experience life with the triune God personally and communally, through prayer and action.
As we look toward The United Methodist Church’s future, we are committed to renewing these facets of our collective identity, and to following the Holy Spirit’s guidance with generosity, humility, resilience, and welcoming joy. We recognize that our denomination is not perfect, and that we have a deep need for reparation, reform, and renewal. We mourn that some among us feel compelled to leave our denomination, and we pray that they find other homes where they can know the love of God and bear fruits of holiness wherever God calls them to be.
From this day forward, it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us that we will work to welcome all people without qualification, hesitation, or restraint, into a transforming relationship with Jesus and his church.
We will preach Christ, risen and present, with our words and with our presence in communities from Kitty Hawk to Southern Pines, from Burlington to Wilmington, and all the places around and in between. It seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us that our doors are open to and our hearts ablaze again with love for the neighbors God gives us.
We will continue following Christ into hospital rooms and prison cells, into homes recovering from hurricanes and schools devastated by poverty and politics, and all the places where Christ goes ahead of us bringing hope and healing.
We will plant new United Methodist churches, new places of restoration and liberation, because it seems good to the Spirit and to us that works of piety and mercy should still be found in equal measure in eastern North Carolina.
Ephesians 4:15 says, “by speaking the truth with love, let’s grow in every way into Christ.” Unfortunately, there is much misinformation and misunderstanding being bantered about disaffiliation and what is next for The United Methodist Church. You can stay updated on the most accurate details on the Conference Disaffiliation website. A resource entitled You May Have Heard is also available to directly address some of the claims and questions being posed around disaffiliation and the future of The United Methodist Church.
We offer ourselves as evidence that God is still calling people to spread scriptural holiness. We affirm that our work as United Methodist people is to offer and embody the saving, justifying, and sanctifying love of God. We affirm our commitment to lives of holiness, centered in the life of Christ. Although we may not always think alike, we affirm that together with God’s help, we will love alike—on earth as it is in heaven. We pray that you will join us in faithfully participating in God’s great future and in being open to the Spirit’s lively movement, in which there is always room to spare.
Signatories 668 as of Sept. 28, 2022