Our 'Discernment' Process Was Chaotic and Heart-breaking.

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After reading so many of the disaffiliation experiences on the Stay UMC Facebook group, I decided to share some of what I have learned about this disaffiliation process and describe what happened in our church, First UMC in Katy, Texas.

I am a 40-year-ago convert to United Methodism. I was raised and confirmed as a Missouri Synod Lutheran. I have been teaching in the UMC for almost the entire 40 years since I joined. I fell in love with John Wesley and the church when I married a young man who became a UMC pastor, like many in his family before him. When he passed away suddenly in 1995, my path as a Christian educator was clear. I spent the next 14 years on the staff of my UMC church in Katy, Texas. I remarried and am retired, but still teaching and am active in our local church in many capacities.

Most relevant to this story: Last summer, I was recruited as an unwitting member of the dreaded “Discernment Team.” We were told that we would go through this process to “get in touch with our feelings” about what was going on in United Methodism. Through a series of actions on the part of our senior pastor and other leaders, I know now that the goal was disaffiliation. I was told that I was added to the team because I had a very different opinion than our senior pastor.

Boy, was that true. Here is my experience with “Discernment”.

Our process in Katy, Texas, was chaotic and heart-breaking. We did the full discernment process you all describe—sort of. We were asked to pray, but that was an afterthought. Because people were accusing the UMC of not valuing scripture and abandoning our beliefs, I, as an educator suggested over and over that we needed some sessions on these things during our education process. I was told that would be too disruptive at THIS time. Consequently, the questions people had about these issues, were never answered or publicly addressed.

No comprehensive process

There was no comprehensive education process, other than town meetings on how to disaffiliate and mostly financial question and answer sessions about land and monies and property ownership. Our people were confused from the beginning as to why we were really there. Much to my objections, we were educated fully from the beginning about all the attributes of GMC membership. I saw this as disloyal, inappropriate and a conflict of interest.

Not wanting to bring up things that were controversial, our members were reluctant to discuss the elephant in the room! My conclusion was that the discernment never answered the most basic questions. At the end of it, although we were told we were NOT voting, we were asked to catalogue our opinions in a survey about who would stay if the language of the Book of Discipline changed. We danced all around the subject, but never really discussed it. Our preliminary “non-vote” showed that we were split almost equally (25%+/-) in each of the 4 areas which went from fully embracing LGBTQ inclusion, to walking out the door if the exclusive language against gay clergy and same-sex marriage was removed. That should have told us everything. There was no consensus. We should have stopped the process right there, but by this time, the disaffiliators were in full motion.

My conclusion was that the discernment never answered the most basic questions.

We had interference from some of the local leaders of the “Global” movement and many falsehoods were circulated among our people.

For instance: we were told that if we stayed United Methodist, we would no longer believe in the resurrection, the creeds, the Holy Spirit, the divinity of Jesus, etc. That we would be forced by the conference to have gay/trans pastors in our pulpit, that we would suddenly become ultra-liberal, and there would be rainbow banners on our church porch, and gay parades in our future. That we would only care about social issues and abandon evangelism, discipleship and all our “traditional family values”, etc. That the GMC believed in “saving people,” but the UMC only social action. That members would be forced to believe in abortion, and accept other hot-button causes as their own. These were the scare tactics that have been promulgated by the deceitful Woodlands UMC (Texas) pastor, Rob Renfro, and leaders of this movement, and which unfortunately drove the underground discussion that was going on in our church for many months prior to even broaching the discernment process.

It was as if an unseen force was disrupting our church and our people—who really had not seemed to care one thing about any of these issues until this propaganda project began. We have always been a church that embraced many viewpoints, politically, culturally and theologically. Our Sunday School classes were diverse and held different theological perspectives, but now those who held more conservative beliefs were angry and accusatory. The rest of us were left wondering where all the anger had come from?! Our church culture was beginning to look like our political culture, and the incivility at our town halls and other meetings reflected that. It has been eerie and amazing to read posts from all over the country on this #stayumc group and see identical experiences and comments about these same tactics used to divide and split UM churches across our Texas Annual Conference and across the nation.

It was as if an unseen force was disrupting our church and our people—who really had not seemed to care one thing about any of these issues until this propaganda project began.

In my own study during this process, I looked for clues as to the history of this Global/ ultra-conservative movement. I remembered the divisive GOOD NEWS publication from many years prior that came uninvited to our church. As a young Christian educator in the '90s, I questioned its source and was appalled by many of the articles. It was decidedly right wing—homophobic, anti-women and critical of some of our most basic theologies and practices. It was critical of social justice, the common good, multiculturalism, and political correctness, etc.

If you have not already done so, you can also search the history of conservatism/fundamentalism in the UMC and read about it as I did. It has truly been a 30-40 year long “shadow operation”, an ultra-conservative movement attacking from within—-a church within our United Methodist Church that never quite accepted our own (and evidently, John Wesley’s) theology. The Wesleyan Quadrilateral -- a name given to John Wesley's method of interpreting scripture through tradition, experience and reason – was actually attacked at one of our local info sessions. In my opinion, this “hostile takeover” of our UMC was strategic and planned for many years. It has absolutely been the source of this current very deceitful campaign to take our church back to fundamentalism. Because it was underground, the intensity of the fear, anger and hostility it generated has caught us all unawares.

'None of this propaganda is true"

The problem is, of course, that none of this propaganda is true. And yet, the ideas that were introduced have upended, divided and split our congregation. Katy is a traditional church, but obviously, diverse in its differences. Out ultra-conservative pastor (who had only been with us for a year) campaigned undercover to go Global. In the end, we voted to remain United Methodist. Even with all the dishonorable conversation and underhand tactics, only about 300+ members (out of 1600) showed up to vote. And of those, 61% voted to disaffiliate, but that was not enough to meet the 67% requirement. That left us with our building, with our savings and a lot of dissension, anger and animosity. Many long-time members were convinced by the rumors and have since left to create a GMC right around the corner from our church. Leaders of this movement have continued to proselyte and siphon away more people. But we remain resolute in our doctrine, our principles and our resolve to do what Jesus would do—-to continue to love people where they are and to be humble people of deep and abiding faith!

Many who have bought into the lies told in our church believe that the United Methodist Church is going off the deep end, and most of those people are gone now. The odd thing is that those who remain are absolutely changing nothing we are doing, and are in the process of reassessing how we will move forward—-not as a “transgender church,” but as a church that LOVES people. ALL people. Although we know the language in our Book of Discipline on gay marriage and “the homosexual lifestyle” so troubling to so many will not even be up for change until 2024 General Conference, we also know it may be voted down. Our associate pastor is an affirming pastor, and he has miraculously become our Senior Pastor! There is a resurgence of service and attendance and love for one another that is thrilling and inspiring. The people who are there definitely want to be there, and this is invigorating. Many who stayed are hoping the language does change, but it is important to know that there are still a variety of people with their own minds! We are not, and never were, a homogenous group.

Our church in Katy has always embraced ALL people. We have loved people of color, and gay people and straight people and imperfect people. Poor and rich, black and white, male, female and from a wide spectrum of different theological viewpoints.

I think it is very important for those of us who stay in the United Methodist Church to understand some basic things. This movement, is at its core, based on a resurgence of fundamentalism. The United Methodist Church is NOT a fundamentalist denomination. It is a church of the Quadrilateral—-balancing biblical understanding and authority of scripture with reason and experience and tradition. It has always understood scripture as the “inspired Word of God” but has never understood scripture literally or without a broad and educated interpretation based on archaeology and geography and science and history. We are a big-tent church, tolerant, accepting, loving of the same people Jesus loved. We try (through the theological training of our pastors) to be an educated, informed discerning group of people, who “think and let think”, as John Wesley so eloquently said.

Our church in Katy has always embraced ALL people. We have loved people of color, and gay people and straight people and imperfect people. Poor and rich, black and white, male, female and from a wide spectrum of different theological viewpoints.

Someday, when and if church laws and language change, we may do things differently. We will certainly begin (at some point) to invite people to a church that is open to all. We will likely continue to teach that all people sin and fall short of God’s glory, and that none of us serve or pastor or teach as perfect people, but as wounded healers. As far as I understand it, we will retain the autonomy that we have always had as a UMC congregation—to set our own boundaries, to request pastors that reflect our values, and to do what God calls us to do in reaching out to the community around us.

I hope with all my heart that on the day we do begin ordaining gay folks in our conferences, that we would be lucky and blessed enough to have someone of integrity and honor serve us in that capacity, too. Almost all people who marry today do so at off-site venues, rather than at the church. But if at some point in the future, we have gay people who want to marry and to be monogamous, I hope we have the authenticity and the integrity to bless that union before God at our altar.

Hope this helps explain what happened at our church. I believe we will continue to study and learn and pray and do our best to be people of faith to the community around us. We understand, maybe more than most churches, that we all have different levels of understanding of these issues, and as seeking believers, we all continue to struggle with what Jesus would do.

Karen Alford House Morrison is a member of First United Methodist Church in Katy, Texas, a community 29 miles east of Houston in the Texas Annual Conference. This post is republished with permission from the Stay UMC Facebook group.