The Last Straw

by

The last straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back came this past Tuesday evening, June 7, 2022, when progressive and centrist signers and endorsers of the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation withdrew their support for it. They did so through publishing a website where they abandoned the hard work and hopes of so many. That didn’t prevent them, however, from picking and choosing where they think The United Methodist Church’s Book of Disciplineshould be followed and where it could be conveniently ignored. Their list even includes their take on how theologically conservative churches should be allowed to depart using the extremely expensive and punitive process enumerated in paragraph 2553. Their website was published within a few hours notice to the traditionalist organizations that endorsed and negotiated the Protocol, and there certainly was no consultation. This is duplicitous and done with bad faith. It also makes a mockery of the Book of Discipline, which is our connectional foundation.

The Wesleyan Covenant Association will not stand idly by as progressive and centrist bad actors work to further punish and harm theologically conservative United Methodist local churches who want nothing more than to live out the doctrinal stances that have been upheld by every single General Conference. Through this action, signers of the Protocol Response website including Protocol participants, Tom Berlin, Jun Equila, Jan Lawrence, David Meredith, and Randall Miller have shown their true colors. They believe that they should be able to violate the Discipline, but theological conservatives should be held to the extreme letter of the law. Organizations that have now withdrawn their support like UMCNext, Mainstream UMC, Affirmation, the Methodist Federation for Social Action, and Reconciling Ministries Network have made it clear that they prefer lawlessness and complete dysfunction. I’m reminded of the adage, “Rules for thee, but not for me.”

In Judges 21.25, we read a description of how dysfunctional Israel was in the days before the first monarch, “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.” The very same description could be written about the UM Church in 2022. Progressives and centrists have seen to it. Entire jurisdictions now publicly state they are encouraging violating the Discipline with no repercussions. A bishop the Judicial Council has ruled years ago is ineligible to hold the office continues to serve despite multiple complaints having been filed against her. The One Church Plan which the General Conference soundly rejected is now being implemented in annual conferences, formally in some places, informally in others. United Methodist seminaries, funded by apportionments contributed by theologically conservative parishioners, are allowing students to hold heretical worship services referring to God in ways that violate 2,000 years of orthodox Christianity. Boards of Ordained Ministry are blatantly violating standards of ordination, commissioning, licensing, and certification required by church law.

All the while, theologically conservative churches and clergy are treated unfairly. We desperately want to get out of the covenant because it is harmful, but the people seeking to harm us continue to mistreat us and make it almost impossible for us to go. This is wrong.

Moreover, in a move of supreme irony, progressives and centrists are now weaponizing the trust clause. The trust clause, written by John Wesley, was always intended to help ensure that Methodist buildings would be used for purposes consistent with the 2,000 years of Christian orthodoxy. Today, progressives and centrists are using it to grab as many assets as possible to financially prop up their failing denomination. These buildings and parcels of land, in some cases purchased centuries ago, were no doubt bought to further the orthodox cause of Jesus. If progressives and centrists have their way, our forefathers and foremothers in the faith will be spinning in their graves as their kingdom investments are used in ways for which they were never intended.

To be clear, the signers of the Protocol Response website calling for the use of paragraph 2553 and the payment of unfunded pension liabilities is shameless. Theological conservatives at the 2019 General Conference preferred the Boyette Disaffiliation Petition – a proposal that was far less punitive and onerous. Progressives and centrists’ orchestrated acts of delaying the Traditional Plan at General Conference preventing the Boyette Petition from being considered. Traditionalists also attempted to amend the Taylor Petition that eventually became paragraph 2553 to be fairer, but ran out of time.

The result was paragraph 2553, a provision that requires churches to pay unfunded pension liabilities calculated on a market-basis. This ultra-conservative method of valuing pensions results in churches paying money to annual conferences when almost every annual conference is fully funded or overfunded on a funded basis. To add even more insult to injury, the monies paid by churches typically go to the annual conference, not Wespath. Those annual conferences usually deposit those payments in accounts that are often unrestricted allowing them to be used at the whim of progressives and centrists.

As Maya Angelou said, when someone shows you who they are, you should believe them. To the signers and endorsers of the Protocol Response website: we hear you loud and clear. We take you at your word. We will respond accordingly. We are not deterred.

I hope progressives and centrists realize what they’re doing by publicly removing their support for the Protocol. In doing so, they have made clear that they have no intention of treating theological conservatives fairly and with grace. We will contend.

The Rev. Jay Therrell is president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association and an elder in the Global Methodist Church. This post is reproduced with his permission from the WCA website. To reproduce this content elsewhere, please contact the WCA via its website.