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For months, the Wesleyan Covenant Association has marshalled disaffected congregations in an attempt to use a provision in the Book of Discipline that would allow local churches to leave the denomination by simple property transfer without having to pay the "exit dues" mandated by the sanctioned process. Over the past week, that proposal – fiercely promoted by the WCA – has been soundly rejected from more than one corner of the United Methodist Church.
The church's "high court," the Judicial Council, released its ruling Aug. 23 that the alternate process, known as Paragraph 2548.2, could be used only to transfer real property, not members, as WCA advocates have claimed. Furthermore, the Council ruled that the UMC has no "comity agreement" with the fledgling Global Methodist Church, a new denomination launched in May by the WCA to which the traditionalists want to transfer their property.
Judicial Council Decision 1449 came just days after an independent episode in which the Western North Carolina Conference chancellor (attorney) demolished the Para. 2548.2 strategy in a 10-page letter to a lawyer representing 31 North Carolina churches that want to leave the UMC.
The Western North Carolina Conference published documents on its website that describe the attempt to use Paragraph 2458.2 as the disaffiliation mechanism. They include:
- A redacted five-page letter from David C. Gibbs III, an attorney with an organization called National Center for Life and Liberty in Largo, Fla., announcing the 31 churches' threat to sue the conference if not allowed to leave via Paragraph 2548.2.
- A detailed 10-page response from Western North Carolina chancellor Gregory D. Huffman.
- A Western North Carolina Bishop Ken Carter's message reiterating conference leaders' commitment to follow only the sanctioned disaffiliation process.
Gibbs asserts in a letter to Bishop Carter that Paragraph 2548 is a viable alternative exit procedure. He contends that the sanctioned process of Paragraph 2553, is "wholly inequitable." He then claims that for the conference would violate its "fiduciary responsibility" to the churches as well as the property covenant known as the "trust clause."
The "trust clause" was instituted by John Wesley in which local church property is held "in trust" for the annual conference that provided funds for its establishment. Paragraph 2553 provides that to leave the UMC a congregation must pay two years' worth of "fair share" contributions to ministries beyond the local church plus all unfunded clergy pension liabilities. Depending on their financial obligations, conferences may require additional payments from departing churches.
In response, Western North Carolina's chancellor Huffman summarized errors in Gibbs' argument.
"The letters (Gibbs sent three, on Aug. 8, 10 and 16) begin with a fundamental set of underlying premises that are wholly in error, specifically, that: (a) a Local Church has some inchoate, absolute right to leave The United Methodist Church and (b) Paragraph 2548.2 of the Discipline is a 'disaffiliation' pathway for Local Churches. Simply put, neither of these is correct."
"We are aware that some of your clients have expressed a desire to leave The United Methodist Church and join the Global Methodist Church (the 'GMC'), and they have expressed a strong desire to use Paragraph 2548.2 of the Discipline to achieve those ends," Huffman wrote. "While that seemingly concedes the point that a Local Church holds all of its property (real and personal) in trust for the benefit of The United Methodist Church and cannot 'disaffiliate' outside of some release of the denominational trust, there is no absolute right built into the Discipline which grants a church any right to 'disaffiliate' or obtain a release of the denominational trust, nor is there any such right under North Carolina law."
Huffman then enumerates the flaws he sees in Gibbs' argument:
"First, the GMC has not been recognized by The United Methodist Church as an 'evangelical denomination,' a term that is not defined in the Discipline," he wrote.
"Second, your letters state that an Annual Conference could enter into a 'comity agreement' with some 'evangelical denomination' per Paragraph 2548.2. Again, the term 'comity agreement' is not defined in the Discipline, thus a point of disinformation and disagreement.
Huffman continued: "In addition, it is entirely unclear with what entity you expect the Conference to enter a 'comity agreement.' To date, it does not appear to me as though the Global Methodist Church is any sort of organized Christian denomination."
"Third, and perhaps most critically, your letter cites selective portions of Paragraph 2548.2 and ignores key, operative parts of that paragraph. Most notably, you fail to include the very first sentence of the provision: With the consent of the presiding bishop and of a majority of the district superintendents and of the district board of church location and building...
"Nothing happens in the process without all of these consents," Huffman concluded. "Clearly, your clients do not have those consents."
In an Aug. 12 blog post, WCA President Jay Therrell denounced annual conferences he claims have added "punitive" additional financial requirements as allowed by the sanctioned exit process: Baltimore-Washington, California-Nevada, California-Pacific (including Hawaii and Guam), Eastern Pennsylvania, Greater New Jersey, Illinois Great Rivers (southern Illinois), Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Mountain Sky (Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Utah), New England, Northern Illinois, Oregon-Idaho, Peninsula-Delaware, South Carolina, Susquehanna (central Pennsylvania and part of southern New York), West Virginia, and Western Pennsylvania.
Therrell has called on disaffected congregations in these conferences to withhold their "fair-share" contributions, known as "apportionments," that fund church-wide ministries. According to Rick King of the General Council on Finance and Administration, many traditionalist congregations already have withheld apportionments or failed to pay their full amounts, so this strategy's financial impact could be less than the WCA may have anticipated.
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011. A version of this article appeared originally on Baptist News Global. To reproduce this content elsewhere, please email Insight for permission.