Broken Cross & Flame
Photo Courtesy of Jeremy Smith
The split in The United Methodist Church has proceeded in fits and starts over the summer, with the latest events involving two lawsuits, several congregational meetings, and a range of exit strategies from the Wesleyan Covenant Association.
An overview of the latest developments:
The North Texas Annual Conference, whose leaders previously had said disaffiliation would be held confidential, disclosed this week that 10 congregations have formally entered the disaffiliation process and are beginning the discernment phase. Reportedly another "handful" of congregations are considering leaving the denomination.
North Texas is using a procedure outlined in a document, "The General Framework for the Disaffiliation Process, presented by the Conference Board of Trustees at Annual Conference 2022," according to the conference website. The document "includes the standard terms of disaffiliation, which reflect best practices from across the connection, as well as the timeline and 'playbook" for the conference’s formal disaffiliation process," the website says. The conference hasn't identified the 10 churches requesting disaffiliation.
The Arkansas Annual Conference this week received an update on the disaffiliation process from Bishop Gary E. Mueller. The bishop wrote in part:
"During a series of late winter and early spring meetings with clergy and laity, Bishop Mueller highlighted four things about this process. First, the majority of congregations and individual United Methodists in Arkansas, regardless of whether they are traditional, moderate, centrist or progressive, will choose to remain in the denomination. Second, it is essential for the entire annual conference to embrace a heart of peace and not a heart of war, and to respect the decisions that congregations and individuals make. Third, it is important to help congregations land where God is leading them as quickly and easily as possible, while protecting the legitimate interests of the United Methodist Church. Fourth, a minimum three-month discernment process will be used by congregations exploring the possibility of disaffiliation prior to any vote. While pastors have every right to express their opinion, this time of intentional prayer, study, reflection, listening to God and conversation that allows all individuals the opportunity to voice their questions and opinions is the work of church members and will be led by laity.
"First, our assumption that the majority of Arkansas United Methodist Churches will remain in the denomination at this time has proved to be true for progressives, centrists, moderates and traditionalists. Fewer than 10% of our churches have formally entered the process to possibly consider disaffiliation.
"Second, we have experienced time and again how painful this process can be for congregations and individuals. We are grateful for the many laity and clergy who are embracing hearts of peace. At the same time, we are concerned that some are choosing to display hearts of war. If you have any doubt about why we are concerned, a quick survey of social media will make it abundantly clear.
"Third, we honestly expected that laity would lead the congregation in a time of deep and prayerful discernment. While this certainly is happening in the vast majority of our churches, there are a few instances where the actions of pastors and congregations are contrary to our expectations.
"Quite frankly, this caught us off guard. We have entered into conversations with these congregations and individuals and are hopeful about the outcome. We also have revised the documents guiding the discernment process. This includes explicitly detailing expectations about the pastor’s role, providing additional details about the discernment process that must be agreed to before the Appointive Cabinet will approve a congregation’s discernment process, and making it clear that the District Superintendent will not certify the completion of a congregation’s discernment process if he or she does not believe it has been fair and open, which is a requirement before a Church Conference can be called to vote on disaffiliation. You can find all of the revised materials here.
"... Fourth, we want to remind you that a church is not disaffiliated until it completes the standard Disaffiliation Agreement adopted by the Arkansas Conference Board of Trustees and the Annual Conference votes to ratify the congregation’s vote. Lay and clergy members of the Annual Conference ultimately make the final determination. While this may be a perfunctory act in most cases since congregations are following the principles previously adopted by the Annual Conference, those voting always have the right to vote their conscience in every situation."
Among the Arkansas churches considering disaffiliation is First UMC in Jonesboro, Ark., which was scheduled to take a vote on leaving the denomination on Sunday, July 31. The process requires approval by two-thirds of the voting members to proceed with departing. An ad hoc group devoted to remaining in the denomination, StayUMC Jonesboro, has been posting information and testimonials on a Facebook page.
In the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference, an email from First UMC in Lancaster, Pa., proposing an additional alternative to disaffiliation made the rounds of churches and leaders. The email was signed by the Rev. Joseph DiPaolo, First-Lancaster's senior pastor, who is a member of the Wesleyan Covenant Association's global council, and by a task force of laypeople. The letter reads in part:
"In a number of conferences, many congregations have engaged attorneys to pursue legal action to leave the UMC with their property, while many hundreds, perhaps thousands more, are entering into processes of discernment to consider leaving. And this has happened on both ends of the theological spectrum, with more conservative churches seeking to join the GMC or another body (like the Wesleyan Church), as well as progressive congregations, like Grandview here in Lancaster which left last year to become independent and affiliate with other like-minded congregations.
"The Dilemma. For churches with a membership that is largely of one mind, either progressive or traditional, the main hurdle for disaffiliation from the UMC is financial. However, for churches like ours which have a diverse membership, the future presents a “lose/lose” scenario: if the congregation decides either to stay UMC or to pursue transfer to the GMC, it will likely lose a significant number of people on the other side.
"A Third Way? Created by our Administrative Council, our Task Force on a Third Way has begun exploring whether there can be a third option, a creative 'win/win' to keep our congregation together, perhaps involving a semi-autonomous status, while remaining connected to both the UMC and GMC. There are several possibilities, for which there is precedent. The most promising option is to become a 'Federated Church,' which would maintain official status and relationships with both denominations (the UMC and GMC).
"Federated Churches are specifically outlined in the UM Book of Discipline and have been around for many years – though typically they have United Methodist congregations with more distantly-related denominational cousins, like the Presbyterian or Congregational Churches.
"The Task Force is looking into the feasibility of such an approach, which would require congregational and conference approvals, and likely include drawing up a carefully crafted covenant and set of bylaws. There are knotty issues that would have to be addressed, including what kind of policy we would have regarding marriage ceremonies in the building, so it will not be an easy road."
In the Wisconsin Annual Conference, on July 25 a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by Hebron Community Methodist Church of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, seeking to overturn a state statute that essentially supports the United Methodist trust clause. Joe Kelly of Courthouse News Service wrote: "The 1923 amendment to the larger 1849 Wisconsin act incorporating the Methodist Episcopal Church essentially holds that if any local Methodist church or society becomes defunct or dissolved, rights, privileges and title to the church’s property is vested with the church’s conference."
The Wesleyan Covenant Association, via a blog post by its president Jay Therrell, has embraced four ways to leave the UMC. As Therrell describes it, the WCA believes churches can use:
- Paragraph 2553, provided it's a "clean" option where the annual conference doesn't impose additional requirements that Therrell calls "punitive."
- Paragraph 2548.2, a provision enacted in 1948 that allows congregations "to move to 'another evangelical denomination' under a comity agreement," Therrell wrote. However, this option is now being reviewed for its validity by the UMC's high court, the Judicial Council, since no "comity agreement" exists between the UMC and the GMC.
- Paragraph 2549, in which a church can close, transfer its assets back to the annual conference, and then negotiate to buy back the property – provided the conference is willing. However, under the trust clause the conference could keep the property outright.
- Pursue litigation, as in the Florida case where 106 congregations are suing the Florida Annual Conference to leave without having to pay the "exit dues" required by Paragraph 2553.
The last option may be riskiest for the Florida churches, according to Lloyd J. Lunceford, editor of “The Guide to Church Property Law,” interviewed by Heather Hahn of UM News. She wrote:
"Florida is among the minority of states that use what is called the deference method, Lunceford said. What that means is that courts in 'deference' states will adopt the decision made by the highest church body involved in the matter — in this case the property decisions made by the annual conference.
“'They in effect defer to the ecclesiastical authorities,' Lunceford said. 'And so a lower court in Florida would be bound to defer and rule in favor of The UMC.'”
"But no matter whether the court relies on neutral principles or the deference method, Lunceford added that churches won’t get very far arguing who is more faithful to church doctrine."
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Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011. To reproduce this content elsewhere, please email Insight for permission.