What Have We Become?

Opinion

UMC Future

Editor's note: The following post and exchange are republished with permission from Lonnie D. Brooks' Facebook page.

Special to United Methodist Insight | May 11, 2026

The United Methodist Council of Bishops has setup a page on the Internet to display the results of the survey it invited United Methodists to take on what ought to be the focus of attention at its upcoming Leadership Gathering to be convened in Calgary, Alberta later this year. Well, I probably ought to have said it has sort of displayed the results there, because a real understanding of what those results tell us is going to take way more explanation of what was found than I think we can uncover from looking at or even studying this display. It's presented in graphic form, and you can find the display by following this link:

https://www.resourceumc.org/.../globalsurvey26...

There are some results that seem to be internally contradictory in this presentation. For example, in one part of the display we see that using some sort of numerical ranking of priority, respondents ranked Social Justice as 3.40 and Evangelism as 3.41, where 1 is the highest possible ranking, meaning, presumably, 1 is first priority.

Then in another part of the display where respondents expressed their preferences for congregational focus for the next ten years, Justice and Advocacy ranked 44%, and Evangelism ranked 30%. That suggests either a disconnected compartmentalization or confusion over the question among respondents, or a faulty interpretation mechanism among the analysts.

But one thing does seem clear. The survey is heavily biased to weigh more heavily the responses from United States UMs. It tells us that 71% of respondents were American UMs. At the same time it tells us that International (not US) respondents favor evangelism as a priority way more heavily than US respondents (55% vs 34%). So, given the much higher level of participation from US UMs, one can only conclude that the apparent tie between emphasis on evangelism and social justice matters is deceptive, since the UMC is now majority international in membership, while this opinion survey is super majority US.

If this is what is going to guide conversation at the Leadership Gathering, we can't reasonably expect that Gathering is going to signal an end to United Methodist colonialism in the near future, can we?

Kennedy Mukwindidza: You are point on Lonnie! First thanks for calling us to be aware of this important factor.

I would like to add the fact that the majority of the African United Methodists were not included in the survey mainly for the mere reason that the majority find if extremely difficult to participate because of poor connectivity. Internet is extremely scarce if not available. Also, where it's available, data is expensive. The whole process doesn't include the people who would like to contribute.

Secondly, if our priority is no longer making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, what have we become!

Lonnie D Brooks: Kennedy, your question, "What have we become?" is a real question in the wake of the ultra-Progressive triumph that was the General Conference of 2020/24. That event was transformative in a way that few, if any, United Methodist single events have been. Coupled with the 52% drop in UM membership over the last 26 years with the separation from the UMC of, effectively, the whole Traditional wing of the Church, it is unique, and it has left the Church under the complete control of the Progressive wing. Voices of the Center as well as our few remaining Traditionalists, while not silenced, are sidelined and, where they continue to be vocal and active, are ignored. Leadership in the Connection beyond the local church is virtually solidly Progressive. While, at least for the moment, our overt mission remains to be to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, making disciples will for the foreseeable future be in the background while the emphasis will move to a focus on transforming the world. The problem in having the real mission of the Church to be world transformation is that it will be essentially impossible to understand what the difference is between the Church and the Rotary Club or the Lions Club or the P.E.O. Sisterhood. Moreover, since "world transformation" is an impossibly vague mission, the mission will be whatever the leadership of the moment decides it is, and we'll function, not under the rule of law, but under the rule of whatever committee of wise leaders is selected at any given time. We need to remember that Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler, and Josef Stalin each transformed the world in the way he thought that to be necessary.