Texas Annual Conference disaffiliations
Letter
Friends, many large United Methodist churches in the Texas AC have voted to disaffiliate, and some (but not all) have voted to join the provisional East Texas Conference of the GMC that will meet in January.
Following is my reporting on some of the "nudging" that contributed to these congregational votes.
First is the advocacy of Bishop Scott Jones, who spoke and answered questions at several of the larger congregations.
I watched and listened to some of his presentations on video.
But at Kingwood UMC, where Bishop Jones spoke, an even more persuasive presence was that of retired Rev. Jim Welch, their former pastor and D.S. (who also ran for bishop at one point).
You can view his extremely persuasive presentation here:
But at the end of 40+ minutes (@ 1:20) what he said in closing was so STUNNING that I transcribed it for you to read.
Rev. Welch spoke of his ministry with dying gay men when he served a downtown United Methodist church in Houston.
One of the boys that died when I was at St. Paul’s, on his death day, I sat on the side of his bed, a gay boy, I don’t know if he was gay or not, he’d had a ‘gay’ experience.
In 1986 in the Montrose area of Houston, bath houses were rampant, AIDS was wild, the cultural practices of gay men were the definition of ‘libertine’, OK?
He looked at me, and he said, he asked this question, he said, “Am I going to Hell?”
My answer to him was that Jesus is love.
The forgiveness that comes in Christ comes at a cost to him.
But it is a blessing to us. Because what we need to say is “Yes” to that.
That was the end of his pitch to join the Global Methodist Church. His very next sentence was, "I don't know how you will vote, but ..."
My "reading" of what he said, and what he implied, is that LGBTQ+ people are going to Hell.
So, if some United Methodists still need to believe that (for deeply personal reasons), they may flock to the Global Methodist Church with other birds of a feather.
Wayne Marshall Jones, via email
Not his experience in Missouri
Concerning the article in this newsletter about the WCA sending letters to all PPRC chairs in Missouri. I'm a PPRC chair at a small church in Missouri, and I did not receive one, nor have I heard of this. Not denying it has happened, it's just the first I've heard of it.
Franklin Robinson, via email.