1. How Did It Come To This?
Every United Methodist church is having to make a decision in the next few years. That decision is whether or not to remain a United Methodist church. In general terms, the current split is over the church’s stance on homosexuality. There is a long and complicated history surrounding this issue, and so over the next several blog posts I will attempt to cover as many issues as I can. For now I will just talk about how we got to this particular point.
In 1968 two denominations joined together, the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church, creating a new denomination known as the United Methodist Church. One of the practices set in place was to have a General Conference every four years. In the United Methodist Church, a General Conference is a gathering of elected leaders, both clergy and lay leaders (regular church leaders who are not pastors) who act as the legislative branch of the church. It might help to think of it almost like a session of congress. At the 1972 General Conference, the first official stance on homosexuality made its way into the Book Of Disciple, the rules and regulations that every United Methodist church is supposed to follow. The words have changed a little over the past 50 years, but here is the official language as it stands now.
Human Sexuality
We affirm that sexuality is God's good gift to all persons. We call everyone to responsible stewardship of this sacred gift.
Although all persons are sexual beings whether or not they are married, sexual relations are affirmed only with the covenant of monogamous, heterosexual marriage.
We deplore all forms of the commercialization, abuse, and exploitation of sex. We call for strict global enforcement of laws prohibiting the sexual exploitation of children and for adequate protection, guidance, and counseling for abused children. All persons, regardless of age, gender, marital status, or sexual orientation, are entitled to have their human and civil rights ensured and to be protected against violence. The Church should support the family in providing age-appropriate education regarding sexuality to children, youth, and adults.
We affirm that all persons are individuals of sacred worth, created in the image of God. All persons need the ministry of the Church in their struggles for human fulfillment, as well as the spiritual and emotional care of a fellowship that enables reconciling relationships with God, with others, and with self. The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching. We affirm that God's grace is available to all. We will seek to live together in Christian community, welcoming, forgiving, and loving one another, as Christ has loved and accepted us. We implore families and churches not to reject or condemn lesbian and gay members and friends. We commit ourselves to be in ministry for and with all persons.
There is a bit of extra history to this statement then I’ll get into at the moment, but if you want further reading, click here. Almost all of the talks about splitting the UMC is about one particular statement, “The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.” This statement seems fairly benign on its own. But just to be abundantly clear, what this statement means in practice is that the United Methodist Church currently does not allow the ordination of practicing homosexuals, ordained pastors are not allowed to perform homosexual weddings, and homosexual couples can not get married in United Methodist churches. This has never been a completely accepted stance. What I mean is, this issue has been debated at nearly every single General Conference since the first. However, at every single General Conference there haven’t been enough votes to change the statement.
In 2019, there was a special Conference to discuss just this issue. It was called the Commission on a Way Forward. They presented three options to vote on: The One Church plan, The Traditionalist plan, and the Connectional Conference plan. The connectional conference plan was too complicated and never had a serious backing. The Traditionalist plan was designed to leave the language in the discipline the same. The One Church plan would essentially remove that one phrase and allow, but not require, conferences to ordain homosexual pastors, and allow, but not require, local pastors and churches to perform or host same sex weddings.
The Traditional plan won by a slim majority vote of those delegates (438 yes to 384 no). It was scheduled to be sent to the Judicial Council (the UMC’s equivalent of the Supreme Court of the United States) and then other parts pertaining to it voted on during the General Conference in 2020. One thing that was officially approved and put into action was paragraph 2553 of the Book of Discipline. This lays out the process for disaffiliation. I believe the original assumption was that this would provide a way for progressive churches to disaffiliate. However, progressive church leaders have clearly stated that they won’t be going anywhere. As a result, Traditional churches are now the ones leaving the UMC.
This seems to be a counterintuitive response. If the Traditional plan, which has been in place for 50 years, is still the official plan, why are the churches who are the most supportive of it leaving? There are a few different reasons. Because progressive churches have stated they aren’t leaving, this means that the UMC will likely continue to see debates and calls for change at every General Conference. There is definitely a weariness factor where Traditional churches are just tired of the debates and would love to spend time and energy on other matters. There is a concern that, as the American Church becomes more and more affirming, eventually the traditional view will be overturned, or that there will be a split between the American church and the more traditional churches around the rest of the world. Another factor is that there is no guarantee that the current guidelines for disaffiliation will continue to be offered. Paragraph 2553.2 (also referred to as the “sunset clause”) only lasts until Dec. 31 of 2023. This doesn’t mean that churches will no longer be able to disaffiliate, just that the terms and conditions that currently apply will likely change. The prevailing assumption is that they will be harsher, or more costly, and so there is a sense of urgency to disaffiliate before that deadline. Perhaps the most stated reason Traditionalists are leaving the UMC is due to the disciplinary actions for those churches and pastors who do not abide by the current book of Discipline. The disciplinary action prescribed as of the 2019 Commission on a Way Forward conference for performing a same sex wedding is a year suspension without pay for the first offense and being defrocked on the second offense. There have been several instances where this action has not taken place, which is seen as a way of circumventing the official stance of the UMC.
A plan was proposed and signed in December of 2019 to have the Traditionalist side of the UMC create its own denomination. It was going to the General Conference in 2020 to be voted on. Unfortunately, COVID not only caused that Conference to be delayed, but essentially that conference has been delayed until 2024 (which also happens to be when the next scheduled conference would have been anyway). This means that the guidelines in Paragraph 2553 expire before this plan can be voted on.
Instead of waiting for the next General Conference, a group of United Methodist churches, largely collaborating with the Wesleyan Covenant Association, created a new denomination called the Global Methodist Church. This new denomination started May 1 of this year and its launch has caused some to start talking more seriously about disaffiliation. There are more things to be said about the GMC, but that will be saved for a later time.
All of this leads to our current situation. There are many unknowns and few certainties. Yet, it is a hotly debated topic and one that many feel needs to be addressed immediately. First, I want to caution against giving into a sense of panic. From the time of this writing, we have over 500 days before the the deadline of the “sunset clause”. We have plenty of time to assess our current situation, explore options, and prayerfully discern what we believe God is calling us to do. Over the next couple of blogs I will start to explore what options are before us, but what you find below are the basic options.
Continue to be a United Methodist Church
Join another existing denomination
Partner with a group of non-denominational churches
Create our own non-denominational church.