Friends,
The United Methodist Church is in the news again, this time with a headline about how our denomination is going to split. While there are some elements to what is being reported that are accurate, I would describe the overall characterization as largely inaccurate. Let me help clarify here some of what is in the news. We’ll also spend some time next week in our worship service discussing what is happening in our denomination.
So, what is accurate about these reports? What is accurate is that our denomination has been arguing back and forth about what to do regarding pastors performing weddings for the LGBTQ community, as well as whether clergy themselves should be ordained if they identify themselves as part of that community. This is nothing new; its been happening for over forty years. And though some have very strong feelings one way or another around this issue, I am grateful that our denomination is one that has thoughtful dialogue around difficult subjects. We don’t jump to conclusions; we work hard together to discern a way forward.
Pretty much everything else I’ve read in these articles is conjecture or inaccurate. Our denomination cannot split without a vote at the General Conference that takes place every four years. So as of right now nothing has changed in our denomination. Is it possible that the Church will split at the next gathering? Yes, its possible, but most United Methodist Church leaders believe that there are not enough people that want to split for that to happen. The event that sparked a myriad of articles many of you have read is a group of 16 United Methodists who created a plan on how to allow a small contigent, called the Wesleyan Covenant Association (WCA) to leave the denomination. That plan has to be proposed, along with literally a thousand other pieces of legislation, which is sorted, combined and reworked for a vote by committees. If it receives enough votes in committee, then and only then does it come before the whole General Conference. So anyone who says they can describe how the denomination will split is wrong - no one can know that because such work hasn’t even taken place yet. It may be helpful for you to know that anyone that is a member of the United Methodist Church can propose legislation to change our denomination. The plan of 16 is one among many proposals for how our denomination can navigate the issues we are dealing with. One such plan is called the Indianapolis plan. Another comes from our own Annual Conference, where they are rewriting the entire Book of DIscipline with many simplifications. The plan of 16 was largely formed to create a path for the Wesleyan Covenant Association (WCA) to leave the UMC and create their own denomination. The WCA has about 1,700 members and is a tiny fragment of the 13 million member UMC.
As a thousand pieces of legislation go to General Conference it is impossible to know what will happen. So as we wait, let me offer a recommendation for what to do in the meantime. I recommend we pray - we pray for our denomination, we pray for our leaders, we pray that we might be a blessing to one another even in the midst of our differences. And as we pray, remember to trust God. Our church will still be here after May of 2020, and we’ll still be working hard to know God, advance God’s kingdom and do God’s will. We’ll still share God’s love with everyone, learning to accept ourselves and to accept others. We’ll still be working on boundaries that honor one another and honor the scriptures that guide us. The point is that the work of the church goes on no matter how the denomination changes or how churches choose to align themselves. We keep loving God and we keep loving others.
I invite you to join us this next Sunday (1-12-20) as we take some time to talk through some of the questions you may have. God bless as you thoughtfully consider what is happening in the denomination.
In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville
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