Update #1 from the WCA from the General Conference – Bishop Bickerton is right. Though there are no active fault lines in or near Charlotte, NC, United Methodists are on the edge of a seismic event.

The thrice-delayed 2020 General Conference of the United Methodist Church runs from April 23 to May 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Watch the proceedings each day through livestream at www.resourceumc.org or get a daily update at UMNews.org.

The Wesleyan Covenant Association and Good News are advocacy partners at the General Conference. We have a team of 27 here to monitor developments in legislative committees, share information with delegates, and stand with our African brothers and sisters seeking fair and just treatment by the United Methodist Church.

We are especially blessed that 12 members of our team are African. They are eyewitnesses to the actions of the General Conference and are reporting directly to United Methodists in their home congregations and annual conferences. They have been denied the same option of disaffiliation (par. 2553) that has been reserved exclusively to United Methodist congregations in the USA.

The General Conference, however, does not seem concerned with the injustice toward African United Methodists. There was a perfunctory motion to investigate why so many African delegates were unable to get their invitation letters early enough for arranging visa appointments. Meh. Expect a report in 2026. Besides that one nod to the obvious, the “big tent” of United Methodism clearly does not include traditionalist Christians. And it’s just too bad that so many Africans couldn’t make it. But that is, as they say, the way the cookie crumbles, right?

Watching the Train Go By

Bishop Thomas Bickerton, out-going president of the UM Council of Bishops, presented a sermon at the opening worship service of the conference. He spent a lot of time excoriating those who had left the UMC and admonishing anyone among the delegates (and, likely, advocates like us) that was considering separation. “If you don’t want to go where the UMC is headed, you should get off.” That is my paraphrase. He actually said, “If you don’t like what’s going on, maybe you’re in the wrong room.” Again, my paraphrase. He said it enough times that you’d think I would remember exactly. The message, however, was and is loud and clear. Get with the program or get out. Yes!

But, alas, the good bishop indicated no intention whatsoever to unlock the door for an orderly and clearly marked exit path.

You may be aware that 77 African delegates are not here, either because their letter of invitation arrived too late to arrange for a visa interview, their visa application was denied, or the invitation to an alternate delegate never arrived or arrived so late as to be worthless. This means that over 25% of African voices and votes are neither heard not counted.

And the much-heralded “consensus” of the conference to this point is, I think, predictable when most of the traditionalist voices have departed the UMC. Though there are painfully contorted declarations of identity and diversity for most speakers, the “consensus” indicates that the General Conference is largely an echo chamber of groupthink.

Traditionalists are getting to watch as the UMC train goes by and, I believe it is fair to say, don’t want to go where that train is headed.

So far the progressive and institutionalist coalition is batting .333; that is, one of their “Three R’s agenda” (regionalization) is in the bag. The other two, Revised Social Principles and Removal of Language Related to Homosexuality in the Book of Discipline look like an additional round of batting practice for them. I expect the legislation to pass.

To this point, most legislation that has even a whiff of disaffiliation aroma has been swatted down. Our African brothers and sisters, who experienced such difficulty getting to the General Conference, will, ironically, likely find themselves without a way to leave.

Bishop Bickerton, in an address to the Council of Bishops last week, told his colleagues to prepare for a seismic General Conference. What he meant, of course, was not the devastation of an earthquake, but the dramatic change anticipated. The bishop is correct.

Liam Adams, religion writer for The Tennessean, observes, “The United Methodist Church will bear the same name after May 3, but in many ways will be an entirely new denomination.” True enough. And many current United Methodists, predictably, will decide that the “entirely new denomination” is something they will need to leave behind.