By Rev. Jay Therrell
May 16, 2023
Since the beginning of 2023, there have been 16 special annual conference meetings where churches have been approved for disaffiliation. Thankfully, all the churches before those gatherings were approved for disaffiliation except for one in Virginia: New Town UMC in Williamsburg. We grieve deeply that New Town was not allowed to disaffiliate, but we also celebrate that many of the laity in that church felt led to start a new church in the area, and we are told it is already thriving. Praise God! (We also grieve for the three churches in Arkansas that were barred last year and continue to pray for them.)
Between now and June 30, every annual conference in the United States will meet. Many are having special sessions in advance of their normal meeting so that churches will be able to disaffiliate. By the end of June, 65% of conferences will have completed their paragraph 2553 disaffiliations as the provision sunsets at the end of this calendar year and they have no more special sessions scheduled.
As the pace of annual conferences picks up between now and June 30, I want to acknowledge that tensions are high. Trust is almost non-existent. People on all sides are weary. Toward that end, I want to share below the bulk of an open letter that I wrote along with Lonnie D. Brooks, a reserve UMC General Conference Delegate from the Alaska Conference. Lonnie and I do not agree in all areas of theology, but we do agree on how traditionalists, centrists, and progressives should treat one another as this significant season of annual conferences occurs.
I pray that people would be open to simply acknowledging our differences and allowing each other to depart as easily as possible so that everyone can get back to focusing on the mission of the church as we understand it.
Excerpt from November 22, 2022 open letter from Lonnie D. Brooks and Jay Therrell:
The United Methodist Church is going through a divorce. Divorces are hard and often extremely painful. This one certainly has been. As a local church pastor and a layperson who has walked with many couples going down that path, here are a few things we can say with certainty:
- Adding personal attacks or sharing slanderous words about fellow sisters and brothers in Jesus never helps. We have our differences and it’s fine to disagree about theology, doctrine, and vision. It’s fine to advocate strongly for those positions. Getting up and sharing (or repeating) alleged negative words and deeds about another isn’t necessary. It only serves to sharpen and deepen conflict. We have no doubt this has happened by people on all sides of the present issues, and we should avoid it at all costs.
- Getting even is never a good strategy. It’s antithetical to the message of Jesus. We likely will not be reconciled on our approaches to theology and doctrine, but we can be reconciled in our relationships with one another – even if it’s to love each other from a distance.
- No church departing The United Methodist Church is getting out without significant costs – relationally and monetarily. Disaffiliation votes raise the anxiety of the church and often lead to people leaving. The entire process requires, for most churches, a sum of money that typically reaches into six figures. Stopping the disaffiliation process of a church is not a “win.” It’s simply furthering the hurt. The idea that it would lead to reconciliation is doubtful. More often than not it will lead to the hiring of lawyers and further contention. The opening sentence of paragraph 2553 is clear, “Because of the current deep conflict within The United Methodist Church around issues of human sexuality, a local church shall have a limited right, under the provisions of this paragraph, to disaffiliate from the denomination for reasons of conscience….” (emphasis added)
- The disaffiliation process is long and hard. Many annual conferences have built in multiple steps including mandatory discernment periods, numbers of congregational meetings, even allowing the public to comment on the process. All of this is overseen by a bishop, district superintendents, and other members of the annual conference leadership. Unless one of those leaders has shared public concerns that the process was unfair or one-sided, then we should trust the process. In our humble opinions, the only reason to reject a disaffiliation agreement is if there is credible evidence offered by the annual conference that the church conference vote was fraudulent. Otherwise, we should trust the church and its people to discern what’s best for them. Votes of 66.7% represent two-thirds of the church – a large margin. Yes, all sides are using “get out the vote” strategies. Let’s be honest about that. Two-thirds is a significant hurdle and should be respected. We use that number to amend the United Methodist Constitution. If it’s good enough for that, it should be good enough in this instance.
Acts 15:36-41 which tells the story of the “sharp disagreement” between Paul and Barnabas can and should guide us through the remaining meetings of annual conferences. We can disagree sharply. In fact, we do. We can also let each other go to pursue our different directions trusting that everything is in God’s hands, and He will deal with things in the best way possible.
Moving forward, we pray cooler and calmer heads will prevail. God bless you!
The Rev. Jay Therrell is the president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association and an ordained elder in the Global Methodist Church.