April 30, 2024
by Rev. Dr. Scott Field, President of the WCA
Judging from social media feeds, those paying attention to the United Methodist General Conference as Week 2 begins seem to have one of three reactions.
- This is amazing! The New United Methodism is being born right before our eyes. Consensus reigns and the Three R’s Agenda is moving forward more strongly than we ever imagined! Regionalization, Revised Social Principles, and Removing the Restrictive Language about Homosexuality – we’re on a roll!
- This is about what we expected…except the dismissal of African voices is a travesty much worse than we could imagine.
- This is awful! Isn’t anybody going to challenge this?
Allow me a few comments on each.
Read the Room
Our progressive friends seem surprised (and elated!) that their agenda has sailed through legislative committees and will almost certainly sail through plenary sessions this week. It is, some seem to think, a sign that the kin’dom has come.
Well, maybe. But when it comes to legislative bodies, it’s all about the math. And the math has been clear for some time now. With most of the US conservative delegates having already left the UMC behind and the African delegations administratively reduced by 25%, the outcome of the General Conference has not been in doubt. Progressives may conclude they are making good time in achieving long-sought political goals, but the current model of the UM General Conference had no brakes installed to begin with. Take a look at who is the room at General Conference and you will see that the LGBTQIA+ legislative winning streak is a foregone conclusion.
Dispatch with the Africans (at least those with dissenting voices)
At previous General Conferences the African delegates have been told that they are too loud. One bishop observed that Africans needed to grow up. As of Saturday, however, a request by an African delegate for a moment of personal privilege to make a personal statement was shut down entirely. Whatever he wanted to say, he was told by the presiding bishop, Tom Berlin, first had to be submitted to the conference secretary and then, if approved, someone would read it to the conference. Bishop Tom Berlin concluded the interchange with the old “now go back and take your seat” which, to those of us with a bit of history behind us, seemed to echo the “go sit in the back” from The Man driving the bus.
Despite 25% of the African delegates being denied the opportunity to be at the General Conference, there are still 75% who have made it…only to find now that they are being muzzled at the microphone. Some Africans are allowed a platform to speak, to be sure, but apparently only if they have been previously screened and approved to echo the “proper narrative.”
The African delegates with whom I’ve spoken about this are uniformly disappointed. Some of them have concluded that it has been worthless to come to the General Conference. Their voices largely have been silenced and their votes artificially suppressed. Reports of tears and lament in Africa today have been sent to African delegates who are here.
Others, however, note the silver lining: All Africans can now clearly see the direction of the New UMC. The New UMC is substantially at odds with the faith and practice of many African United Methodists. After the General Conference concludes, decisions among Africans about their relationship with the UMC will be unavoidable. No more need to “wait and see what happens.” The day of mourning may be here, but the day of rising up is just ahead.
This really, really, really is our last UM General Conference
Some have questioned why the WCA is present at the General Conference in the first place. They contend that we have no business attempting to influence the future of the UMC.
We agree. We don’t have an interest in the future of the UMC. We are here to advocate for correcting a present injustice. The option for congregational disaffiliation has be applied exclusively to churches in the US. It has been denied to congregations in the Central Conferences.
I don’t want to go into an extended retrospective on how we have arrived at where we are now in the UMC, but some reminders might provide perspective:
Remember that in 2016, the progressive wing of United Methodism traded in the legislative process of denominational change in favor of direct disobedience to the order and discipline of the church by electing an ineligible person to the office of bishop.
That was the trigger for the WCA forming as a network of theologically traditional voices.
Remember the 2019 Special General Conference in St. Louis adopted the Traditional Plan. In response, nearly half of the annual conferences in the USA declared they would not abide by the decision of the General Conference. Bishops stated their refusal to administer the Discipline of the church. Some annual conferences withheld apportionment funds from the general church in protest of the decision of the General Conference.
Remember after the third postponement of the 2020 General Conference for dubious reasons and the reneging of support by progressive and centrist leaders who had promised to champion the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation, the WCA, along with others, gave the green light to launch the Global Methodist Church.
Remember that paragraph 2553 of the Book of Discipline, adopted in 2019, became the means through which 26% of the UM congregations in the USA disaffiliated from the UMC by the end of 2023 and that disaffiliation was not and is not allowed for congregations outside of the USA.
Remember that our Fair for Some Fair for All initiative was launched with the expectation that fair-minded centrist delegates might recognize the injustice of denying a disaffiliation process to Central Conference local congregations. We expected that General Conference delegates would correct the situation by extending an exit pathway for those local churches that, after prayerful discernment, might decide to separate from the UMC. The generous financial support for our initiative indicates, I think, that many people saw the injustice and have expected the General Conference would act to make it right.
So, what shall we make of the General Conference after one week? How to account for the dismissal and silencing of African delegates and the strong votes to support the LGBTQIA+ agenda?
Again, four options may be in the mix:
- There are fewer fair-minded, centrist delegates than we imagined.
- Progressives have chosen to dismiss Africa in favor of the LGBTQIA+ political agenda.
- The UMC delegates blame the GMC/WCA/Good News/etc. for the painful realities brought on by disaffiliation; the votes are intentionally punitive. There is no discernable pause for denominational self-reflection.
- The General Conference has a mind to press on with the LGBTQIA+ agenda. Individual UM churches, pastors, and laity can either get with the program or get out.
The grating irony, of course, is that the bishops, administrative leaders, and progressive activists who abandoned the regular order and democratic decision-making processes of the UMC for a strategy to disrupt, dissent, and disobey are the ones now controlling the processes of the General Conference and the governance of the UMC overall. Those who unleashed the disorder now enforce compliance.
For those who follow church news, the outcome of the UM General Conference has been clear for some time now. This coming Saturday, May 4th, it will be clear to all that the United Methodist Church is a different denomination from what it was just two weeks prior. Some will, without question, be delighted with the New UMC. Many other UM laity will come to the unhappy conclusion that they have been misled. They were told nothing would change or that if things change, a pathway of disaffiliation would certainly be available. That will not be the case. All UMs in the USA will find, like those in Africa, that a considered decision about their continuing relationship with the UMC is unavoidable.