August 13, 2024
By Rev. Dr. Scott Field
On May 1st, by a vote of 516 to 203, United Methodist General Conference delegates ended a disaffiliation policy added by the special 2019 General Conference and used by about a quarter of U.S. churches to leave The United Methodist Church.
“The season of disaffiliation ends today,” said Lonnie Chafin, a delegate from the Northern Illinois Conference and chair of the Conferences legislative committee. The committee supported and brought to the floor the petition that deletes Paragraph 2553 from the Book of Discipline. The paragraph only ever appeared in a digital addendum to the Discipline. (UM News Report May 1 2024)
During the same afternoon session, delegates approved by a vote of 629 to 96 a reaffiliation policy to welcome churches that wish to rejoin The United Methodist Church. (For possible motives for a congregation to re-affiliate after leaving the UMC, see Stockholm Syndrome).
Brother Chafin, in his presentation on behalf of the Conferences legislative committee, told the General Conference delegates their action would mean paragraph 2553 would never appear in a printed edition of the Book of Discipline. It would, he said, send a message to congregations that the time to speak of these things is over. The disaffiliation process created conflict within congregations, he said, and diverted annual conference resources away from the mission of the church. Apparently, local church concerns raised by laity prompting the large number of disaffiliations had diverted annual conference staff time and resources from more significant and worthy pursuits. (For more on missing the point, search Besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? In your preferred internet browser).
So, no more United Methodist congregations will be able to disaffiliate, right?
Well, not exactly. Some annual conferences in the USA already provide a process for congregations to separate from the UMC for the time being.
It is indeed correct that paragraph 2553, the paragraph outlining a process for congregational disaffiliation from the UMC, has been removed from the Book of Discipline. Several annual conferences, however, had either promised that congregations would have an opportunity to consider leaving the UMC based upon the outcome of the UM General Conference or had assured congregations that no matter what, the UM General Conference would certainly allow a process for congregational separation. Further, in some annual conferences the bishop and annual conference leadership recognize that attempting to hold congregations against their will is a fruitless effort and leads only to further conflict. In these cases, the UM leaders seem to realize that ending this painful and prolonged season of separation requires allowing congregations to end up where they want to be. Generally, these processes are framed around Paragraph 2549 of the Book of Discipline. (See South Carolina Annual Conference, Illinois Great Rivers 2024 Exit Plan, South Georgia 2024 Exit Process, Kentucky Tennessee Explores Options for Continuing Departures). Most of these options have a December 31, 2024 deadline to complete paperwork and a vote required at the May or June 2025 Annual Conference sessions to approve those congregations seeking to disaffiliate. South Georgia has a special called session this coming Saturday, August 17. Still other USA annual conferences do not have an announced policy, but have been negotiating with congregations seeking to leave the UMC on a one-by-one basis.
The United Methodist Judicial Council, however, will review whether or not Paragraph 2549 can be utilized as a framework for congregational departures.
The UM Judicial Council, meeting in late October, will consider three docket items from annual conferences (Alabama-West Florida and Kentucky-Tennessee) requesting declaratory decisions as to whether Paragraph 2549 can be utilized for congregational separation. If the Judicial Council decides paragraph 2549 cannot be used as a warrant for congregational departures, then the separation plans already in place by the annual conferences mentioned above, with the exception of South Georgia, may well be scrapped entirely. If, on other hand, the Judicial Council takes a neutral stance because paragraph 2549 relates principally to disposition of church property when a local church no longer serves the purpose for which it was first organized and/or that it no longer will be maintained by its congregation as a place of worship for the United Methodist denomination, then the manner of church closure is not at issue. It would seem that a church could vote to close as a UMC and, pending fulfillment of agreed upon terms for purchasing the property, have the UM trust clause lifted for transfer of the property to a new not-for-profit religious corporation (local church).
Of particular interest in this case before the Judicial Council is the action of the recent UM General Conference to amend paragraph 2549 so that a local congregation can initiate the conversation and process of closure. The process itself, along with concomitant approvals, remains under the auspices of the annual conference, but the amended paragraph gives the local church voice and agency in seeking to negotiate its own future with the annual conference. If the Judicial Council allows the amended paragraph 2549 to stand as is, then the option for congregations to initiate a departure from the annual conference becomes part of the Book of Discipline without a terminus.
For those who are interested, the amended paragraph as approved by the General Conference is, as follows (the additional text/amendatory language is underlined and presented in a colored font)
UMC Paragraph 2549 amended version, GC 2020/2024
Amend ¶2549.2.b) as follows:
¶2549.2.b) Upon a recommendation by the district superintendent, and with the consent of the presiding bishop, a majority of the district superintendents, and the appropriate district board of church location and building, the annual conference may declare a local church closed. In the alternative, the annual conference may declare a local church closed in response to a petition submitted jointly by the local church’s Church Council, appointed or assigned Pastor in Charge, and at least one of its lay members of the annual conference. If the annual conference closes a local church, title to all the real and personal, tangible and intangible property of the local church shall immediately vest in the annual conference board of trustees, who shall hold said property in trust for the benefit of the annual conference
Insert a new ¶2549.3 as follows, and renumber the other subparagraphs in ¶2549 in the appropriate manner:
¶2549.3 In the alternative the Church Council, or the equivalent administrative or program body of a local church, may propose to the annual conference with which it is associated that the local church be closed. Such a proposal may be presented to the annual conference by petition as provided by the annual conference, or by motion at a session of the annual conference from a lay member of the annual conference from that church or another church that is part of the same charge. When this alternative procedure is followed, ¶2549.2.d) applies.
(For those who are legislative sleuths, these changes were proposed in Petition Number 21058, Calendar Item 330 and Petition Number 21059, Calendar Item 331. Both petitions can be found on ADCA page 1612, and on DCA page 2961. Both were adopted on Consent Calendar A04. Consent Calendar A04 was adopted in the first morning plenary on 30Apr24.)
So what?
By this point MEGO may have overtaken you (MEGO = “My eyes glazed over). Congratulations! All of this legislative maneuvering is like, well, like, Besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play? We may all be focused on secondary or tertiary matters, like church property and how much must be paid in “exit fees” for a congregation to leave the UMC and take its property along with it.
If you and other leaders in your congregation, after prayerful discernment, are convinced that the way to a fruitful and faithful future requires separation from the UMC, then by all means, contact your District Superintendent to determine if such an option might be possible within the context of your particular annual conference.
However, no matter the response of your annual conference, an encouraging word is in order:
The church, we all agree, is not a building, but a community of committed disciples of Jesus Christ. And the mission of the church, every local church, is not primarily maintenance of a building but the conversion of the world. Any of us who have been local church trustees know that maintaining, updating, insuring, and meeting compliance standards for a facility can be very costly. Beyond that, the exit fees for leaving the UMC can be eye-popping. When our devotion to our building overtakes our devotion to the mission, we’ve already lost our impact for Christ. A building is, at most, and instrument for fulfilling the mission, not an idol what steals our devotion.
So pay attention to the prompting of the Holy Spirit if you and some of the others in your congregation are already weary of waiting for the next decision by the Annual Conference Board of Trustees or the upcoming Judicial Council meeting. If there is already a pulse of the apostolic imperative beginning to beat in your heart or a Great Commission Conscience is taking hold in your convictions, or you have eyes to see new outreach opportunities that don’t depend on a church building, then perhaps it is time to pray and think and plan differently.
If the church building can serve as a vibrant center for mission and ministry, GREAT! But don’t let the glacial pace of denominational decision-making hold you or your congregation back from the Jesus Mission assigned to you. The freshening wind of the Holy Spirit is upon us! The time for launching out is now. Renewal and revival is on the doorstep. We are being sent together under the influence of the Holy Spirit for the healing of the world in Jesus’ name. Let’s not settle for anything less.
Check out resources for your local church on our website: www.wesleyancovenant.org/revive.