By Rev. Jay Therrell
April 18, 2023
One of the questions that we get asked most is about various ongoing lawsuits across the United States. While the Wesleyan Covenant Association is not a party to any of these suits, we do try to keep abreast of how they are moving through the courts. Sadly, none of these lawsuits should have been necessary. In some cases, they are the result of annual conference leaders making decisions that are punitive and onerous such as requiring a church to pay 50% of the fair market value of their real estate in addition to many other fees. In other cases, they’re the result of shortsighted progressives who have targeted individual churches to block their disaffiliation ratification votes at the annual conference level.
The information provided below is the best available at the time this article was written.
North Georgia Annual Conference
The North Georgia Annual Conference “paused” its disaffiliation process on December 28, 2022, just days before the “que” to start the process was to open on January 1, 2023. Since that time, multiple attempts have been made by pastors, laity, and churches to ask the North Georgia Board of Trustees, Bishop Robin Dease, and her Cabinet to restart the process. To date, none of those attempts have been positive.
There are two different lawsuits presently in the North Georgia Conference. In February 2023, Trinity on the Hill UMC in Augusta filed a lawsuit. About a month later at the end of March a separate suit was filed by 186 churches against the North Georgia Conference. Both suits are in the early stages. The larger suit has not yet been answered by the North Georgia Conference.
Western North Carolina
Thirty-six churches joined together to file suit against the Western North Carolina Annual Conference in November of 2022. After the initial documents were filed, the Western North Carolina Conference filed a motion to dismiss arguing, among other things, that the “ecclesiastical abstention doctrine” prevented the court from wading into an issue that was theological in nature. The plaintiff churches argued that the issues were not related to theology/doctrine but instead focused on secular laws involving property and fiduciary duties.
Sadly, on the date of the hearing, without taking the matter under advisement, the judge dismissed the case. As can be read in the press release from the attorneys representing the plaintiff churches, the judge presiding over the hearing failed to disclose that he was a long-time United Methodist. Moreover, he didn’t disclose that his district superintendent was the wife of one of the attorneys representing the Western North Carolina Conference in the case before him. The plaintiff’s attorneys requested the judge recuse himself, but he denied the request. The attorneys have announced their intent to appeal, but with that process often taking 12-18 months, which will easily extend past the expiration date of paragraph 2553, it is unknown if churches will want to wait that long versus attempting to disaffiliate at their special annual conference in the fall.
Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference
The Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference, in addition to other payments, requires disaffiliating churches to pay 50% of the fair market value of their real estate. This onerous requirement made disaffiliation out of reach for most theologically conservative churches in the conference. Accordingly, thirty-eight churches in the conference filed suit on March 20 because there was no other way for them to exit. The lawsuit is in its early days with the court having issued its scheduling order just this week.
Florida Annual Conference
Approximately 106 churches filed a lawsuit against the Florida Annual Conference in the last summer of 2022. Presently about 70 remain in the suit. Among the requirements of the Florida disaffiliation process, there are unique provisions related to property and casualty insurance. The Florida Conference mandates that all its churches purchase property and casualty insurance from the Conference. Disaffiliating congregations are required to sign away 26 years of coverage for which they have paid premiums. Should a claim arise in the future (it’s important to note the statute of limitations for many sexual abuse claims can be well over 20 years), the church, even though it paid for insurance, will have no benefit of it and will be fully exposed. Moreover, the disaffiliating churches are required to purchase a “tail” policy covering the Florida Conference for any claims in the first three years after the church disaffiliates. Originally, the Conference wanted a tail policy covering them for 26 years, but no insurance carrier was willing to write such a policy. Add up the amount of premiums for insurance a church has paid over 26 years and it’s easily in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. For many it’s in the millions.
The Florida Conference filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit and other motions related to discovery and sanctions. The motions were argued on February 21, 2023. After a very lengthy oral argument, the judge promised to rule “quickly.” As of today, it’s has been eight weeks and no ruling has been issued.
Eastern Pennsylvania Conference
The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference has added multiple additional fees to its disaffiliation process making it extremely difficult for most churches to afford to exit. Feeling that they could not afford the onerous requirements of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, approximately 50 churches began legal action against the annual conference. At the end of March, 2023, a writ of summons was filed against the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference. The writ of summons allows pre-complaint discovery to take place before an actual complaint is filed.
Arkansas Annual Conference
The Arkansas Annual Conference held a special called meeting to vote on disaffiliations in November, 2022. At the meeting progressives began targeting specific churches attempting to block their disaffiliations. Sadly, they were successful with three: Cabot UMC, First UMC of Jonesboro, and Searcy First UMC. First UMC of Jonesboro has filed suit against the annual conference in December, 2022. On March 14, 2023, the court denied the Conference’s motion to dismiss and has ordered that the case can proceed eventually heading to a trial unless a settlement is reached.
Lawsuits are notoriously slow. One person I know recently analogized it to “running in mud.” Please continue to pray for everyone involved and that resolutions can be achieved that enable these churches to depart the UMC under much fairer terms.
The Rev. Jay Therrell is the president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association and an ordained elder in the Global Methodist Church.