By Jay Therrell
July 15, 2022
When I was a l little boy, I remember hanging out with a friend and his family. We were driving somewhere, and the traffic was bad. My friend’s dad got frustrated and uttered a non-Methodist word. He then turned around and looked at both of us and said, “Boys, don’t you repeat that word. Do as I say, not as I do.”
It was the first time I had ever heard that phrase before. I got the gist of it, even at a young age. If I’m being completely honest, however, I didn’t care for the idea of the statement then, and I really don’t care for it now. On one level, it’s a way to excuse mistakes, and we all make them – me at the top of the list. On another level, however, it’s a way to excuse not having integrity. It can excuse a double standard where one party is treated preferentially over the other and often at their expense.
Increasingly, over the past several years, annual conference leaders across the connection have chosen to take stances that break The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church while simultaneously requiring theologically conservative churches to follow every provision when it comes to departing the denomination. For example, in Iowa, last December, Bishop Laurie Haller and her district superintendents released a document called “Leading Now and Into the Future.” You can read it here. Along with the document, the Cabinet issued a set of FAQs that you can read here. The long and short of the announcement is that Bishop Haller and her superintendents decided that as of January 1, 2022, the Iowa Conference would no longer enforce The Book of Discipline when it comes to decades-old (really centuries-old) restrictions on clergy and congregations officiating and hosting same-gender weddings.
The Iowa Cabinet readily acknowledged that they are choosing to violate The Book of Discipline. In the FAQ document, one of their anticipated questions is, “What does it say about a Cabinet that is willing to encourage its clergy to violate the BOD. How can you hold us to it in any other way if you encourage violating 2702?” The Cabinet’s response is basically, “If you don’t like the policy we’re enacting, you can leave.” They then have the audacity to say that a church can only leave by following paragraph 2553 that requires disaffiliating churches to pay multiple years of apportionments and pension liabilities that often total in the six and seven figures.
Apparently, it’s okay for the Iowa Bishop to choose to violate The Book of Discipline, but it’s not okay for your congregation to do so. You must follow it. In other words, do as I say, not as I do.
The leadership of the Western Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church went down this path several years earlier. Shortly after the special General Conference in 2019 repudiated the policy Iowa has adopted, the western bishops refused to comply with The Book of Discipline. On November 6, 2019, the five western bishops issued a Safe Harbor Declaration which you can read in its entirety here.
It was another “do as I say, not as I do” moment. Progressives were given safe harbor to violate The Book of Discipline openly and flagrantly. Traditionalist congregations in the West, however, have not been given any safe harbor from disaffiliation provisions that require churches to pay onerous sums of money including a percentage of the fair market value of their real estate. The western bishops established a double standard. Do as we say traditionalists…not as we do. You can’t just leave. You’ll have to pay punishing amounts of money that for most are impossible to come up with.
The North Central Jurisdiction seemed to follow the Western Jurisdiction’s path. At their meeting from November 10-11, 2021, the Jurisdiction voted on and released a new vision and a “Covenant to Build Beloved Community.” You can read the covenant here. The covenant embraced multiple radical, liberal issues of the day. Time will tell, but I will not be surprised if the other three jurisdictions begin to go down a similar path when they meet later this year.
Theological conservatives simply want to be let go to pursue the vision we believe God has given us. We want to bless progressives to do the same. It’s not too much to ask that traditionalist congregations be allowed to leave with the assets we and our ancestors invested in. (And let’s be clear, our ancestors would have been overwhelmingly traditionalist.) We’re not asking for anything else.
Bishops, end the fighting! Start living into the progressive future you want so desperately. If what you believe is truly of God, then it won’t fail. It will thrive. You won’t have to worry about decreased apportionments. Have confidence in what you believe. End the fighting and let us go!
Do as I say, not as I do is not a good strategy as a parent. It lacks integrity and encourages others to create double standards. It’s a horrible strategy for Jesus’ church. Bishops and cabinets, I hope you’re listening.
The Rev. Jay Therrell is president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association