December 31, 2024
By Rev. Dr. Scott Field
It’s a New Year!
Will 2025 include the journey to a new church for you?
Here’s one story of Quiet Quitting United Methodists who moved across the country and across denominations to find a church home… at least for now.
Does this sound familiar to you?
Earlier in the fall, I wrote about Vanguard Methodists. These are the former United Methodists who left their building and congregation behind to form a new local church.
Among the emails with energetic stories of new churches starting, I also received an email from a couple that are part of Quiet Quitting United Methodists. Quiet Quitting United Methodists don’t demand or demean. They don’t stir up trouble or undermine the pastor. Why would they? The Quiet Quitters love the people of their congregation. They have been members and leaders in their local church, perhaps for decades. Finally, however, they have come to the decision that they can no longer in good conscience support the local church with their prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. They quietly walked away.
Here’s the email I received (lightly edited):
“My husband and I are lifelong EUB/U. Methodist members. My dad, Gaylord Saltzgaber, was a U.M. pastor in the northern Indiana district. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, we left the UMC in 2021. We joined a small Presbyterian church in a West Virginia town where we are retiring next year. We joined that church because the pastor is Evangelical and preaches a pure gospel message. We have briefly helped out, off and on, at our UMC church here in Indiana until we retire in May. We love the people. They are our friends, but we are in strong disagreement with the UMC on many issues.
“The UMC church we attended in Indiana never talked to the congregation about disaffiliation. It is a church of mostly farmers, and many were completely unaware of what was happening until an announcement was made after the general conference in May 2024. You could see the look of complete amazement on many faces. The very next Sunday, people began to leave. Many members of the congregation have disappeared over the past several months. I was directing the choir, and they are almost all gone.
“No one speaks about it. It is a little like the Twilight Zone, if you know what I mean. Our area has several active Global Methodist churches. From what I can discern, some have joined these congregations, one couple joined a Baptist church, some have gone to non-denominational churches.”
What is an orthodox, evangelical, Wesleyan Christ-follower to do if you are still in a United Methodist congregation?
Some will decide to “see how things turn out”, of course. Others will decide that they no longer “fit” the future of the UMC and decide it is probably time to consider moving on. Now, if you are part of a group in your local church all planning to leave together, maybe you should contact the Global Methodist Church Presiding Elder in your area and discuss the possibilities of the starting a new congregation. Or perhaps you might look for a Global Methodist congregation already established nearby. (Here’s the “Find-A-Church” link for the Global Methodist Church).
For many, however, 2025 will bring the path of Quiet Quitting.
Two “Travelers’ Advisories” as you explore that Quiet Quitting Option:
- Don’t allow “Quiet Quitting” to become “Quitting Altogether”. A community of sisters and brothers in Christ is foundational for believers in so many ways. It isn’t easy to find our way into a new congregation, but we need the determination to prevail in becoming part of our new church home. Don’t give up without giving it a sustained effort to find the way in that best fits you. If you are beginning to discern whether 2025 will be the time for you to leave the UMC, Wendy and Garry recommend a book they have found very helpful: Come Out From Among Them by Todd Coconato (Charisma House, 2023).
- Don’t presume that the cultural issues of sexuality, same-sex marriage, and gender identity will disappear if you are part of a theologically conservative local church. Our cultural moment needs Christians who are knowledgeable, wise, steady, gracious, and engaged in the contemporary contours of life for people who might look to the church for light and life. With that in mind, here are some resources for getting started:
Queer and Christian?
How does someone go from being the kid who wears a large wooden cross around his neck, telling his unbelieving friends they’re going to hell – to becoming one of the most outspoken, progressive, pro-LGBTQ pastors in the U.S.? In this interview, “TikTok pastor” Brandan Robertson challenges traditional interpretations of the Bible, the divinity of Jesus, and conservative Christianity’s teachings on marriage and sexuality, and Maybe God Host Eric Huffman responds. Brandan argues that there’s no contradiction between being Christian and being queer. His new book, “Queer & Christian” is set to release in May of 2025.
Check out the Episode: “Liberal” versus “Conservative” Christianity: Brandon Robertson and Eric Huffman here.
Does the Bible Affirm Same-Sex Relationships: Examining 10 Claims About Scripture and Sexuality
During another engaging Maybe God podcast, host Eric Huffman has a conversation with Rebecca McLaughlin, scholar and author, about not only compelling arguments made from Scripture regarding sexuality, but her own long-standing experience of same-sex attraction. Check out that podcast here.
If you want more of Dr. McLaughlin’s personal story, books, and interviews, click here. She is a great resource for thinking through the issues of Christian faith in our current cultural setting.
If you prefer reading to listening, then here are some other insightful resources:
Faithful: A Theology of Sex by Beth Felker Jones. (Zondervan, 2015). A brief and well-articulated biblical understanding of the body, sexuality, and marriage.
Into the Light: Healing Sexuality in Today’s Church by Mark Ongley. (Seedbed, 2017). An excellent resource for church leaders and influencers to open the conversation about sexuality in ways that are not confrontational, divisive, or alienating.
Born Again This Way: Coming Out, Coming to Faith, and What Comes Next by Rachel Gilson. (The good book company, 2020). A no-holds-barred personal story of conversion to Christ and coming to terms with same-sex attraction.
And now…Thank You and God’s Blessing
This is the last issue of the WCA Outlook and my “last day on the job” as WCA President. The past 16 months have brought me the unexpected gift of being able to serve in this role. The WCA regional coordinators and the network of volunteers who have assisted so many with information, counsel, and encouragement have made contacts, presentations, and conversations that are truly without number. God ignited a wave of renewal at that initial meeting of the WCA in Chicago in 2016. I could not be more grateful to have been part of planning the logistics of the initial meeting and now to bring down the closing curtain. The Wesleyan Covenant Association mission is accomplished. But the stirring of Holy Spirit-given renewal continues to build and expand.
Into 2025 you can still access local church resources for information at our website: www. wesleyancovenant.org. Our custodial board of directors will fulfill all of the commitments we have made to AfricaNOW. Giving statements will be mailed to our donors in January. And if you need to make contact with the WCA, you can email info@wesleyancovenant.org.
The prayers, gifts, and time given to this movement shine a bright light into a vibrant, orthodox, evangelical, Wesleyan future!
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes. (Psalm 118:23)
Yours in the Matchless Name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer!
