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A diverse group of bishops and other United Methodist leaders gather for a group photo in 2019 after reaching agreement on a proposal that would maintain The United Methodist Church but allow traditionalist congregations to separate into a new denomination. More than a quarter of that team has now rescinded their support for the agreement in its entirety, saying it no longer offers an adequate path forward for The United Methodist Church. (Photo courtesy of the Protocol Mediation Team via UM News)
Two years after its negotiation and two years away from a vote on its provisions, the Protocol for Reconciliation and Grace through Separation appears ever more unlikely to be adopted, as this week a quarter of its negotiating team issued a statement saying they believe the day has passed for the independently negotiated exit pact.
 Centrist and progressive representatives of UMCNext, Uniting Methodists, Mainstream UMC, the LGBTQ advocacy group Affirmation, Methodist Federation for Social Action and Reconciling Ministries Network – six of the 15 negotiators – posted the statement on a new website, Protocol Response, saying they believe the agreement is "no longer viable." Insight Editor Cynthia B. Astle interviewed the Rev. Tom Berlin (at right), frequent spokesperson for centrist groups, about the statement's genesis. Rev. Berlin said the statement's drafters believed it important to share information about the widespread decline in support for the Protocol now while many congregations are making decisions about their future affiliation with the worldwide United Methodist denomination.
 However, the Rev. Jay Therrell (at left), president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, attacked the Protocol Response in a statement sent at Insight's invitation: "The WCA is deeply saddened that with no consultation and little notification, that progressive and centrist signers and endorsers of the Protocol have chosen lawlessness and chaos over an orderly, amicable, grace-filled separation by withdrawing their support from the mediated agreement." Rev. Berlin said the traditionalists on the negotiating team were notified of the centrist/progressive defection prior to publication but weren't part of the drafting discussion. Rev. Therrell said the WCA plans to issue a longer response in a few days.
The U.S. annual conference season continued apace with local media paying close attention to disaffiliations among United Methodist churches. As documented among the Media Mentions in the June 9 Crisis Watch column, Atlanta-area news outlets posted repeated stories about the 70 churches that have petitioned to leave the North Georgia Annual Conference. In addition, court documents disclosed that Mt. Bethel Church, a WCA stronghold in Marietta, Ga., that has been attempting to leave the UMC for a year, will pay North Georgia some $13 million to depart with its church property.
Meanwhile, annual conference efforts are faltering to substitute Book of Discipline Paragraph 2548.2, which provides for a simple transfer of property to another Methodist denomination, for the "gracious exit" of Paragraph 2553, which requires departing churches to pay annual conferences two years of apportionments and 110 percent of unfunded pension liabilities. This week the North Texas Conference followed Arkansas Conference's example to table a resolution supporting Para. 2548.2, while a similar resolution in the Texas Conference was withdrawn before the session began.
 The biggest conflict in the North Texas Conference came not from dissolution but from the conference's vote refusing to extend the agenda for 30 minutes to consider a deeply researched three-page resolution on abortion that came up late on the schedule. Formally backed by 85 North Texas clergywomen and unofficially supported by an untold number of laywomen, the resolution aimed to endorse the carefully nuanced United Methodist stance on abortion, BOD Paragraph 161 (K), as a faith-based alternative for church-related hospitals and medical centers to use against Texas' draconian anti-abortion statute enacted last year. One of the proposal's authors, the Rev. Becky David Hensley (at left above), detailed the resolution's background in a Facebook post republished on UM Insight.
As annual conferences met, two veteran General Conference delegates proposed a "premortem" strategy to ensure that the 2024 session doesn't turn into another debacle. The Revs. Rebekah Miles and David Livingston offered eight steps toward better GC effectiveness – four that analyze the failures of the past, and four that turn past failures into potential achievements to get the denomination out of "polity hell."
 Harking back to the Bulgaria-Romania Conference session in early spring at which the region voted to leave the UMC, Dr. David W. Scott of UM & Global noted that autonomy and international division long have been a part of Methodist tradition. In a separate post, Dr. Scott surmised that the global push toward authoritarian governments also could pressure the UMC, which historically thrives best in democratic political environments.
Along with the usual round of church politics, Insight Editor Astle took note of the pension scandal now rocking the African Methodist Episcopal Church and interviewed Wespath executives Andy Hendren and Dave Zellner about the security of clergy pensions and investments. Hendren and Zellner outlined the many strict accounting and investment procedures Wespath uses to protect clergy pensions, stressing that transparency of the agency's transactions is paramount among security measures.
 This week's writers pose some provocative questions. The Rev. Rebekah Simon-Peter continues her series on post-pandemic answers for churches with two strategies, "How Do We Get People (Back) to Church?" and "How Do We Do More with Less?" adapted from her recently published book, "Forging a New Path: Moving the Church Forward in a Post-Pandemic World." A guest columnist for Hacking Christianity, the Rev. Kathy Neary challenges the church to envision a different future in "What If ... We Replace Churches with Apartment Complexes?" Moved by the congressional testimony of 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo (at right), who survived the Uvalde school shooting, Insight Editor Astle demands, Why Are We Sacrificing Our Children to Guns?
Among other contributors:
 This week we recommend a feature about United Methodist Suzanne Stabile (at left), a popular instructor who has become known as "the godmother of the Enneagram." Many United Methodists these days have discovered the spiritual discipline of the Enneagram, which helps people discover their own personality types and the motivations behind their behaviors. Jana Reiss' interview with Suzanne for Religion News Service points out that along with the Enneagram's popularity has come a potential hazard in how it's taught. Author or co-author of three books on the Enneagram journey, Suzanne encourages interested seekers to study with an experienced teacher who appreciates the method's depth – a truly Wesleyan spiritual approach.
In closing, we offer a prayer of concern for all those who face extreme, record-breaking triple-digit heat in the United States over the next several days. We know we're "broken-record much" about this topic, but climate change is causing summertime heat waves to be hotter and last longer, threatening everyone's health. Expect power outages as the demand for electricity soars and take precautions for those who are especially vulnerable to the heat such as children, seniors, those with chronic illnesses and pets. This "dog mom" reminds us that if the sidewalk is too hot for your hand, it's too hot for the tender paws of your puppies and kitties.
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Words for Your Week
 "I am a dreamer. I stubbornly cling to the ideals of our faith and dream of how we might live into those ideals. My dreams are not of halfway schemes or slight adjustments to the status quo: I imagine ways to do what God calls us to do with joy and energy. I dream of ways to foster discipleship to Jesus Christ that completely transforms people into new beings. In my dreams I see us in communities of being-made-new folks, all in different stages of growth toward full humanity, all supporting the renewal of life on earth. These dreams give me hope and fill me with energy. Often to the consternation of my friends, I also think my dreams can and will become reality."
– The Rev. Kathy Neary, "What If ... We Replace Churches with Apartment Complexes?"
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