From our Pastor

What is going on with the United Methodist Church? This is a question I have been getting lately and so I will try to give some perspective on the status of our denomination. The issue of human sexuality has been a hot topic of debate since the early 1970’s and has caused no little amount of anxiety within the church—on both sides of the issue. In brief, the issue was whether or not we would allow same sex weddings be performed in our churches and ordain homosexual persons as ministers of the church. In the 2016 General Conference it was requested that the bishops work out a plan in which we all could stay faithful to our individual convictions and still be one church. A special General Conference was held in 2019 where the Bishops presented three different options for the membership to consider. Instead of adopting any of those, the membership voted to harden the line and place even more stringent penalties on those who opposed them. The result of this has been to only widen the divide rather than to close it.

Since the special General Conference of 2019 there have been several petitions to the General Conference of 2020 to again address this issue with a desire to narrow the gap. However, there has also been the realization that this may be too large a gap for our church to bridge at this time. Therefore, we also had petitions that were to be presented on how a church may disaffiliate with the United Methodist Church and join a different/new denomination that was more in line with their stance on the issue of human sexuality. This is no small feat because all United Methodist church buildings and facilities are owned by the Annual Conference and not by the local congregations. Therefore, as it stood, a congregation could leave the United Methodist Church but the building and assets remained with the Annual Conference. There are provisions that churches who wished to disaffiliate from the UMC can do so and receive ownership of the property but they would be required to pay all apportionment funds designated to the church, pay all outstanding loans they have, and pay for the future responsibilities they have toward the pension fund. I do not have figures for First UMC of Independence, but I do know of a church similar to us in size has a bill estimated to be $130,000.

Now, as we know due to the COVID pandemic, the General Conference has not been able to meet to work on this issue since the special session in 2019. It has now been pushed back until 2024 at which time it will need to be decided if that will simply be meeting as the postponed 2020 session or will be a wholly new 2024 session staying with the four year meeting cycle of the General Conference. If it is decided that this will be a totally new session then all petitions for the 2020 session will be discarded and new petitions will need to be presented. Plus, we already have a new denomination, the World Methodist Church, which has placed it starting date as of May 1, 2022. At this point the WMC has had no organizing sessions on which to build from and has only stated its inaugural date.

Also, in December, the Bishop and Cabinet have released a statement that there would be no measures taken against clergy who officiate at same sex weddings and there would be no measures to reject applicants to ordained ministry due to sexual identity. Whether you agree or disagree with this action, we need to recognize that it does go against the Book of Discipline of the church. They have acted out of their deep sense of God’s call and what they believe to be in good conscience. Let’s also keep in mind that they are just as many who totally disagree with this action out of their own deep sense of God’s call and are trying to act in good conscience by deciding to disaffiliate from the UMC.

So, what do I think? Well, I am not sure that the action of the Bishop and Cabinet was helpful in any way. I also don’t think anyone is ready to make decisions on staying or disaffiliating until the General Conference meets and clarifies just where the church will stand and how to best handle the conflict that will inevitably arise. I fear that this will indeed split the church. But then the church has split over social issues before and managed to come back together in time. Slavery was one such issue that split the church between north and south and eventually the church reunited under one doctrine again.

I am saddened that we are going through this. I think of the people at the first Jerusalem Conference who were just as divided over the issue of circumcision. For many, their entire understanding of who they were in relation to God was tied in some way to their practice of circumcision and to let others in without that was a slap at the face of God. For others there was a need to let go of the rigid observance of the law and through grace open the gospel to people who would have no way in otherwise. These were also people of strong faith and conviction striving to be faithful in their ministries. Even though a decision was reached it was still a problem yet as we read in Paul’s letters about the subject. And I think it is somewhat still at issue today, maybe not in the issue of circumcision, but in the strict observance of the law. For right now I will continue to strive to do the ministry I am sent to do and serve whomever enters the church with the love and power of Christ. At least I am sure of that.

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Paul