Good Morning Mt. Bethel,
 
Pictured above are letters of support, encouragement, and love sent to Mt. Bethel from individuals from around the country. This picture represents mail received in just the last two days. This level of correspondence has been taking place for some time and has recently seen an increase in volume and encouragement.
 
We wanted to share this with you, as well as one letter in particular received from our friend, Rev. Rob Renfroe. Rob is a pastor at the Woodlands United Methodist Church in
The Woodlands, Texas, and President of Good News Magazine. Many of you may remember when Rev. Renfroe preached here at Mt. Bethel several years ago and know that he has a great affection for this church and its people. He has addressed this letter to all of you, the people of Mt. Bethel, to encourage you and bring the perspective of one who is very familiar with the bigger picture of all that is happening, and the place that Mt. Bethel occupies within it. We hope that this will be a buoy to your spirits.

Dear Members and Friends of Mt. Bethel Church,

You all amaze me and make me proud to call you my friends in Christ. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, being part of a denomination on the cusp of a separation, and facing a crisis engendered in your midst by your own bishop, you all continue to persevere in the faith. Vital worship continues at both of your campuses; children, teens, and people new to the church are discipled in the faith; and marginalized people in your community and around the world are cared for and empowered because of Mt. Bethel’s ministries. Not to diminish the faithfulness and the good work of others, but Mt. Bethel is a unique church that brings its passion and resources to bear as it shares the good news of Jesus Christ.

And since I know well Mt. Bethel’s impact in the wider church and around the world, it grieves me, as I know it does you and many others, that you find yourselves in a crisis that has created conflict in your midst. No matter who’s right or who’s wrong, church crises inevitably generate hurt feelings, harsh words, and regrets.

But here’s the thing to remember: the conflict at Mt. Bethel was unnecessarily instigated by Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson. It is obvious to many United Methodists that her decision to remove Rev. Dr. Jody Ray was ill-considered, ill-timed and in defiance of the process required by The United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline. The crisis she created has not only harmed Mt. Bethel, but it has also damaged the reputation of local United Methodist churches throughout Georgia. I have to believe she regrets her precipitous decision, and now wishes she could find some face-saving way to reverse it.

Friends, I can call her decision precipitous and unusual because I have served in the United Methodist Church for more than 40 years. I have served small, mid-sized, and some of the very largest churches in our denomination. As president of Good News, I have also had the privilege, at one time or another, to meet scores of senior pastors who have led or are leading our largest congregations. And finally, I have worked with many of our bishops, and when asked, I have offered my insights to them regarding candidates being considered for appointments to large churches. 

With all due respect, I have never seen a bishop go about an appointment change the way Bishop Haupert-Johnson has at Mt. Bethel. To be sure, sometimes bishops must act quickly to fill a large church pulpit, but those situations are rare. Here are the scenarios that require a precipitous change: a senior pastor at a large charge is elected to the episcopacy (not uncommon) so a replacement is needed quickly to fill the position; a senior pastor becomes gravely ill necessitating a leave of absence; there has been a moral lapse on the part of a senior pastor; or a senior pastor has died while still serving. In all these cases, bishops invariably appoint an interim. This allows time for serious consultation with a local church’s staff parish relations committee and then the commencement of a deliberate search process for a suitable replacement. Unfortunately, nothing close to this process happened at Mt. Bethel.

There was no crisis or emergency at Mt. Bethel or in the North Georgia Annual Conference requiring a pastoral change. Mt. Bethel’s staff parish relations committee did not request a pastoral change. Nor did Pastor Jody.

It is certainly possible, and perhaps even probable, that some Mt. Bethel people bypassed its staff parish relations committee by lodging complaints about Jody’s leadership directly with your district superintendent or even your bishop. Friends, take it from someone who knows it firsthand, in a church your size, there are always some people who have complaints about the senior pastor; it’s the norm, not the exception. We all accept that it comes with the territory.

Thankfully, the UM Church has a constructive way for dealing with just this kind of conflict. First, members are encouraged, as Jesus explicitly taught us, to seek conflict resolution directly and discretely with the person or persons who have offended them, even with the senior pastor. If that does not work, they can turn to the staff parish relations committee, and failing that, they can reach out to the church’s district superintendent. These are all principled and honorable ways to try to resolve differences.

However, in the interest of fairness, senior pastors should always be given the opportunity to address complaints lodged with the staff parish relations committee, the district superintendent, and the bishop, especially in cases where people have bypassed critical steps in the process. Pastors deserve the right to hear critiques and complaints leveled against them, and they are entitled to have their side of the story told. And in any event, bishops should never arbitrarily and precipitously make pastoral changes based on hearsay.

I am not entirely clear why Bishop Haupert-Johnson decided to make a pastoral change at Mt. Bethel so late in the appointment cycle and so without significant consultation and a deliberative search for a suitable replacement. I am aware she has offered different reasons for doing so. However, I can attest the move is well outside the norm of what I and others have experienced and witnessed. And not surprisingly, her unorthodox actions have created problems you all did not expect and should not be contending with as the UM Church draws near to an orderly and a relatively amicable separation.

Unfortunately, only three bishops, including Bishop Haupert-Johnson, did what three dozen of their colleagues managed to avoid: incite controversy in a denomination on the brink of separation. By electing to move leading pastors from the theologically conservative churches they were serving, they created crises that still have many UM clergy and other bishops scratching their heads and wondering why they would do such a thing at this juncture.

I am sure all of you are weary of the crisis in your church and long to return your full focus on being the church you know God has called you to be. I also know when we’re tired we can start to second-guess ourselves or others. But please remember, Mt. Bethel did not create this crisis that is disturbing your life together. Bishop Haupert-Johnson did. She says she made the pastoral change out of love for Mt. Bethel, an odd claim in my opinion. I know of no other situation where a bishop has failed to stay in close, personal contact with the pastor and the lay leadership at the largest church in her or his annual conference, and then compounded that problem by making an ill-timed and ill-considered pastoral change.

So stay strong and firm in your convictions. Please know you are in my thoughts and prayers, and in the thoughts and prayers of your brothers and sisters all around the world. They believe, as I do, that Mt. Bethel Church has acted justly and honorably to confront a crisis Bishop Haupert-Johnson has needlessly created.

Yours in Christ,
Rev. Rob Renfroe
The Woodlands Methodist Church
President, Good News