by Bob Phillips

The classic Sound of Music ends with suspense and pizzaz. Each member of the Von Trapp family bows off the stage in an auditorium filled with Nazis (and NO, that is not a metaphor for UM bureaucracy or bishops). Their parting song, sung to an audience that is adamant that the family remain in Austria, is “So Long, Farewell, auf Wiedersehen, Good-bye.” One by one they slip out into the night, and freedom.
General Conference 2024 took clear steps to shut down any denomination-wide way for churches, for conscience, sake, to depart the UMC…with their property. Individuals always could leave, and have, and will, but singing “So Long” is banned.

The Northeast Jurisdiction has issued an edict removing any “Pro-choice” separation option by their conferences. Relatively few churches disaffiliated, due to a combination of add-on onerous requirements and the decades-long reduction in traditional/evangelical UM clergy presence. Their public statement squashing separation as a possible reaction to the dramatic shift in UM beliefs and policy found justification in Central Conference (non-US) “pleas” not to allow it, as well as wails of the remnant from the desolation wrought by many departures in the South. So said the Northeast Jurisdiction.

The prompt departure of 1.2 million Ivory Coast United Methodists, and the calls to depart issuing from numerous African conferences, belies using Africa as an excuse to shut the door. The spin provided by official UMNS sources to the Ivory Coast departure is intriguing. Their true number could be half or less of that reported; they paid only a tiny apportionment to the general church; their roots were British, not American, suggesting they were never more than barely UM. In short, ‘Bah, humbug’!

The spirit of the Protocol, mediated pro bono by world-renowned attorney Kenneth Feinberg (at the personal request of Hillary Clinton) has been strangled in its crib, foreclosing a positive witness to a dubious world that Christians with conflicted consciences can develop win-win, grace-filled alternatives. In God’s timing a mitosis moment will appear, just as today’s UMC no longer holds active grudges against other ‘disloyalists’ and ‘misinformationalists’ such as those who birthed the Salvation Army, the Free Methodists, Nazarenes or the Wesleyan Church. It will be later rather than sooner, thanks to the toasting of the Protocol, but it will come.

Pointers for the UMC

In the meanwhile, I offer 5 points to ponder for traditionalists remaining in the UMC and for the newly formed and forming GMC. For the UMC:

  1. Remaining UM is an honorable option. Yes, really, and this from one immersed in the creation and bright future of the GMC. If conscience and the Spirit’s leading whisper that a red line has not been crossed in God’s use for you as UM, remain. Be a witness, knowing that is possible only if bitterness and sarcasm do not infuse that witness. The UMC is going to need folks who take great Gospel truths seriously AND literally (the incarnation, atonement, resurrection, Pentecost, the Second Coming). The UMC is going to need pastors and laity whose passion for evangelism is rooted in love for those who do not realize the eternal and absolute significance of faith…or lack of faith…in Christ. Accept that marginalization (to a greater or lesser degree) comes with the package, an annoying but minor cross when compared to the suffering of others. Accept no abuse from traditional folks who demonize the legacy UMC as a spawn of Satan. If Spirit-led conscience whispers “Stay and serve,” do it.
  2. Active discernment remains the central challenge. This is true for congregation and individual alike. Simply leaving the UMC will not fix a church in steady worship attendance decline and ageing membership. The vast majority of churches that do or would never do same sex weddings are flatlined or in clear decline. The key questions remain and transcend sexual battles. What is the gospel? Who is Jesus? What is God calling us to be, to do? “BeUMC” can be an invitation to embrace Pollyanna denial over the denomination’s free fall (even prior to COVID and disaffiliation) or a means to reclaim spiritual vigor. Going GMC or elsewhere is no magic cure. Active, honest discernment, in a spiritual spin-free zone, is the key to informed action.
  3. Be willing to name good reasons to go or stay. This is simple. In a discussion venue with active laity some time ago, I invited self-avowed practicing Progressive clergy to offer reasons defending the traditional teaching of the church, while I (first) would outline reasons justifying change in the church’s teaching and practice on sexuality. The progressives adamantly refused. To be clear, not all progressives react in such ways and there are plenty of traditionalists who likewise would refuse. Confirmation bias remains an enemy of scripturally in-formed wise decisions. To understand where the “other guy” is coming from is not to agree, but better to understand.
  4. If conscience so directs, be prepared to walk away. In a senior leadership session for Navy chaplains the class was asked to respond individually to the question, “What would it take for you to resign your commission as a Naval officer?” That is, what could lead you to leave the highest paying job for US clergy, plus an unmatched pension, perks coming with senior rank, and the like. Where and what are the moral red lines of conscience for you? In that answer is freedom in ministry and preservation of integrity. If the actions or the clear direction of a church or denomination cross that line, a Luke 9:23 moment has arrived. Walking away from all property and possessions is a last resort, but numerous settings across the nation bear witness of the blessings that follow new church plants rooted in such conviction.
  5. “Let no root of bitterness” take hold of your view of the UMC or the GMC. Perhaps this should be first. If one is called to move “from country and kindred to a land (new church) that I will show you, (Genesis 12:1-4)” leave bitterness and anger in the rear-view mirror. Let God’s promise and future define attitudes and infuse language. If you have been mistreated, called names or harmed, let 1 Peter 4:12-13 be your guide, indeed most of 1 Peter seems very relevant to this time. If you have done the name-calling, repent. Let emotional and spiritual energy flow toward building and planting, for that is the future for God’s church.

Pointers for the GMC

For the Global Methodists, consider these items on the cusp of the September General Conference:

  1. Moving to the GMC is an honorable option. Repeated inferences, as false as they are predictable, that the GMC is for disaffected white, Southern Trump supporters and gay haters will soon run out of steam. While a student at St. Andrews in Scotland I saw a Latin inscription in an old garden that read (in English): “They say. What do ‘they’ say? Let them say.” God is expanding his Wesleyan way to salvation, not by canceling the UMC but by extending the borders of the Methodist tent.
  2. Active discernment remains the central challenge. Let the same comments apply for UMC and GMC alike!
  3. Be willing to name good reasons to keep, change, or discard traditions, practices, assumptions. As many have said, simply changing the yard sign and formal name of the church changes…nothing. The willingness to wisely barbecue overaged sacred cows that long ago ceased giving ministry milk can be scary but must be done as needed. Affirm and build on the good after identifying clearly what that includes. What and where and how is Christ leading his church into his future?
  4. Remember the GMC has no Trust Clause. The freedom to walk away is not permission from the Holy Spirit to discard the GMC nor to take unhealthy focus on the ‘stuff’ of ministry at the price of the substance of ministry. The entire emphasis on downsizing the bureaucracy of the new GMC is intended to empower and challenge local churches to engage ministry rather than outsource it through ‘apportionments,’ a word not in the GMC vocabulary. Elton Trueblood wrote a small, challenging book years ago, The Company of the Committed. That is the GMC vision, commitment, not trust clause constraints, to enable large witness and conversions and authentic discipleship. Only an institution committed to trusting its members would release them from legal and financial obligations such as a (Mis)trust clause. Live by trust.
  5. “Let no root of bitterness” take hold. Potshots and zingers aimed at the UMC are lots of fun for some, but are not God’s way. Leave unfairness, hypocrisy and whatever other allegations at the feet of Christ and walk forward. Beware defining self or the GMC in negatives, i.e., “well at least we aren’t like…them,” which can sound perilously close to the Pharisee’s hissing prayer, “I thank God I am not as others.” Certainly, speak the truth, in love, when asked by those pondering staying in or leaving the UMC, but let those comments be ‘seasoned with salt’ rather than pickled with vinegar. A caring spirit will be a special gift to those whom God is calling in a new direction but are obstructed by a wall of institutional opposition and threats. The year 2024 will be a challenge for many who heeded the call of bishops to “Wait and see” what the UM GC2024 would do. Those whose faith cannot abide the actions of that meeting, and are being denied any way to graceful change, will need help, prayer, and a Christ-filled attitude of grace, a life where bitterness at the “System” cannot be allowed to call the shots. And affirming those UM bishops and conferences who are offering honorable and fair alternatives is part of the healing mix as the Holy Spirit continues to build a redemptive future and witness for the Wesleyan Way.

Photo Credit

Bob Phillips

Degrees from University of Illinois, Asbury and Princeton Seminaries, University of St. Andrews

Graduate of Senior Executive Seminar on Morality, Ethics and Public Policy, Brookings Institution

Captain, Chaplain Corps, US Navy (ret)

See Bob’s work on Methodist Mitosis in Methodist Review.