A note from Pastor Travis 5/12/22

Dear FUMC Family and Friends,

As you may be aware, on May 1, conservative United Methodists, who have been planning for a long time to leave the denomination over LBGT issues, formally launched a new denomination, the Global Methodist Church. Now that it is almost 2 weeks following their launch, you may be wondering what is happening. That is a difficult question to answer because it is an ongoing, evolving situation, but I will do my best to share something about where things stand as of right now.

First of all, we must understand that it was a “soft launch.” Unless churches had already left the United Methodist denomination, they were in no position to join the new denomination. Currently the Global Methodist Church is a legal entity, with a transitional governing board, a website, a tentative rule book, and very few churches. There are a number of churches that are planning to join the denomination. However, most of them cannot do so until they formally leave the United Methodist Church. How soon these churches can leave will depend on the rules set out by each Annual Conference (the reginal governing bodies of the UMC). In many, if not most, Annual Conferences, this will take a year, so many churches will not be able to leave until June 2023. Churches that were already in the process of leaving will be able to leave this June or July, and some Annual Conferences may vote at their annual meeting in June to allow churches who go through the process to leave upon completing the process, without waiting until next year.

The reason that many of these churches were not already prepared to leave the denomination is that the launch date for the Global Methodist Church was unexpectedly moved up, catching them off guard. The original plan was to form the new denomination following the international meeting of the governing body of the United Methodist Church (General Conference), which was scheduled to meet this summer. However, citing reasons related to COVID, the General Conference, which meets every 4 years, was postponed until 2024. Churches were waiting until after General Conference to leave so that legislation could be passed that would provide millions of dollars to be given to the new denomination from the UMC coffers and provide a way for local churches to leave without having to go through any process at the Annual Conference level.

The WCA (Wesleyan Covenant Association), a group within the United Methodist Church, formed the new denomination. However, not all of its members have left to join the new denomination. Many are staying to assist local churches to leave for the new denomination and to continue to promote a conservative agenda within the UMC. Many of them are hoping to still be able to pass the legislation at the 2024 meeting of General Conference to give money to the Global Methodist Church. No official action has been taken against any pastors that helped formed the new denomination and none is likely.

It is hard to get any data on how many churches plan to leave the UMC. We will know more after the Annual Conferences’ annual meetings in June. However, recently, 107 UMC churches in Florida, representing about 20 percent of UMC churches there, have signaled their intent to join the new denomination. This is the largest group to have made such a declaration, but there have been other churches throughout the country that have signaled their intent to leave too. The United Methodist Church has a Trust Clause, which means the Annual Conference, not the local church, owns church property. This means that many smaller churches that wish to leave may not be able to afford to, unless Annual Conferences make allowances.

Several Annual Conferences have scheduled meetings to vote to have their entire Annual Conference leave as a block for the new denomination. The Bulgarian-Romanian Annual Conference has already voted to leave. However, on Tuesday, the Judicial Council, the United Methodist Church’s Supreme Court, ruled that there is no provision in the denominational Discipline (our official rules) to allow Annual Conferences to leave. In order for this to happen a new rule would need to be passed at the next General Conference.

African United Methodist churches met a few weeks ago and stated that they are concerned about colonial power and tactics seeking to decide their future. They stated that they need to act for the best interest of their churches. No African Annual Conference has made a decision seeking to leave the denomination.

As a congregation and a part of the New England Annual Conference, we will continue to promote and work for full inclusion of LBGT people within the United Methodist Church. Several years ago, the New England Annual Conference voted to reject church law and ordain LBGT clergy. In the same way, United Methodist pastors in our Annual Conference conduct LBGT weddings. However, seeking justice within our local church or within the boundary of the New England Annual Conference is not enough. We will continue to work for a just and open denomination.

I hope that this summary was helpful. I tried to stay away from too many United Methodist terms and to define them when I used them. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Travis