Since the announcement that I’m leaving the UMC to join the Global Methodist Church, I’ve had a ton of people come to me asking for more information on the split. A lot of people that are asking are from UMC churches with pastors that have no interest in disaffiliation and aren’t really telling their congregations much about it, but others are just people from other denominations that are curious about what’s going on. Several area churches have started using this material to consider disaffiliation, so I figured it was time to make it more widely available.
Here are the handouts for the classes that I held to lead my congregation through a disaffiliation discernment process. I wanted to make sure that there was no cause to end our process on a technicality, so I made sure to bounce the elements off of my local District Superintendent before presenting it. The material was made in the West Ohio Conference of the UMC, so the statistics reflect our conference as of January in 2023. Certain conferences require you to use more rigorous processes that favor the UMC pretty heavily, so this may not meet the requirements of non-West Ohio conferences, but I think it’s a great starting point for educating yourself and others regardless of your location. And if you’re not United Methodist, the sheer amount of history makes it worth reading, in my humble opinion. I know I learned a lot while creating it.
I did genuinely try to make something that’s balanced. There’s no point in destroying a straw-man of your opponent in the age of the internet. People can all get online and double check anything you say, so I really worked to cite everything and represent people’s opinions in their own words. Every person I cited in these materials is either a bishop, a bestselling pastor/author, or a seminary professor. Not every person I quoted is from the UMC or the GMC. The authors especially represent a broader picture of evangelical Christians and progressive Christians. That said, most of the authors representing positions that are consistent with the UMC’s perspective are from denominations that the UMC is in full communion with, and most of the perspectives representing the GMC are from evangelicals that pastors consistently look to across denominational lines. These are the figures that publish the studies that Methodists on both sides read in Sunday School. They create the YouTube videos and podcasts that inform our thoughts. They all deserve your attention.
Again, I like to imagine the material is fair for both sides. I believe that’s why it’s started to gain some momentum. I’ve worked in progressive churches and I’ve worked in traditionalist churches, and I tried to imagine, “How can I do right by the people in both places?” If you’re more traditionalist, you’ll notice that I didn’t bring up most of the more egregious violations of the discipline by the UMC. Yes, some really high up people are doing bad things and it does need addressing, but I didn’t think it was representative of the average UMC believer. If you’re more progressive, you’ll probably be frustrated that I represented the UMC as a more progressive church, rather than a “big tent for all people.” When half of the people in the big tent are leaving because they don’t feel represented, you’re no longer a big tent. When all of the people leaving are of a particular theological standpoint (traditionalists), you ought to realize that you’ve become the other half of the argument (progressive).
If you’re Methodist considering disaffiliation, remember, the cutoff for the current protocol is the end of 2023! I hope this helps Methodist congregations have honest conversations about what they believe and helps inform non-Methodists about what’s going on in our world.
PS: Do the homework if you can. Those readings are fantastic.
Classic Theology 