August 8th, 2022 - All Church Meeting
Over the last several years, Pastor Jimmy has shared what was happening in teh denomination and promised to keep the congregation as informed as General Conference was coming in the spring of 2019. He did that. Prior to the 2019 General Conference held in Saint Louis, he sent out a congregational letter. When decisions were made, Pastor Jimmy wrote a follow up letter to the congregation. Later that fall, he shared an update at our Vision Night, saying that the United Methodist Church wouldn't make the decision until the following year - May of 2020. After the 2019 General Conference, everyone associated with the United Methodist Church knew we'd reached an impasse. Since then, all parties have been working under the belief that a split is inevitable - not a matter of if, but when. Unfortunately, when has not yet come; and it is unclear when it actually may happen.
Going into the 2020 General Conference, a protocol was being proposed, which would basically let local churches, who wanted to remain committed to a Biblical, orthodox understanding of human sexuality, leave the denomination and keep their building and property. The local church would pay an "exit fee" determined by the church. The United Methodist Church would then remove all restrictions related to human sexuality and the LGBTQIA+ community.
But the General Conference which was scheduled for May 2020 was postponed to August of 2021 because of the pandemic. Then, given the state of travel, the 2021 General Conference was postponed to 2022. After that, the 2022 General Conference was postponed to 2024, even though many evangelical United Methodist voices wondered why the meeting could not take place. For example, somehow the United Methodist Women found a way to hold their global gathering around the same time the 2022 General Conference was postponed.
While the presenting issue was human sexuality — in particular, the marriage and the ordination of Lesbians. Gays, Bisexuals, Transgenders, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, and Two-Spirited individuals — LGBTQIA+ — it has become so much more than that over the past couple years. It is kind of like going to the doctor, where there is usually no only a presenting symptom, but an underlying diagnosis. Within the current United Methodist Church, human sexuality may be presenting symptom, but the underlying diagnosis is a radical abandonment of the authority of Scripture. There are now United Methodist churches that are now blessing the "unions" of threesomes and foursomes of men and women. A. man, who dresses up in drag as a woman has recently been certified as a candidate for ordained ministry and serves as a pastor and preaches in drag. Evangelism is now considered by many on what's labeled the "progressive" side as "spiritual violence." Sharing our faith with others is no longer politically correct because that doesn't honor their right to choose not to have faith.
Even more concerning is the fact that there are individual churches openly defying the doctrines and rules of the denomination. In some cases, entire conferences and jurisdictions of the Church have already begun to break the rules we had all agreed to uphold until they were changed. Most bishops are refusing to hold pastors and congregations accountable; and in some cases, they are actually encouraging and inciting breaking the rules. In some places, like recently in the North Georgia Conference, bishops are using their power to unilaterally remove a pastor who doesn't agree with the position the Church is moving towards — full inclusion and affirmation of the LGBTQIA+ community — and replacing him or her with one who will be affirming of where the Church will stand on the other side of the split and doing so without consultation with the pastor of the church, which is actually something mandated by the Book of Discipline — that there would be a consultation process between the Conference, the pastor, and the local church. It's become all about institutional preservation. As a result, you have many churches who are not paying their apportionments to the General Church, specifically the Episcopal Fund, from which bishops are paid. Predictions are, in fact, that the Episcopal Fund will be bankrupt within the next few years.
Here in Missouri, clergy have written open letters on Facebook that they are performing weddings regardless of what is the official doctrines and disciplines of the Church. When the representatives from the Missouri Annual Conference met in 2020 to elect delegates to General Conference, clergy breaking such rules, as well as their ordination vows, were elected on the first ballot. Therefore, it is clear that a majority of United Methodist clergy in Missouri are either breaking their ordination vows or do not seem to think it is a big deal that others are doing so. Regardless of your position on human sexuality, would you really want to be pastored by someone who does not take their ordination vows seriously? If pastors feel so strongly that this is a "justice issue", then shouldn't they be willing to surrender their ordination credentials before officiating such ceremonies.
But the General Conference which was scheduled for May 2020 was postponed to August of 2021 because of the pandemic. Then, given the state of travel, the 2021 General Conference was postponed to 2022. After that, the 2022 General Conference was postponed to 2024, even though many evangelical United Methodist voices wondered why the meeting could not take place. For example, somehow the United Methodist Women found a way to hold their global gathering around the same time the 2022 General Conference was postponed.
While the presenting issue was human sexuality — in particular, the marriage and the ordination of Lesbians. Gays, Bisexuals, Transgenders, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, and Two-Spirited individuals — LGBTQIA+ — it has become so much more than that over the past couple years. It is kind of like going to the doctor, where there is usually no only a presenting symptom, but an underlying diagnosis. Within the current United Methodist Church, human sexuality may be presenting symptom, but the underlying diagnosis is a radical abandonment of the authority of Scripture. There are now United Methodist churches that are now blessing the "unions" of threesomes and foursomes of men and women. A. man, who dresses up in drag as a woman has recently been certified as a candidate for ordained ministry and serves as a pastor and preaches in drag. Evangelism is now considered by many on what's labeled the "progressive" side as "spiritual violence." Sharing our faith with others is no longer politically correct because that doesn't honor their right to choose not to have faith.
Even more concerning is the fact that there are individual churches openly defying the doctrines and rules of the denomination. In some cases, entire conferences and jurisdictions of the Church have already begun to break the rules we had all agreed to uphold until they were changed. Most bishops are refusing to hold pastors and congregations accountable; and in some cases, they are actually encouraging and inciting breaking the rules. In some places, like recently in the North Georgia Conference, bishops are using their power to unilaterally remove a pastor who doesn't agree with the position the Church is moving towards — full inclusion and affirmation of the LGBTQIA+ community — and replacing him or her with one who will be affirming of where the Church will stand on the other side of the split and doing so without consultation with the pastor of the church, which is actually something mandated by the Book of Discipline — that there would be a consultation process between the Conference, the pastor, and the local church. It's become all about institutional preservation. As a result, you have many churches who are not paying their apportionments to the General Church, specifically the Episcopal Fund, from which bishops are paid. Predictions are, in fact, that the Episcopal Fund will be bankrupt within the next few years.
Here in Missouri, clergy have written open letters on Facebook that they are performing weddings regardless of what is the official doctrines and disciplines of the Church. When the representatives from the Missouri Annual Conference met in 2020 to elect delegates to General Conference, clergy breaking such rules, as well as their ordination vows, were elected on the first ballot. Therefore, it is clear that a majority of United Methodist clergy in Missouri are either breaking their ordination vows or do not seem to think it is a big deal that others are doing so. Regardless of your position on human sexuality, would you really want to be pastored by someone who does not take their ordination vows seriously? If pastors feel so strongly that this is a "justice issue", then shouldn't they be willing to surrender their ordination credentials before officiating such ceremonies.