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Exhortation to Pray for The United Methodist Church's General Conference
Reflections of one who left during this quiet time before the storm
I am regularly told that the fact that I have left The United Methodist Church now excludes me from any public speech about the denomination that formed me. It makes sense that many within the UMC would like for me to stop speaking: there is a lot I have to say that is not flattering to those who are in charge. The stranger thing has been others who left the UMC alongside me who then correct me and others for continuing to care for those folks. They sometimes cite the story of Lot’s wife as being a warning about the harms of looking back after leaving a place.
There are ways in which Christians are called to be unnatural, to cut off parts of ourselves. When Jesus says to cut off the hand or gouge out the eye that causes us to sin, I hear a warning about going back to sinful ways; not a warning about remembering where we came from. As the Global Methodist Church decides what it wants to be, I think we will be doomed to repeat the errors of our past if we do not reflect upon them, taking stock of what went wrong so that we do not unwittingly do it again.
I also worry about the hardheartedness that comes from refusing to think about those whom one has left behind. The ease with which many who left the UMC have forgotten those churches that are now trapped in hostile territory has really concerned me. I have said so more than once.
Those who have gotten free of the tainted covenant body of The United Methodist Church need to pray for her hard right now. The decisions made in the next couple of weeks will determine not only the wellbeing of thousands of congregations around the world, but also the legacy of millions who have entrusted their blessings to that body. Heritage matters. The United Methodist Church stands in the place of John Wesley and the people called Methodist. For better or worse, they are the primary representatives of the Methodist tradition. Moreover, they wield the resources faithful believers of more than a century entrusted to our spiritual forebears. What they do in this moment matters.
For those who haven’t been paying close attention, an ascendant, vocal, and temporary majority of General Conference delegates are attempting to 1) reverse the biblical position on sexual sin and 2) insulate themselves from the nonAmerican voices that would otherwise be able to stop them. That is right: The denomination has been overtaken by those whose religion is not salvation from sin through the atoning blood of Christ, but salvation from sexual holiness in the name of worldly liberation. They are only able to do this because of prolonged efforts on the part of bishops, conference officials, and leaders of general boards and agencies that have had no compunction about lying to gain and stay in power for decades. The long march through the institutions included the UMC. The opposition was not enough to stop the march, as was the case is almost every other institution.
The only reason the UMC did not allow this faithless purchase to take place sooner was because of the faithful witness of majority world believers within the UMC. When a critical mass of activists on every level of the denomination rebelled and refused to comply with the denominational covenant, a third of the churches in the US were able to get out over the course of 2022-2023. Given the outsized representation of American delegates at the General Conference level, institutional leadership was relatively happy to let those churches depart so that they could rid themselves of conservative delegates and replace them with those more compliant with the new orthodoxy, which they did at last year’s jurisdictional conferences.
NonAmerican churches, on the other hand, were retained against their will for reasons that are not fully known: It could have been out of a desire to be able to claim that they are a global denomination even as they alienate their global partners, or to save themselves from the sober reality that they are not desirable to people of color. It could be something else entirely. I have to admit I am confused as to why forceful retention of nonAmerican churches has been the policy of the UMC. What I and others are not confused about is the reality that majority world Christians are not on board with the project of sexual liberation, the primary obsession of the American church leadership. While American progressive churches continue to shrink and die, majority world churches are thriving and growing. It is a statistical inevitability that they are ascending while the American church descends. Unless some kind of separation is effected, and now, the majority world church will refuse to ever let Americans liberalize the sexual position of the denomination.
For just a brief moment in time, progressives are holding a majority of the seats at General Conference. This does not reflect the wishes of grassroots United Methodists, but the sustained efforts of elites to gain the gears of power. The mood for many of them is triumphant, as they can clinch pretty easily a 50% + 1 vote in favor of removing the “harmful language” about sexuality in the Book of Discipline, adopt a new Revised Social Principles that redefines marriage, and they might even inaugurate a new “standing committee” just to focus on American issues. They aim to milk this moment for everything they can. The strategy is to claim the high ground and change the rules before the majority world can make its rightful stamp on the body.
The primary voice advocating for the progressive position in the UMC is a man named Mark Holland, the head of a caucus group called Mainstream UMC. In the lead up to this conference, he has been clear that Americans cannot allow Africans, in particular, to get control of the money or power that Americans have. While he acknowledges that a large chunk of the African delegation has been effectively disenfranchised of its votes (it looks like about 20% of them won’t be in attendance for infuriating reasons), he insists that they have no choice but to go ahead and force through the legislation that will make the denomination a joke and a mockery to the majority world church. The few African delegates who have been able to get visas are currently showing up in Charlotte to see if there is any way that they can keep such measures from taking place. Even those majority world voices that are sympathetic to the regionalization/segregation plan are openly decrying the behavior of the institution and the progressives that justify it.
In the likely event that progressives force their agenda through, the majority of nonAmerican churches, or at least those that can do so without legal reprisal, will leave the denomination en masse. Many have insisted on remaining faithful covenant partners within the UMC until it betrays its biblical heritage. If and when its written covenant adopts a worldly sexual ethic, it will lose its legitimacy to hold biblically faithful believers. Many UM churches have been ignorant of the machinations at play until now. Headlines about a UMC compromise on sexual ethics will make the rounds. Believers whose churches don’t leave will vote with their feet and abandon the properties and assets amassed by faithful believers of previous generations. Unless something changes in American jurisprudence, local churches that refuse to comply with new UM edicts will be sued by conferences, closed, and liquidated to keep failing conferences artificially afloat, as is currently happening in Cal-Pac Annual Conference, among a couple others.
Holland and others have admitted in writing that they know their legislative agenda will force out majority world believers. The tenor of such acknowledgments is marked by a shrug. Liberal leadership of the denomination has already told majority world believers that they need to “grow up.” If they refuse to get with the program, many progressives in the UMC will not shed a tear to see them go.
This would be the end of The United Methodist Church. Its final years would be marked by mass exodus of the majority world churches, lawsuits in America, and a sharp decline in attendance, giving, and vitality. It would survive for a few more decades because of massive endowments it has amassed over time and the adoption of the strategy to liquidating the assets of dying churches, conference buildings, and camps. It will be a mausoleum, existing only as a symbol of leftist takeover and death.
The only way I think this can be averted is if the African delegation and internal American pressure brings the delegates of the General Conference to understand the destruction that awaits if they insist on moving forward. It is possible that if the consciences of delegates are impacted by the plight of majority world believers, they might lose their stomach for a hostile takeover. If they can think long term, they might realize that they don’t actually want to rule over the ruins of a body they have destroyed. If these folks can sober up and think for a few moments, they might see the wisdom of refusing to act on these things until a new gathering that properly proportionally represents the denomination is called.
I know that I am more idealistic than pretty much anyone talking about this. The voices we listen to are pragmatic and materialist. Group dynamics are predicted by the principle: cui bono? Who benefits materially? Why would progressive delegates choose not to take advantage of their momentary position in power? It seems so unrealistic as to be ridiculous to consider that delegates might choose communal righteousness over self-interest.
What is worse, my agenda here is even more idealistic: I want to promote unity in the church. I believe this could be a point at which Africa is allowed to ascend, the UMC is reclaimed for biblical Christianity, and the UMC then starts on a new path of unity in Christ, not only with the GMC, but with other denominations. I don’t like all this separation and schism. I want to be a part of a future, near or far, in which the UMC and the GMC recombine for God’s glory. I don’t see how that can happen if the progressive takeover is allowed to be completed. If the majority world leaves, there will be nobody within the UMC to call them back to biblical faithfulness.
I cannot predict what will happen. By all accounts, a progressive takeover is imminent. In fact, if progressives get their way, it will only formalize something that was enacted a while back. We aren’t talking about staving off a progressive takeover. We are talking about taking a denomination back.
I’m going to come back to where I started: Why am I talking about a denomination I left behind? I was characterized earlier this week as one who is “against the UMC.” I’m not. I just disagree with who defines the UMC. I am somewhat of a populist. I don’t think bishops, conference officials, or other elites in the denomination are actually the rightful voices of the body. Rather, I think the grassroots in the pews determine the spiritual nature of the denomination. Even after 1/3 of the churches have left, I think a majority of the UM churches find such behavior on the part of those who hold the high ground is immoral, and they want to build up the majority world church on its own terms rather than failed American ones. I think the roots of the UMC are still good.
It is for those roots that I want to pray now. There are still millions of believers, both those inside and outside of the US, who are not on board with the machinations of the paternalistic leadership of the denomination. As this showdown approaches, I’m praying that the thirst for blood of triumphalist progressives will be overcome with a genuine care for nonAmerican believers and a long term care for the health of the institution. I am praying that those representing biblical faithfulness find effective ways to communicate with their delegates so that they are heard and considered. I’m praying especially hard that the African delegations can come together to rebuke American abuse, despite American interference, and insist upon a more legitimate future gathering. I am praying that what is seen in the coming weeks is a prevailing of truth and justice over the manipulation and obfuscation that has become so common in the UMC in recent decades.
I started speaking out openly on these things more than a year ago because I believed I was morally obligated to try to effect righteousness in the UMC. The time is fast approaching when that could either be a realized hope or a borderline impossibility. So I guess pray for me and people like me, that we can maintain our righteousness as we watch and pray. I’m not the only one who left that cares and prays. There are going to be millions of us praying together in the coming weeks. James says the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective. I am hoping some genuinely righteous believers will lift their holy hands to God with me, such that he shows mercy on the UMC.
For progressives, their ideology and love of bureaucratic institution trumps everything. The takeover of the UMC by them is imminent and they they’re gleeful that the fifty year war is coming to an end. There’s a lot of brethren still in the UMC that hold to historic orthodoxy and all I can say to them is that it’s time to come out from among them. It truly is time to let the dead bury the dead.
Our "guest" preacher spoke today about those who desire power and money. They get these by any means, such as lying, cheating and injustice. When they do, they alienate those around them. They become "lonely at the top". Christ is our example of how to live, how to love, and treat others. Christ said "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth ". The Greek translation for meek is defined as power and strength under control. We are called to "pray for our enemies". Someone said in the comments, we should pray that their "eyes are opened". I would add pray the Holy Spirit would convict hardened hearts so they might repent. Jesus will forgive and heal those who repent. We cannot change hearts or minds. Prayers to our omnipotent God who can is a good place to start.