What happens next in The United Methodist Church?
Well that depends largely on The United Methodist Church. For the next two years it especially depends upon the Council of Bishops and the Judicial Council. In the absence of a General Conference (Remember the General Conference is the only body that represents the entire denomination), incredible amounts of power have been given to the Bishops. Much like in Ancient Rome, in the absence of a General Conference the Senate (General Conference) has ceded power to the Emperors (Bishops). There is no system currently in place for checks and balances. There is no General Conference, no jurisdictional conferences, and no central conferences. A situation like this has never occurred before in Methodist history. General Conference has been delayed before, but never to the point of now going on eight years without a General Conference. It is unprecedented.
So I expect one of two things to happen in this time, because all we really have are two options for the next two years:
Hopeful - The Council of Bishops meet and resolve to utilize Paragraph 2548.2 and a allow congregations to transfer to the Global Methodist Church. Utilizing the comity agreement, Annual Conferences can bless those who leave to affiliate with the new Methodist expression taking their pension responsibilities with them into the new denomination. This way is keeping with the spirit of The Protocol, AND it allows the Centrists and Progressives to use GC2024 to remake the denomination in any way they want to because most of the opposition will be gone in two years. Every Annual Conference can have new elections before the next General Conference and elect a new slate of delegates. I believe this is keeping in the spirit of the progressive’s A Call to Grace. This is truly living out the spirit of the protocol and allowing the denomination live in a heart of peace vs. other mainline denominations and contentious fighting.
Hurtful - The Council of Bishops meet and resolve to either do nothing or force congregations to exit with heavy penalties to transfer to the Global Methodist Church. Require exiting congregations to use Paragraph 2553, pay apportionments for two years, unfunded pension liabilities (even as they are going to another Wespath participating denomination), and in some annual conferences huge exit fees. It is punitive and harsh especially to small rural congregations without the means of the larger churches. This misses the point of The Protocol, AND will probably keep more Traditionalists as delegates to ensure GC2024 is another General Conference of fighting and animosity. We end up like so many other mainline denominations suing one another in court over buildings. The only people who win in these times are lawyers.
To the best of my ability, I have tried to be transparent with my district superintendent(two now!), with my colleagues, and with my church. People know where I stand and where I will ultimately end up. Transparency is important. This is not the time for secrecy. This is a time for taking steps out in faith. In a time when trust is at its lowest point, the person who is willing to risk everything has nothing to lose.
However, what I won’t do and what I refuse to do is see each other as enemies. I have dear friends clergy and laity in the UMC who will continue in The United Methodist Church until they die. I love them. I pray for them. Some of them I talk to weekly and even daily to see how they are doing. I want to see their ministries flourish. I want to pray for them. I want to support them. My hope is that they desire the same for me and for all those that depart to the Global Methodist Church. We don’t have to be against one another.
Right now we are in a period of Lent. Perhaps this Lent is a time for us to reflect on how we want to be perceived. The people who we want to be. Perhaps we all need to repent and remember our baptism. Perhaps we use these 40 days to truly resolve to be gracious with one another and embrace the spirit of the protocol.
This is the spirit of the protocol. This is what I hope will ultimately be implemented.
We don’t have to be enemies.
We can extend grace to one another. We can bless one another. It is possible!
The Protocol is dead. Long live the protocol.
If the Bishops decide to go the Hurtful route (I'm not hopeful that they won't), then I believe traditionalist churches need to stand against them and withhold apportionments. If their Bishop retaliates by threatening to remove their pastor, they should warn the Bishop that they simply won't pay the salary for whoever is appointed as a replacement.
Local churches need to learn that they DO have a great deal of leverage in dealing with incompetent church leaders. It may be time to use that leverage across our denomination to motivate them to "let my people go."
I don't say this to be ungracious - on the contrary, true grace hold people accountable for their bad behavior; true grace, according to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, disturbs us into doing the right and righteous thing.
#1. Hopeful