User:AAEexecutive/sandbox

United Methodist Disaffiliation of 2024
I'm probably breaking lots of policy rules here, but I've thought and prayed about it and decided that I need to tell all of you reading this my personal story of the schism between the United Methodist Church and the Global Methodist Church, which officially takes place in 2024 but which has been an issue for several years now and which will probably still be a sore spot for both denominations for years to come. It’s wrecked our unity in the global Church, and, unless something is done, I fear that everyone will eventually go through divisions of their own.

(Comparatively) Short Version
So... the United Methodist Church has been arguing over a certain issue ever since it was formed in 1972 (out of a merger between the plain old Methodists and the Evangelical United Brethren). The language in our book of discipline, which says that although LGBT persons are humans whom Jesus loves, who should be loved as children of God just like everybody else, the LGBT lifestyle is incompatible with Christ's teaching and LGBT people should not be leading churches as pastors or bishops- that language has been constantly challenged and upheld, but the global body is split very 50-50, and most in the US would have the Church extend representation to homosexuals just like we have to women and African Americans in the past. So in 2019 there was held a special conference to decide once and for all, and they decided that at the 2020 General conference (pay attention to this) those who were for the acceptance of LGBTs would leave and establish their own denomination in an amicable disassociation with balanced splitting of resources.

But then there was this weird little virus, and the 2020 General Conference got postponed and postponed and postponed. Both sides got tired of waiting, so some of those who wanted to keep the discipline the same, and those who wanted to ordain LGBT pastors and bishops just started doing that, even though it was religiously illegal. So that made a whole lot of those who wanted to stay the same to leave (notice here: those who want to stay the same are the ones leaving the denomination, which is the opposite of the original plan), and formed their own denomination, the Global Methodist Church. This is not a good thing- although I fully support the maintaining of the current doctrine, if we had been patient and waited to disaffiliate, we could have thoughtfully apportioned money and assets (i.e., church camps) between the two branches, but as it is, the churches leaving have only their own funds and buildings (the church camps and outreach centers are owned regionally), and the churches staying no longer have a lot of the financial support they once had and must close down some well-loved assets, including the church camp where my parents both met (as counselors) and got engaged. Another wrench in the works is the Trust Clause- the fact that the church properties are owned by the Church, not the churches. To disaffiliate, we have to buy "our" property from the United Methodist Church, and many of us are small churches without nearly enough funds.

Because of this, the United Methodist Church opened up a window in 2022-23 for the "conferences"- regional jurisdictions- to offer discounted prices for the properties. However, the exact discount was left up to the conferences. Some only had to symbolically pay $1, some had to pay the full price, and in a couple of situations, the conference just told its churches, "We're all staying" or "we're all going". Our conference, which covers Central PA and a little of southern NY, had us pay 1% of our properties' total market value, which still would have cost us more then 3/4 of our church's funds. Oh, and did I mention that we found out about this window about two months before it closed again?

So in the end, we decided that at the moment, there are still too many unknowns. Our church is still almost entirely supportive of maintaining the doctrine, but we decided that we were being pushed to make a decision we weren't ready to make. As slim as it is now that most of the opposition's gone, there's still a chance that General conference will decide at the end of April to uphold the current doctrine, and if they decide to change it, and don't open another window for all the holdouts, I know we're not going to be the only upset ones.

So in short, we are staying for now, but we have our thumb on the ejection seat button.

I hope I didn't detonate everyone's heads there.

Medium Version
Compared to the Earth’s now-eight-billion-strong population, relatively few people have been affected- yet- by the current schism between the United Methodist Church and the Global Methodist church[[, which officially takes place in [[2024 but which has been an issue for several years now and which will probably still be a sore spot for both denominations for years to come. However, it’s cast a huge shadow over churches across the country, and it’s led me to feel almost paranoid about whether someone is speaking God’s Truth. It’s wrecked our unity in the global Church, and, unless something is done, I fear that everyone will eventually go through divisions of their own.

I am only fifteen years old, and this impending splintering of our denomination came to my attention slowly over the course of the last five years since it was planned, so first I have to go back to the roots of the problem, which goes all the way back to when the UMC was formed through the joining of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren in 1968.

Here’s the history of the issue as I understand it: It all started- really got going, that is- in 1972, the very first General Conference after the formation of the United Methodist Church. It was voted to add to the book of Discipline that “Homosexuals no less than heterosexuals are persons of sacred worth, who need the ministry and guidance of the Church in their struggles for human fulfillment, as well as the spiritual and emotional care of a fellowship which enables reconciling relationships with God, with others, and with self. Further we insist that all persons are entitled to have their human and civil rights ensured, although we do not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with Christian teaching." However, at literally every General Conference since then (a note for easy reference: General Conferences take place in the same years as the Summer Olympics, US Presidential elections, and Leap years) the issue of homosexuality was brought up for contemplation. Every time it was decided to leave the language used the same. Finally, in 2016, it was decided that a special session would be held in 2019 to settle the debate once and for all.

In 2019, a total of 822 delegates voted 53% to 47% to adopt the “Traditional Plan”, upholding and strengthening language banning the ordination and marriage of LGBTQ+ persons, over other plans such as the “One Church Plan” and the “Simple Plan”, which would have considered homosexual practices in line with Christian teaching, and the “Connectional Conference Plan”, which would give the denomination different rules for different areas. While the vote was roughly 50/50, in reality it was largely the US in favor of homosexuality versus Africa against it. Thus, when the results were announced, many US delegates were… not happy.

Because of the dissention, it was decided before the special session concluded to propose a “window” from then until 31 December 2023 for churches who approved of allowing ordination and marriage of homosexuals to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church and form a new denomination (if they paid off all their loans to their conferences, as well as two years of apportionments to the denomination and a bunch of other selective funds.) The final vote on whether or not to approve the window was scheduled to take place in 2020, but then… well… there was this little virus that pretty much wrecked everyone’s lives for a while.

In the meantime, while everyone was waiting, there were still openly LGBTQ+ people being appointed to high-ranking positions and extended “abeyance” or waiting to deal with an issue, in this case, the aforementioned ordination of… people that the Book of Discipline said shouldn’t be ordained.

Those of us who wanted the current language of the Book of Discipline to be upheld were reasonably upset with this rule flouting, and so after the third postponement of the 2020 General Conference, it was decided that enough was enough, and we just couldn’t wait any longer. So, on 1 May 2022, the Global Methodist Church was created and the churches who disapproved of ordaining homosexuals began leaving. (An important point here is that not everyone leaving is joining the GMC; the process of leaving the UMC and that of joining the GMC are completely disconnected. Some churches join the GMC, some join other denominations, some go independent, and some are financially forced to close their doors.) This is why those of us who wish to remain the same are the ones who must break off and not keep the name of United Methodist.

What makes this more complicated is a part of the UMC’s organization I haven’t discussed yet: the “Trust clause.” The thing is, the churches are not owned by their congregations- they’re owned by the denomination as a whole, and if we want to disaffiliate, we’ll have to buy them- the method of which has been left up to the conferences. In some, the congregations must effectively buy their church and its assets, in some, they don’t, and in some extreme cases the conference just tells the churches they’re all staying or all leaving. In the Susquehanna Conference, churches have to pay 1% of their full market value, which is a major discount but still a pretty penny.

The 2020 General Conference has been postponed to 2024, which is when the next General Conference would be held. However, it has been decided that this is technically postponing the 2020 conference instead of cancelling it and having the 2024 conference instead, so there will be the same agenda as before, as opposed to having a clean slate. The progressive congregations are likely to change the discipline, since most who would vote against it have left.

While our church was doing through the discernment of whether or not we should disaffiliate, a larger church near us, Halifax UMC, held for the ministerium a trio of informational “Town Hall Meetings” bringing us up to speed. We heard several dissertations from both viewpoints, and it was only then that we began to realize the enormity and complexity of the issue, bureaucratically as well as morally. We also learned that while the issue of homosexuality is the most publicized issue, it’s not the biggest.

You see, while the issues of homosexuality and transsexuality are the issues we’re most familiar with, in recent years there has been more and more turning away from God’s word. Prominent Christian figures have been making statements more and more against the authenticity of Scripture, the dually fully human and fully divine nature of Jesus, and against Jesus being the sole path to eternal life. After all, if we say that our god is the way, truth, and life, and not merely a way, then that’s offensive to Buddhists and Shintoists and Bahais.

One of the pillars of Christianity (although what exactly is universally believed by Christians is pretty much impossible to figure out) is that anything communicated by God is absolute truth and infallible, but over the past several decades, huge numbers of people have let go and turned away from the truth of God’s word. Many no longer believe that God knits us together in our mothers’ wombs and instead say that we’re just lumps of tissue until birth. Many no longer believe that the Lord speaks the truth and declares what is right and instead say that the truth is whatever you believe. And now, many people do not believe that God created men and women in His own image and instead allow and promote literally making oneself someone that’s not the masterpiece God knit them together to be.

I’m not someone who thinks we should return to the ideologies of the 1850s. I’m all for the rights of women and African Americans. But throwing away truth is not being a Christian. Disregarding the very words of God is not following Him. I can’t speak for those who don’t claim the faith of Christ- they’ve built their house on the sand with no spiritual foundation- but we who know God should know better.

As I write this at the beginning of December 2023, almost a year after the split really came to our attention, the seconds are ticking down for churches to disaffiliate. While the window officially closes at midnight on the 31st, churches have to make their decision before their area’s annual conference, so most all who will have done so already. In just under five months, the General Conference will decide if the current doctrine is superior or not. While there are going to be a lot of people mad if they change it and don’t create another window for all those holding out hope the Book of Discipline remains the same, they may not, and only God knows what will happen then.

But in the meantime, the complexity and heaviness of this issue has made me realize that I need to be ready to give an answer, not just to what I believe, but to why. The foundations that I once thought were undoubtable have been scorned and condemned (in both senses of the word), and whether the world around me comes to its senses or continues on its current path, I need to make sure that my house is firmly built upon the rock.