A formal separation of The United Methodist Church is imminent. The only question is what it will look like. Will one group force out the other? Will one group simply become so frustrated or disgusted that it leaves? Will we go to court over property? Will there be a long string of church trials? Will…
I take it for granted that the UMC will begin a formal division after the 2020 General Conference. We no longer practice a common polity, and thus we cannot hold together as an institution. As the Academic Dean of a seminary, I have lots of conversations with pastors. Most understand the reality we now face…
I wanted to get some distance from the General Conference before writing. It was an gut-wrenching experience, full of sadness and conflict. If you were a delegate, I can’t imagine how hard it was. I’m sorry for what you went through. Since I returned I’ve been pondering a tweet by Chris Ritter: The folks back…
A few years ago I wrote a piece called “The Return of the Local Option.” I wrote this in response to a plan proposing that we decide ethical matters of human sexuality at the level of the local church and the annual conference. Since that time, the local option has not gained much traction at…
Shortly after the 2016 General Conference of The United Methodist Church, I wrote a post called General Conference: Four Reflections. Recently that post popped up in my Facebook feed as a memory that I might like to share. Reviewing the post, I was reminded of the difficulties we had in moving the ball forward on…
I really have had no desire to re-enter public debate regarding the UMC. In fact, I have had a great desire not to do so. For the most part, I think the die has been cast. The 2019 General Conference will bring some form of “restructuring” that will allow parties with divergent views to live…
I’ve been decompressing since General Conference. It was emotionally exhausting, and I wasn’t even a delegate. To those of you who were delegates: I salute you for enduring this marathon of emotional, mental, and physical exertion. I hope you’re getting some time to wind down and relax. You certainly earned it. I didn’t blog or…
For some time I have lamented the fact that our conversations in United Methodism have been so myopic. We argue about human sexuality, and this topic dominates social media, discussions related to the Connectional Table, annual conferences, and the General Conference. Of course, human sexuality is an important topic, one worth talking about, but there are…
There is an unfortunate myth floating about that evangelicals want to divide the UMC. The fact of the matter is, I know a lot of evangelicals, and while a few of them really want division, the vast majority want us to work out our differences and move forward without any kind of major separation of the denomination.…
Much of the talk in the UMC these days has to do with how we will govern ourselves. Will we stay with a more centralized polity located in a single General Conference? Will we become more congregational in polity? Will we eliminate the General Conference altogether and divide up into smaller bodies of like-minded communities?…