Yesterday my pastor began his sermon by saying there are stories in the news that the United Methodist Church will go through a divorce. I’m sure he did this because people asked about it. He didn’t go into much detail.
So I went to one of my favorite blogs on United Methodist news. It isn’t the denomination’s own news service. It’s the UM section of Hacking Christianity, written by Rev. Jeremy Smith, a United Methodist pastor. Yes, he wrote, there is a negotiated Plan of Separation. Bishop Yambasu of Sierra Leone got representatives from both sides together with a professional mediator to come up with a deal. Smith provides links to a press release, denomination news article, FAQ, and the full document of the agreement.
I read through the FAQ, which is posted on the Council of Bishops website. It explains how the mediation process got started, who was involved, how they chose the mediator, and the major points of the Plan of Separation.
I’ll summarize the endgame that Smith lays out:
* A smaller United Methodist Church will remove anti-LGBT language from its policies. Progressives keep that name.
* The Wesleyan Covenant Association (conservatives) will become a new denomination and invite areas (known as Annual Conferences; Michigan makes up one) and local congregations to affiliate with them. There is no penalty for leaving, but they have no more claim on common property, such as church agencies.
* Annual Conferences and local churches who feel the United Methodist Church without conservatives isn’t progressive enough can create their own denomination.
* An Annual Conference can vote to join a successor denomination. If there is no vote the AC remains in the UMC. A local church can vote to do something different than its Annual Conference. If there is no vote the local church belongs to whatever denomination its AC belongs to.
Between now and the General Conference in May the bishops agreed to not act on any complaints against LGBTQ clergy, in spite of the Traditional Plan that went into effect a few days ago. Signatories of the plan agree to support this plan and not support any other plan.
One commenter said this looks a lot the Simple Plan that was not approved at the General Conference a year ago. That plan was essentially the first point in the summary, which would have prompted the second. Why approve it now when it didn’t fly then? Because over the summer many Annual Conferences elected delegations much more progressive than in 2019 – the conservatives won the battle and lost the war. They recognize it is time to exit gracefully.
Smith says the endgame is clear but getting there is bonkers (his word).
General Conference is scheduled for May 5-15 in Minneapolis. However…
At the earliest time possible, perhaps on the first day, the delegates will be asked to vote on the Plan of Separation. If that passes, then that General Conference is done.
As the bishops declare General Conference done, they will call a special one for the next day. Starting on the second day the conservative leaders and delegates will meet separately. Those that remain will consider two proposals:
* Should the remaining UMC be reorganized by regions? Currently, regions (called Central Conferences) in Africa and elsewhere can determine what policies of the global church are not appropriate for their region. But churches in America can’t do that – they must abide by policy set by the global denomination. That gives conservative African churches a great deal of influence on American policy. This proposal creates an American region and redefines how regions relate to the whole.
* Should a new Global Social Principles be adopted? The United Methodist Church was different from many other denominations in our Social Principles that outline views on various social issues, such as poverty, war, and abortion (“There are times when life conflicts with life.” as I remember it). The social principles have now been updated for a global context. I have a copy, but haven’t read very much yet.
And when that’s done, the bishops are expected to close the Special General Conference and call for regional conferences to begin the next day and go through the remaining time allotted. This is when the American delegation can remove the anti-LGBT language.
Yeah, there are a couple problems with this schedule:
* Something as big as the Plan of Separation should be approved by the various Annual Conferences before it officially goes into effect. So the Special General Conference shouldn’t meet until after the ACs vote, not the next day.
* These Annual Conferences voted for delegates to the General Conference, not for Regional Conferences.
* Some progressives have been calling to build a new Methodist denomination from the ground up to eliminate any hint of colonialism in the foundation of the existing denomination. That won’t happen this time. That will have to come as reforms during future General Conferences.
Rev. Smith says he will add more commentary about the Plan for Separation on his website, which is here.
