Some words of hope from a member of the DRUM leadership, posted with permission:
There are several things that could happen over the next few months but I am doubtful that they will have any real effect on the overall outcome or will impact GC2020 in a big way. There is speculation that the entire Traditionalist Plan could be declared unconstitutional. Will the jury verdict be back in at the end of the Judicial Council's meeting in late April? I doubt it. From a psychological and theological perspective, that meeting happens immediately after we have celebrated Christ's resurrection but I do not believe that anything in that meeting will be celebrated as a resurrection moment - lol. The JC has traditionally been very slow in rendering a ruling - I think it must be in their own precepts that they are supposed to muddy the water with being slow with their decisions - all in the name of discernment - lol!
The Western Jurisdiction is already looking at and discussing what to do, Church of the Resurrection (Adam Hamilton's church) is studying the situation -I have not heard anything from Gatlinburg, OH (Mike Slaughter's church) but I would not be surprised if Mike and Adam are already having meetings- just the two of them. Whatever they decide will indeed have an impact on the ultimate outcome. Whatever happens, it is not going to be quick.
MFSA is planning a gathering in Lansing on Saturday, March 16 to begin the arduous task of discerning what is our next step. It promises to be a very interesting day. It will just be us-no celebrity pastors, no Bishops, etc. However, Bishop Bard's letter to our conference clergy will have been delivered and clergy will have had almost 2 weeks to process it - I believe it will be delivered as early as this weekend. It is not intended to be a meeting to discuss a plan of action or to have one in place. I am interested to know, however, what the thought processes are down the road (sooner than later) of what some of Michigan's mega churches are planning to do - like Grand Rapids FUMC, Kalamazoo FUMC, Birmingham, Ann Arbor, Royal Oak, Nardin Park, etc Jeff Nelson is very outspoken as is the lead pastor at Kal-zoo First. I do know that Elbert Dulworth is absolutely devastated and has asked that no one contact him for a statement regarding his thoughts or what Birmingham will do-he wants to be reclusive for a little bit - at least this seems to be the posture there after I spoke with Doris Hall yesterday.
Whatever happens I firmly believe that we should not expect or even hope that either side will emerge from GC2019's decision and rally to be the same church. If the Tradionalist Plan is declared unconstitutional in its entirety - the WCA [the conservative Wesleyan Covenant Association] will be gone. If it is declared constitutional the Progressive Methodist Church(that's my own name for it right now-lol) will be birthed. The schism will happen now - there is no more speculation. Wes Brun says that the schism has been happening since 2004 when the Good News people tried to effect a split then.
I do believe our eyes and ears should be tuned to the Western Jurisdiction. I have always said there are no accidents. It is not an accident that the Western Jurisdiction elected a lesbian bishop last Jurisdictional Conference. And I believe Bishop Karen, whom I know personally, has what it takes to lead a new movement. We also need the power of people like Bishop Deb(even though she is retired as well as other retired's: Bishops Talbert, Hoshibata and probably soon to be retired Palmer), David Bard, Sally Dyck, Laurie Haller, Tracy Malone, Carcano, etc to decide to be with us. The bureaucracy on the Episcopal office is beyond my comprehension at the moment so I am not sure how the Council of Bishops splitting would impact their pensions, etc.
The decision for you, me and our brothers and sisters is to say, "I'm done!" or to stay around a little while longer to see how it plays out. I fear the former is going to be the case in many of our really good strong fighters who are tired and can only take so much. Unfortunately, we have to discern that action totally on an individual basis.
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