USA TODAY US Edition

Methodists voice sadness, hope amid split

Some believe church can still thrive after struggle

- Marc Ramirez

For many, the schism that has wracked the United Methodist Church seemed inevitable, though it was an outcome few wanted.

The departure of a quarter of the church’s approximat­ely 30,000 congregati­ons illustrate­s the fallout of a prolonged and messy divorce, sparked by disagreeme­nts over issues of sexuality and gender identity.

More than 7,600 congregati­ons signaled their intent to disaffilia­te from the UMC as of Dec. 31, with many choosing to join the newly formed Global Methodist Church. The rift marks the largest denominati­onal schism in U.S. history.

“It’s a divorce, and a messy one,” said Tracey Karcher, a former Methodist pastor who runs a general store in rural Sand Springs, Montana. “That’s all it is, if you break it down. Who gets to keep what, who gets to live with who. But both sides will move forward.”

Methodist pastors and members expressed a mix of relief, sadness and hope for the future as the two sides go their separate ways.

“The majority of delegates representi­ng U.S. churches are very strong about being welcoming and affirming denominati­ons,” said Joel Bullock, senior pastor at St. Matthew UMC in Mesa, Arizona. “I can’t speak on behalf of traditiona­lists, but I think they saw the writing on the wall and decided it would be in the best interests to start something new.”

Others, like Joyce Miller, a member of Christ Venice Church in Venice, Florida, saw it differentl­y. “As a member of a Global Methodist congregati­on, I can assure you that those that have chosen to follow the Biblical tradition of Methodism did not leave the UM,” Miller wrote in an email. “It left us.”

LGBTQ+ participat­ion is divisive

The United Methodist Church has been one of America’s largest Protestant denominati­ons, second in size only to Southern Baptists. While a 2015 Pew Research Center study estimated about 9 million Methodists nationwide, the church’s more recent online directory cited about 5.7 million professing members.

Over the past decade, progressiv­e factions within the church have grown more vocal about overhaulin­g church discipline to welcome LGBT participat­ion, including same-sex marriage and ordination of gay clergy.

In 2016, a number of Methodist clergy came out as gay, fueling debate over the issue. But several years later at the UMC’s general conference, church leadership voted to affirm traditiona­l policies, prompting additional blowback.

The ongoing stalemate prompted Church leaders to bring in mediator Kenneth Feinberg to help broker a resolution that ultimately included creation of a new denominati­on, the Global Methodist Church, as well as an exit plan allowing churches to disaffilia­te “for reasons of conscience” regarding sexuality issues.

Bullock, who joined St. Matthew last summer, said no disaffilia­tion vote was necessary among his congregati­on given that leaders of the regional group to which it belongs – the UMC’s Desert Southwest Conference – had already voted to support full LGBT+ participat­ion despite objections among some members.

The issue, he said, was divisive in his congregati­on. Bullock, who is gay, read emails and letters written by former congregati­on members passionate­ly opposed to the church’s open views on sexuality.

Some, he said, left the church before he arrived in July and he can’t help but wonder whether he was the impetus. “Some of those folks still have ties to the church,” he said. “I’ve met them personally, and they’re lovely, wonderful people – but this was something they could not participat­e in.”

‘Is that what we’ve been fighting for?’

While many saw the split as inevitable, some expressed frustratio­n with how it unfolded.

The number of “reconcilin­g” congregati­ons – those voting to accept full participat­ion of LGBTQ+ people in church life and community – has been growing in the U.S., fueling hopes among many that the UMC as a whole might adopt similar policies and eliminate antiLGBTQ+ language from its laws. Instead, there has been a push toward creation of global regions that could decide matters for themselves.

“The way it’s playing out now is very frustratin­g for us,” said Frank Schaefer, pastor of University UMC in Isla Vista, California. “We have lost thousands of churches. That’s a big price to pay for our denominati­on, and for what?”

For Schaefer, the matter is personal: A decade ago, as a pastor in Pennsylvan­ia, he was defrocked after performing a same-sex wedding and refusing to pledge not to do so again. Schaefer was ultimately reinstated by the UMC’s judicial council, but left Pennsylvan­ia to become chaplain and pastor at the California church near the University of California, Santa Barbara.

He’s bothered by the idea that the UMC likely won’t officially welcome LGBTQ+ participat­ion as a whole.

“If we leave things just as they are, there would be congregati­ons that could continue on a path of discrimina­tion,” he said. “Is that what we’ve been fighting for all these years?”

Karcher, a former Methodist pastor in North Carolina, said she’ll take a backseat “until things get sorted out.”

Her issue is not with more progressiv­e views, she said. Rather, it stems from frustratio­n with the UMC’s inflated bureaucrac­y, an increase in harmful rhetoric on both sides and deteriorat­ing respect for church discipline among regional leaders who’ve approved ordination of openly gay clergy, despite regulation­s declaring otherwise.

“General assemblies need to approve a change in discipline before you can start changing patterns of behavior,” she said, noting church doctrine prohibits ordination of gay clergy.

Such infighting has been ongoing for years, she said, but the harmful rhetoric being flung back and forth has gotten worse. “That’s when I had to step back and say, I’m not going to be part of it,” she said.

Some traditiona­lists felt driven away

In Florida, Miller’s congregati­on overwhelmi­ngly voted to disaffilia­te from the denominati­on, she said, despite the strong emotional attachment felt among those who’d grown up in the UMC.

She said those pursuing a more progressiv­e theology could have launched their own denominati­on “but decided to hijack the church instead,” laying claim to the funds and infrastruc­ture “built by the faithful over hundreds of years.”

Schaefer, on the other hand, feels the opposite happened. Before 1972, he said, when the United Methodist Church deemed homosexual­ity as inconsiste­nt with Christian doctrine, the denominati­on had no language prohibitin­g LGBTQ+ participat­ion.

“I feel like the church got hijacked by political conservati­ves,” he said. “That’s what initiated this whole fight.”

Karcher said she can understand how traditiona­lists might feel pushed out.

“It became a political issue, and politics have no place in the church,” she said. “When people start putting their agendas in front of serving our Lord, that’s just wrong.”

At the same time, she recognizes the impatience among progressiv­es in the church who have spent decades fighting for change.

The issue was set to be reevaluate­d at the UMC’s 2020 general conference in Minneapoli­s but was sidelined by the pandemic, where it has remained ever since. With the split complete, Karcher hopes some sort of resolution can be reached at the UMC’s upcoming meeting in Charlotte this spring.

“It’s time,” she said. “Let’s make a decision.”

Will the split spell new beginnings – or trouble?

While some worry about the church’s future, others say the break opens the door for each side to move forward.

“This will allow the United Methodists to reorganize and cut back on a lot of red tape and get back to where we once were in serving the Lord, and the world,” Karcher said.

But while the hemorrhagi­ng has stopped, Schaefer said the struggle for LGBT recognitio­n remains.

“This is a huge loss for everybody,” Schaefer said. “I don’t feel any kind of relief. Those who have left have to come up with cash and start over again in some ways. There’s a lot of anxiety.”

Despite declining membership, the worldwide denominati­on has expanded globally – particular­ly in Africa, where, Karcher noted, adherents are much more conservati­ve.

“They’re extremely conservati­ve, but they are a huge financial base,” she said. “And if African Methodists decide they want to have their own denominati­on, that’s going to hurt. I can see that happening down the road.”

Bullock said his hope is not only that the UMC survives but thrives, calling on leaders to affirm LGBTQ+ participat­ion in church law “so that people really understand – not just the people in our churches, but those who drive by them – that we are inclusive, that God’s love really is for all people.”

“This is something we say every Sunday morning in the greeting after announceme­nts,” he continued, becoming emotional. “No matter what you believe or what doubts you have, no matter what age or color of skin or who you love, you are welcome in this space. And that is the heart, I believe, of who we are as a church. I was somebody who was not accepted at one point – and now I am, and I’m thankful to be at a church that accepts me.”

 ?? PROVIDED BY FRANK SCHAEFER ?? Frank Schaefer, pastor of University United Methodist Church in Isla Vista, Calif., worries that the schism within the United Methodist Church – the largest denominati­onal rift in U.S. history – will leave the issue of LGBTQ+ acceptance unresolved in church teachings. In 2013, Schaefer, then a Methodist pastor in Pennsylvan­ia, was defrocked after performing a same-sex wedding and refusing to promise not to do so again. He was reinstated on appeal and his defrocking declared unconstitu­tional.
PROVIDED BY FRANK SCHAEFER Frank Schaefer, pastor of University United Methodist Church in Isla Vista, Calif., worries that the schism within the United Methodist Church – the largest denominati­onal rift in U.S. history – will leave the issue of LGBTQ+ acceptance unresolved in church teachings. In 2013, Schaefer, then a Methodist pastor in Pennsylvan­ia, was defrocked after performing a same-sex wedding and refusing to promise not to do so again. He was reinstated on appeal and his defrocking declared unconstitu­tional.
 ?? PROVIDED BY TRACEY KARCHER ?? Tracey Karcher in a photo taken in Heron, Mont., in 2021. Karcher, a former Methodist pastor in North Carolina, said she has taken a step back from the church while it wrestles with the fallout of the largest denominati­onal schism in U.S. history.
PROVIDED BY TRACEY KARCHER Tracey Karcher in a photo taken in Heron, Mont., in 2021. Karcher, a former Methodist pastor in North Carolina, said she has taken a step back from the church while it wrestles with the fallout of the largest denominati­onal schism in U.S. history.
 ?? ?? Bullock
Bullock

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