I have been asked recently for some clarity about the disaffiliation process for churches wishing to leave the United Methodist denomination, and in particular where our church stands in this moment. I believe this is a moment for honesty and integrity and so I begin by saying that the Leadership of Ayden United Methodist Church has not discerned a need or desire among our congregation to entertain the process of disaffiliation from the United Methodist Church. Contrary to a disinformation campaign going around, there is no need or requirement for congregations to vote on continued membership in the United Methodist Church. We just simply go on loving God and loving others in this town as we have done for more than 100 years.
United Methodist churches who are interested in disaffiliation are working within a timeline that requires them to begin the process by September 1, 2022 and hold a congregational vote on disaffiliation by late September. There will be a called Annual Conference in November of 2022 to affirm of deny these disaffiliations. This means that by November of this year we should have a clearer picture across the conference of the number of churches who are actually disaffiliating. More information about the process is available on our Annual Conference website.
There’s no denying it – this is a turbulent time for the United Methodist Church. As I’ve said before, it is a time that requires us to be unified in love for one another and for the world even if we are not always unified in our understandings of scripture, practice and polity.
In all of this, I think that John Wesley said it best: “Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may. Herein all the children of God may unite, notwithstanding these smaller differences.”
We mourn division in the church. We see it as brokenness, but we also admit that even within our celebration of the sacrament of Holy Communion that there is a mysterious power in the broken Body of Christ when it is offered to the world in love. In this moment, I do not imagine God putting this broken church away in a box to sit in a corner and someday be mended. I imagine the one who created all things lifting this broken church up, just as clergy all across the denomination lift the broken bread saying “this is the body of Christ, given for you.”
Let us continue to give ourselves for others in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
In our vulnerability we speak to a world that is wounded and hurting. In our honesty about where we are we speak to a world longing for a word of truth. If we are able to lift up the mysterious power of this moment with integrity and love, I truly believe that whatever the United Methodist Church looks like moving forward, it will continue to be a means of grace to a world where grace and love is in short supply.
Pastor Jim
