Got a link to this from the Bishop of the North Texas Conference in an email from my former church.

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Today I am writing to directly address several falsehoods I have encountered about The United Methodist Church, both in the North Texas Conference and at large.

First, I have heard assertions that The United Methodist Church plans to eliminate or alter its foundational theological doctrines, including the doctrine of the Trinity and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. These claims are blatantly untrue and seek only to sow seeds of fear. Not only are our United Methodist doctrines and beliefs protected in The Constitution of the UMC, our Doctrinal Standards and the General Rules, but they are cornerstones of our faith. You can trust that they are unchanging.

Additionally, clergy and laity alike have voiced that they have heard there will not be a place for traditionalists in The United Methodist Church moving forward and that their only option is to depart the denomination. Statements like this undermine the very real and important contributions of the traditionalist leaders and congregations who continue to faithfully serve in the North Texas Conference. I have always found rich diversity of thought to be a great strength within our annual conference, and I look forward to continuing to benefit from the leadership and teaching of gifted pastors, preachers and lay members from across the entirety of the ideological spectrum.

Finally, I have heard that some within the North Texas Conference believe the Cabinet and I are "refusing to uphold The Book of Discipline," picking and choosing whether to pursue chargeable offenses. In truth, we follow the complaint procedures as outlined in The Book of Discipline 362 and 2701, examining all filed complaints and addressing each with an appropriate response. Because complaints and their resolutions within The United Methodist Church like personnel matters in the secular world are kept confidential, I can understand how it may appear that no action has been taken. However, please know that I take The Book of Discipline and the behavior of NTC clergy seriously and aim to handle this area of my responsibilities with the utmost integrity.

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Interesting to see the bishop acknowledge concerns, but he really does nothing to allay them at all (other than the first point, which is pretty much a straw man). Reading between the lines, I take his statement as saying that they want traditionalists to stay in the denomination, but they won't do anything tangible to keep them as he, and the rest of the leadership, are fully on board the liberal train.

Is this bishop Michael McKee? I believe that it is.

I've always seen him as a bit of a figure head, frankly. Nice guy, not too political, but certainly an institutional defender first and foremost, not a real driver.

He's pretty much pulling a Nero and fiddling while the UMC burns/falls apart…..this split can't happen soon enough…

There's some sort of politics going on in the UMC regional conferences where the left has been fighting for total control. I don't understand all of the layers/complixities.

Scott Jones even was kicked from SMU a few years back, yes, about gay marriage/ordination.

Quote:

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The board changed its bylaws to be consistent with the new articles of incorporation.Dr. Turner said SMU intended to maintain ties with The United Methodist Church, including through Perkins.

But he stressed to the Dallas Morning News that SMU had a commitment to non-discrimination, and that the 2019 General Conference of The United Methodist Church's approval of the Traditional Plan reinforcing bans against LGBTQ ordination and same sex weddings conflicted with SMU's values. He also noted that the prospect of a split of The United Methodist Church created uncertainty for SMU.

On Dec. 4, the South Central Jurisdictional Conference filed suit in state district court in Dallas. The lawsuit argued that the 1996 articles of incorporation SMU's board sought to change guaranteed the conference ultimate control of the school and couldn't be altered without the conference's approval.

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The Jones/Adam Hamilton wings of the UMC are determined to retain as much power and money as possible in the dissolution of the denomination.

Withdrawal will be made as painful, and expensive as possible.

FUMC Cross Plains voted last night and 94% chose to disaffiliate.

We also voted to join the GMC.

This has been going on for a long time. The current "Progressive" Pastor has been taunting or belittling the congregation for months. Good riddance to him come November 1.

Largest UMC church in Georgia (14,000 members) is paying $13 million to leave the denomination.
https://www.ajc.com/news/cobbs-mt-bethel-agrees-to-pay-131-million-to-leave-united-methodist-church/N7E7LCT4ONFAVNQR2CMREQIJK4/#:~:text=Cobb's%20Mt.,to%20leave%20United%20Methodist%20Church&text=East%20Cobb's%20Mt.,involved%20in%20the%20case%20confirmed.

Also, the Florida Conference has 107 of its 700 congregations exploring leaving the UMC.

88Warrior said:

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Pro Sandy said:

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razor63 said:

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Our church sent in a letter of discernment in May. After a 30 day waiting period we were told the district superintendent would contact us (hasn't happened) and schedule a church vote. If a 2/3 majority voted to go Global then we were out. The rules changed after a new pastor arrived and said we had to have the church vote by July 31. Another admin council vote was then taken and I feel like they were bullied into pausing the vote until March 2023. I don't think the Global supporters had a 2/3 majority anyway.

The rules seem to change frequently with United. Its been a tough descision as I am a lifelong member but I am starting to look around for a new church. I don't feel like I am leaving United, I feel like United left me when they stopped enforcing there on rules according to the book of discipline.

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Grew up United Methodist but left over 10 years ago.

I still believe the doctrine is sound as stated in the Book of Discipline. But having heard dozens of Methodist pastors and one who preached from the Word and held to the Articles of Religion and the Confession of Faith being a minority, I couldn't stay in that denomination anymore.

Give me a good Wesleyan pastor from Asbury and I'll be satisfied, but they seem hard to find.

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Come to Tulsa Brother! Those pastors you seek are here!

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What is it like at Boston Avenue??

cgh1999 said:

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The woodlands Methodist voted 96% to leave and Faithbridge voted 100% to leave. The two largest churches in the Texas Annual Conference.

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Holy cow!

That almost gives me faith that SAUMC Plano might have a vote this coming year.

MROD92 said:

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88Warrior said:

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Pro Sandy said:

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razor63 said:

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Our church sent in a letter of discernment in May. After a 30 day waiting period we were told the district superintendent would contact us (hasn't happened) and schedule a church vote. If a 2/3 majority voted to go Global then we were out. The rules changed after a new pastor arrived and said we had to have the church vote by July 31. Another admin council vote was then taken and I feel like they were bullied into pausing the vote until March 2023. I don't think the Global supporters had a 2/3 majority anyway.

The rules seem to change frequently with United. Its been a tough descision as I am a lifelong member but I am starting to look around for a new church. I don't feel like I am leaving United, I feel like United left me when they stopped enforcing there on rules according to the book of discipline.

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Grew up United Methodist but left over 10 years ago.

I still believe the doctrine is sound as stated in the Book of Discipline. But having heard dozens of Methodist pastors and one who preached from the Word and held to the Articles of Religion and the Confession of Faith being a minority, I couldn't stay in that denomination anymore.

Give me a good Wesleyan pastor from Asbury and I'll be satisfied, but they seem hard to find.

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Come to Tulsa Brother! Those pastors you seek are here!

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What is it like at Boston Avenue??

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Boston Avenue UMC has sided with the progressives (liberal) within the UMC. Asbury Tulsa and First UMC Tulsa are your traditional (conservative) churches..As I said in another post Asbury has already voted to disaffiliate (leave) the UMC and is in talks with the Oklahoma Conference on what terms…Asbury also happens to be the largest congregation in the OK Conference…I believe I heard First UMC Tulsa will have a disaffiliation vote coming up but don't hold me to that…

Was Boston Avenue always progressive or is that more recent?

MROD92 said:

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Was Boston Avenue always progressive or is that more recent?

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I'm not sure as I've only been in Tulsa a little over a year.

Thank you for all the insight. Actually to everyone on this board

UTExan said:

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Largest UMC church in Georgia (14,000 members) is paying $13 million to leave the denomination.
https://www.ajc.com/news/cobbs-mt-bethel-agrees-to-pay-131-million-to-leave-united-methodist-church/N7E7LCT4ONFAVNQR2CMREQIJK4/#:~:text=Cobb's%20Mt.,to%20leave%20United%20Methodist%20Church&text=East%20Cobb's%20Mt.,involved%20in%20the%20case%20confirmed.

Also, the Florida Conference has 107 of its 700 congregations exploring leaving the UMC.

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'the money will hopefully be raised by the members.'

'in 120 days.'

aggieband 83 said:

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Louise and Ganado UMC are a joint charge that shares 1 pastor. We had a joint church meeting last Sunday afternoon. Louise voted 100% and Ganado voted 99% to disaffiliate. The 2 churches Board of Trustees are researching options of which conference to join. The Board of Trustees will report back with their findings. At that time the 2 churches will vote which denomination to join.

If anyone in the area is interested, on August 28 at FUMC - Gonzalez there will be a Global Methodist representative speaking about that new denomination. We are going to hear what pros and cons the speaker has to say about Global Methodist . That meeting is scheduled to start at 1 PM.

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What about the churches in Edna, Palacios, and Port Lavaca?

And those churches in Florida filed suit to keep their property, citing the fact that they paid for the property before the UMC existed:
https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/2022/july/100-fl-churches-file-lawsuit-to-leave-united-methodist-church-after-70-ga-churches-left-in-june

UTExan said:

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And those churches in Florida filed suit to keep their property, citing the fact that they paid for the property before the UMC existed:
https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/2022/july/100-fl-churches-file-lawsuit-to-leave-united-methodist-church-after-70-ga-churches-left-in-june

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When a bunch of churches decided they wanted to leave the Presbyterian Church in the USA and keep their property (case law on this subject is not favorable to the departing churches), they sort of ganged up on the denomination and sued all at once. PCUSA couldn't afford that much litigation, and most of that property would have been of limited value, so the departing churches were able to get reasonable settlements.

One reason churches are leaving (among many) is the presence of "Penny Cost" in the clergy. She/they reportedly expressed the following beliefs:

" God is nothing," the self-described "dragavangelist" repeats throughout the poem, adding, "the Bible is nothing" and "religion is nothing." In the end, he concludes God and the Bible are nothing "unless we wield it into something."

"God must be f***ing nothing," he says, "if her boundaryless, transubstantiated bodies of color are run down, beaten, and strewn in the streets of America instead of ruling the runways of life."

"He speaks of God not as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but rather as the source of queerness, describing him as "nothing but a drag queen with a microphone of biblical f***ing proportions," "nothing, but if she were, she would be 'yes, queen'-ing her way down the runways of Paris and Montreal," and "nothing, but if she were, she would be a seamstress of divide couture, weaving together string theory and self portraits to form the fiercest gowns of queer existence."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2022/7/20/why-are-united-methodists-at-war-readers-need-to-know-that-sexuality-isnt-the-only-fault-line%3Fformat%3Damp

I, like many have a problem with this.

https://spectator.org/methodist-church-first-drag-queen-pastor-god-is-nothing/

twk said:

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UTExan said:

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And those churches in Florida filed suit to keep their property, citing the fact that they paid for the property before the UMC existed:
https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/2022/july/100-fl-churches-file-lawsuit-to-leave-united-methodist-church-after-70-ga-churches-left-in-june

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When a bunch of churches decided they wanted to leave the Presbyterian Church in the USA and keep their property (case law on this subject is not favorable to the departing churches), they sort of ganged up on the denomination and sued all at once. PCUSA couldn't afford that much litigation, and most of that property would have been of limited value, so the departing churches were able to get reasonable settlements.

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First Pres in Houston led the way on this. (If someone here is a member, a brief outline of what y'all did would be greatly appreciated.)

First in SA and Corpus Christi just kind of left after First Houston's case and told PCUSA, "Here is what we are paying, take it or leave it." I'm not sure about Peace or Memorial Drive Pres in Houston. I am not knowledgeable on the case law, but I understand that the courts in Texas favor the leaving church. I may be wrong. Can someone chime in?

My church is still in PCUSA, but after 9 months I have finally convinced the Mrs. that either they get serious about leaving, or we're leaving. The latter is most likely.

I am following the Global Methodist movement because if a church in our town affiliates with them, we're going to join it.

There is a case from the early 20th century where the Presbyterian church in Jefferson left the southern Presbyterian church and the court ruled that they could not take their property if they left. That precedent is what keeps these churches from freely leaving.

Gotcha.

Thanks!

Oh do tell…

The stories told about the UMC corruption on the GMC FB page makes me shake my head. But I at least know great things lie ahead.

My church, one of the oldest UMCs in Texas, took a straw poll on Sunday.

The vote favored no period of discernment (40 for - 80 against), Admin Council meeting tonight for the official vote.

Unfortunately, I feel our pastor did not articulate what a period of discernment actually meant; and painted the GMC as negative - while staying UMC would mean nothing changes.

Really torn on this.

I personally see the UMC steering hard left almost immediately, once the conservatives leave for the GMC - even though the conservatives won the vote in 2019. At the 2024 conference, that conservative voice will be gone and won't be voting to maintain and enforce the current book of discipline. It will most likely vote to change the book of discipline or agree to completely not enforce the most contentious section(s).

They will have drag queens performing during regular sunday services, and at/for youth groups, once the conservatives head to GMC.