Last week, I wrote on Hacking Christianity that I expected there to be more than 2-3 denominations when the dust settled from the Protocol.
Little did I know how quickly I would be proven right!
Does the Left Hand know what the Right is doing?
On February 20th 2020, Bishop Ken Carter of the Florida Annual Conference sent an email to his constituents explaining an unheard-of situation: in short, three members of Florida’s Cabinet (two District Superintendents and one clergyperson in a conference position) had filed articles of incorporation for a new non-profit entity named “The Florida Methodist Church.”
That’s right: A new denomination. Not an incorporation of the current UMC. Not an incorporation of the Wesleyan Covenant Association. But a new Traditionalist denomination, as explained by one of the signatories District Superintendent Jay Therrell:
I discerned that God is leading me to start a traditionalist expression of Methodism in Florida (and possibly beyond). At first, I thought I would be able to approach my duties from a both/and perspective. I would both carry out my duties as district superintendent and continue to build a framework in the event the Protocol passes.
But it is bigger than that. These are three Cabinet members, meaning they serve as extensions of the Bishop, an episcopal position that pledges support of the unity of the church. So how on earth these people thought they could both be supporting the unity of the church AND creating a new division is beyond me.
Wednesday Night Massacre
And apparently, the dissonance was beyond Bishop Carter. His email shares the response of the Cabinet (the most powerful body in Florida United Methodism):
After respectful conversation, spiritual discernment and deep prayer, the following is the substance of the cabinet response:
Dionne Hammond and Rini Hernandez have removed their names from the document and agreed not to participate in the formation of a separate organization. They will continue as members of the cabinet.
Jay Therrell has decided to conclude his tenure on the cabinet on July 1, 2020. In addition, he will go on renewal leave on April 1, 2020. A new elder from the Florida Conference will be appointed as superintendent of the North East District and coverage will be provided for the district in the interim period.
There we go. Two of the Cabinet members will recant their action and commit themselves to working towards managing the unity of the church. And a third will get 3 months of paid leave while he is working to create a new Methodist denomination.
Wow.
Where did this come from?
There’s no public statement from the three of them about where or why a new Traditionalist denomination was needed. Florida already has a chapter of the WCA, why do they need another one?
One possible answer comes from looking at the General Conference delegate elections at the Florida Annual Conference last Spring. This was right in the middle of the “wave” of delegates elected who were Centrist or Progressive. Tensions were high. Florida was electing Progressives and Centrists left and…well, left. But at least two Traditionalist candidates were rising high in the vote totals and stood a chance to get onto the delegation.
Then the WCA walked out from the delegate elections (the Florida WCA Facebook post said “we urge Traditionalist delegates to NOT vote at all for lay or clergy delegates…we can best register our votes by not participating any further.”) The support for those two rising candidates evaporated, and they didn’t make the delegation.
Those two candidates? Dionne Hammond and Rini Hernandez.
So this new denomination looks like a splinter from the WCA in Florida, a dissatisfaction with either the losing strategy or the leadership of the WCA, or simply wanting to create a new expression that was centered in Florida and not elsewhere.
I guess we’ll find out in the coming months or after General Conference.
Shared Interests, Shared Pain
The Protocol states that the parties involved in the mediation would support the Protocol and endeavor to support its passage. What that has meant in some conferences is that there’s an uneasy alliance between WCA and Centrists/Progressives with a common goal: Pass the Protocol and move on. That will only happen if both sides (or all sides) can bring their constituents to the table.
It’s a funny dance strategically: both sides want there to be divisions in the other side, but only after the Protocol is implemented.
- It benefits the Florida Annual Conference to have the WCA and another denomination be fighting over traditionalists, while they get to rise above the fray.
- The opposite is true perhaps in other conferences: Traditionalists would benefit from Centrists and Progressives to choose between both unity and Liberationist expressions.
But if the support for the Protocol starts to crumble, and it turns from a two-party negotiation to a multi-party negotiation, then the WCA and the Centrists/Progressives get nothing (or a more problematic plan). So if the Protocol is our future, it is in their best interests to hold their constituencies together for another few months, and then divide into warring camps after.
In short, WCA and Centrists/Progressives should be working together to name and reveal these sort of efforts (disaffected parties of either side creating New Methodist Denominations or non-profits) in any conference. By bringing sunshine to exactly how many divisions there are, we can better understand the landscape going into the 2020 General Conference.
We should all be in prayer for the Florida Annual Conference as these three persons are well respected. Florida is one of those regions where they are intentional about relationships across the spectrum. So the shockwaves of this action are not just institutional, but collegial and emotional in a way that those of us outside of Florida may not recognize. Even though folks knew they would likely be in different camps in a few years, they thought they were all in this together until the 2020 General Conference. This action betrays that hope, and prayer is needed.
Your Turn
Thoughts?
Thanks for reading, commenting, and sharing on social media.
I understand that there are also (US) bishops who have been meeting seeking to start a different traditional Methodist denomination. I guess they don’t like the WCA version where bishops will likely have terms of service rather than being lifelong.
Lots of people are meeting. The difference is that they aren’t filing articles of incorporation.
I can see some Traditionalists who are unhappy with the WCA/Good News leadership deciding to do their own thing.
When the Traditionalists ‘won’ GC2019, then had to turn around and cede the ground (and more) because of the backlash… that soured a lot of people on the strategic actions of the WCA. These folks still want out, but I think the WCA/Good News reputation took a big hit.
Question? How do we not know this isnt a WCA church? The man was elected as a WCA board member in Florida in June.
My information from locals is that it was a breakaway group from the WCA, not the WCA itself. Who knows what will happen now.
Ok thanks! Will be interesting for sure
I just love that you started your article title with “Florida Man…” 😛
It was too perfect! Couldn’t resist! LOL
What do you think of Bishop Gary Mueller of Arkansas this week outlining his own plan, which seems to me to be countering the Protocol. He calls it the 2X4 approach. Sounds like taking a 2-by-4 board to the Protocol and its carefully prepared strategy to move forward to me.
https://arumc.org/2020/02/the-need-for-space-and-a-new-form-of-unity/?fbclid=IwAR0wAnjEmHTurf4bYGSzxpnmpFbTq_L9y52Izq9RwF0lrpDJsDKUmJau47A
That’s just the CCP, which was deemed ‘too hard’ to merit consideration in GC2019.
I don’t think enough has changed to make that viable. When/IF GC2020 becomes another dumpster fire, it might be acceptable to enough of the UMC to become a possible option.
How is it that any of them will remain on the Cabinet????
As I understand the one who is leaving the cabinet will technically only be on the cabinet through the month of March and then starting April 1 will take spiritual leave until his termination date of July 1.
That is my question too. In fact, I told Bishop Carter in a reply to his announcement that I think their actions constitute a public declaration of their surrender of their membership in the UMC by a de facto joining with another (not yet constituted) denomination.
If this isn’t a goat-rope, I don’t know what is. Meanwhile, my little church is falling apart :/
Verna, I am so sorry to hear about the situation in your local church. I am in this opposite end of the Conf in Miami. Prayers for you and your and wish I could help. May love prevail.
I’m one of the few progressive pastors (retired) in Northwest Texas. I have lived and worked with folks in the Good News movement from the time I was on CCYM at age 16 (nearly 50 years ago a Good Newser yelled, red-faced, at the CCYM, “you’re just a bunch of kids who don’t know anything.”). This conference will vote to go WCA (the WCA folks put that plan in place before 2016).
The move by the DS to not be WCA doesn’t surprise me. Conflict and enemy seeking is their identity. Now that the common enemy of “those heretical liberals” is being removed, they will seek another enemy to fight against and it will be within their fold. Many are upset that their abilities to lead have not been recognized by the hierarchy. The bottom line is many have no ability to determine what size church they can effectively serve and have felt insulted they weren’t appointed to First Church, Biggest City, and are certain that if given a better, bigger church, they could grow it. I’ve seen WCA pastors so into the “fight” that they are neglecting the church they are currently appointed to serve.
If not for family, I’d be elsewhere.
I’m so sorry you are retired. Texas needs pastors who aren’t stuck in Levitical times. Meanwhile, plenty of us realized before we were teenagers that God made us different from our friends. Thanks more to those outside the church than within it, we found acceptance, and even love and marriage like our heterosexual friends.
This take over by the WCA will be a reason for me to leave the church I think. So far we have hidden our situation in the shadows, but He knows our hearts. I can say our hearts, our gifts and service will continue to do good. Just not through man made constraint, and WCA buildings and rules that go against creation.
In February you wrote: “The move by the DS to not be WCA doesn’t surprise me.” Now in October he’s relinquished his UMC credentials and become the WCA Florida president, and is on recruiting tour to any UMC church that will give him the time to push the GMC.
How horrible! DS’s and others going their own way and breaking unity in the umc. Must have learned how from the progressive bishops who broke umc unity by ignoring the bod. Is anyone surprised. The only thing less surprising is how quickly bishop Carter who so values diversity has quashed dissent. I thought progressives valued diversity in thought. Hypocrisy will abound. Let’s ramp up the witch hunts and get the inquisition going. There are traditionalists among us! Let’s get this over with before the unintended consequences smear Christ even more.
I agree. Draw the circle smaller. Anyone who is not the same as the core, get them out. If Jesus has done that from the get go we wouldn’t be in this mess. Might even have managed to avoid Judas even being at the table at all.
Thus us what Wesley said to crazy American colonial Methodiss
Now the Brit Methods are deader than we US Methodists
Game on! Is this the first of several? I’m a “Florida man,” born in Hollywood and lived all over the state as a result of Dad’s itinerancy. His first appointment was to an MEC church down here after completion of seminary in the north. The MEC and MECS had yet to merge, and there were a number of “North” churches in the midst of the MECS down here. The Schism of 1844 until 1939 was the first major one in U.S. Methodism, although there have been offshoots before and since. Currently more than 20 denominations either include the name “Methodist” or follow Wesleyan teachings and traditions. As Peter, Paul, and Mary (the folk trio, not the Biblical ones) sang: “When will it ever end?”
Game on! The first of several? I’m a “Florida man,” born in Hollywood and lived all over the state due to Dad’s itinerancy. His first appointment after completion of seminary in the North was to an MEC church right in the midst of the MECS down here. There were number of them. The Great Schism of 1844 until 1939 was the first in U.S. Methodism, although there were offshoots before and several since. Currently more than 20 denominations either include the name “Methodist” or have their roots in Wesleyanism. As Peter, Paul, and Mary (the folk trio – not the Biblical ones) sang: “When will it ever end?”
Sorry for the double posting. My bad. Please eliminate the second one. Thanks.
Too soon
Just cut off the money
We pew peasants hold all the power in our wallets
Later other steps can be take like
Walking off with our money and leave the bosses with the liability of rotting buildings
Are there charges that might be filed against the breaking of their membership vows? If so, who might bring them: lay person or clergy?
I believe either. The recent church trial in Iowa against the LGBTQ pastor was initiated by charges from a lay person who claimed to be “harmed”.
Perhaps the Florida conferences’ BOMs might raise a charge to remove those who are not interested in being clergy members of the church any longer. Or maybe the dissenting DS’s could return their credentials in order to truly witness to their strong, Biblically-based beliefs.
Do you hear the rooster crowing three times?
“Centrists and Progressives have often celebrated the Feinberg Protocol
that will give them control of The UMC ship. Fine. But don’t be shocked
when those who are disembarking are readying their life raft. You can’t
have it both ways.”
Rev. Chris Ritter
https://peopleneedjesus.net/2020/02/22/nimby-and-the-separation-protocol/
Hi David,
I actually like that explanation – that there are non-WCA traditionalists who want to prepare a place for local churches to ‘land’. But if that’s the case, I don’t see why the cabinet members involved would have to either rescind their involvement or drop out of the UMC.
It wouldn’t be a horrible thing for EVERY AC with known Traditionalist churches to set up a legal framework that could then be easily linked to the WCA (or non-WCA denomination). Similarly any liberationist or far-progressive groups should consider preparing a framework.
Because if you don’t do that, then the WCA becomes the default answer (assuming the Protocol passes).
And if the Protocol fails, then you have basically just gone through some needless paperwork and limited costs.
Keith Jenkins “In fact, I told Bishop Carter in a reply to his announcement that I think their actions constitute a public declaration of their surrender of their membership in the UMC by a de facto joining with another (not yet constituted) denomination.”
Why would they terminate their membership? The Board of Church and Society leadership brings new social Principles that are clearly contrary to the current doctrine of the church, and nobody says or does anything. If agencies of our church are allowed to propose doctrine contrary to our position, then I think a leader should be allowed to explore options without fear as well. No sense holding one person to a standard and not another. Thanks
Social Principles would have to be voted into play. There’s not really anything wrong with the discussion or proposing of such things (otherwise, the entire WCA could be considered for expulsion).
Taking action, however, is different.
Now, I don’t really have a problem with the ‘setup’ of the legal framework, as long as it’s approved by the Bishop. I don’t understand if the Bishop knew that this was actually occurring, or if there was discussion about it and the 3 took it to the next step on their own. That’s important here.
Okay: Going out to a law firm to figure out the necessary steps and timing in setting up a potential successor denomination if the Protocol passes.
Not Okay: ACTUALLY setting up that successor denomination without approval.