This Week's Current Week in Review

The Current Week in Review

August 26, 2022

Bishop urges end to falsehoods, pivots to future

Amid a summer of denominational discontent, Council of Bishops President Thomas J. Bickerton called on fellow bishops and church members Tuesday to begin pivoting The United Methodist Church toward a hope-filled future.

The Council's meeting continutes through today.

Bickerton also decried what he called “a constant barrage of negative rhetoric that is filled with falsehood and inaccuracies” coming from backers of a breakaway theologically conservative denomination that launched in May.

He specifically disputed claims that United Methodist leaders are abandoning the denomination’s doctrinal standards in the Articles of Religion, that they do not embrace the primacy of the Bible and that they do not believe Jesus Christ is the son of God.

While The United Methodist Church will maintain basic Christian teachings and its historic roots in Wesleyan theology, Bickerton said he does expect United Methodists to make changes. Those changes include recapturing a spirit of evangelism, practicing the church’s theology of mission and confronting the sin of racism.

“It is time, in our role as leaders, to initiate a conversation about what it is we want and dream about as a church moving forward,” Bickerton said Aug. 22 in his first formal address as the bishops’ president. “What do we see as the next expression of Methodism? What kind of church do we envision in the ongoing United Methodist Church?”

Church court rules paragraph 2548.2 not a valid exit ramp

The Judicial Council ruled that a much-debated church law can only be used to deed and transfer church property to another denomination with which The United Methodist Church has an existing agreement. No such agreement exists with a new breakaway denomination that launched this year.

That means that Paragraph 2548.2 cannot be used for disaffiliation until an agreement is reached between the United Methodist denomination and the Global Methodist Church and approved by General Conference.

¶ 2548.2 was intended to address abandoned, or near abandoned, Methodist churches that no longer had the membership and resources to continue after white flight. Rather than liquidating these properties, in the spirit of Ecumenical Comity, provisions were entered in the Book of Discipline that would allow an Annual Conference to transfer ownership of church property to one of our partner denominations that was better positioned to advance the shared mission of the State Council of Churches in that location.

Those denominations that fall under 2548.2 are: The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC); The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZC); The African Union Methodist Protestant Church (AUMPC); The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CMEC); and The Union American Methodist Episcopal Church (UAMEC).

The wording of ¶ 2548.2, which specifies that such a transfer must take place “under an allocation, exchange of property, or comity agreement” clearly shows that the use of the paragraph was intended to take place in coordination with the preexisting comity agreements already established and incorporated through the Federal Council of Churches. This connection was expressly codified in the also newly entered ¶ 276 of the 1948 Book of Discipline,

Judicial Council also rules on Bulgaria-Romania disaffiliation vote

The church court said its hands were tied because the bishop did not receive a duly submitted question of law nor did the conference ask the Judicial Council for a declaratory decision. The Bulgaria/Romania provisional annual conference’s vote to leave was unanimous.

However, in two concurrences and a dissent, Judicial Council members made clear their view that the conference was acting contrary to the denomination’s rules.

Four Judicial Council members signed a concurrence saying they were deeply troubled by the annual conference’s actions, which they called “nothing short of a blatant circumvention of Church law.”

Christians Fighting Christians!

Bishop Beard, writing his column for the September issue of The Current, observes, "Christians fight over the dumbest of things! Churches argue and split over things that have absolutely little or nothing to do with them personally or locally. There are times that I want to say, as Jesus did to the disciple John, 'What is that to you?'

"I believe if we focus on the ministry needs that are right in front of us, we would be so busy and so overwhelmed that we would have no time to get caught up in how others are engaging their respective areas in a different manner. Much like Nehemiah, we would be consumed by our own work, and we simply would not have time to stop our important work to engage in the affairs of others. In short, we would trust the Lord of the harvest to know how and when to separate the weeds and the wheat."

NCJ Committee on Episcopacy survey closes Aug. 30

In preparation for the upcoming election of bishops, The North Central Jurisdiction Committee on Episcopacy (NCJCOE) has created an assessment to gather data about each annual conference. This information helps the committee to understand the needs, strengths and opportunities of our annual conference prior to assigning bishops to particular annual conferences within the jurisdiction.

The IGRC Committee on Episcopacy is reaching out to a cross-section of IGRC leaders to respond to this survey. Your participation is vital in providing this feedback. There are only six questions and the survey should not take longer than 15 - 20 minutes. Please complete the survey as soon as you can. All responses are anonymous.

Closing date is Aug. 30.

PARTICIPATE IN THE SURVEY

Reach 1000 registration extended to Sept. 2

Registration has been extended through Sept. 2 for the Reach 1,000 events Sept. 9-10 at Washington: Crossroads.

Keynote speakers for the events include Nicole Reilly, Michael Beck and Trey Wince.

Rev. Nicole Reilley is a United Methodist minister with 30 years’ experience growing congregations and making disciples. She has served in the local church as lead and teaching pastor in congregations from 60 to 500. She has given leadership at the Conference level as Director of New Ministries, where she equipped pastors to start and vitalize local congregations.

Michael Beck is currently the Director of the Fresh Expressions House of Studies at United Theological Seminary and Fresh Expressions UM Strategist for Path 1, Director of Re-Missioning for Fresh Expressions US, and Cultivator of Fresh Expressions for the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. He serves as the co-pastor of Wildwood UMC and St Marks UMC with his wife Jill, where they direct addiction recovery programs, a jail ministry, a food pantry, an interracial unity movement, and house a faith-based inpatient treatment center. Wildwood and St Marks are traditional congregations AND a network of thirteen fresh expressions that gather in tattoo parlors, dog parks, salons, running tracks, community centers, burrito joints, and digital spaces.

Rev. Trey Wince is a United Methodist elder whose ministry includes being a member of the Ministry Incubators team.

Trey never met a project he didn’t try to scale. His first job was a window washing enterprise that he started just so he could have his own business cards and pizza money. He has launched and led faith communities in Oklahoma, Tennessee, and New Jersey, and somewhere along the way he decided that pastors tend to be better at ministry when they aren’t busy struggling to pay the electric bill.

READ MORE AND REGISTER

Are children embraced or tolerated?

There are two kinds of restaurants. Those that embrace children, and those that tolerate children. If you’re a parent, especially if you have multiple small children, then you know this reality. When my family of six storms a restaurant, I can tell immediately whether the establishment will embrace my children or tolerate them.

The next time a child cries out in church, don’t get angry at the child. Get angry at the person who is angry at the child.

There are two kinds of churches. Those that embrace children, and those that tolerate children. Most churches are not rude towards kids, and I’ve never seen a church sign that read, “No Kids Allowed.” However, the families visiting your church will know whether you embrace their kids or not. The churches who welcome children have a higher likelihood of families returning — not just once but often!

Sam Rainer outlines six perspectives and practices that signal to families that their children are truly valued, welcomed, and included.

September issue of

The Current explores

future trends

The September 2022 issue of The Current should be arriving any day in the mail.

The cover story includes an article 5 Faulty Assumptions about the Future Church by Carey Nieuwhof and 5 Overlooked Areas that Kill Your Church's Generosity.

In addition, the issue is packed with local church news, Conference, National and Global church news.

Click on the cover to read online or download to your computer

Charge conference forms online

Forms for charge conferences which will be held in the fall are now available through your Church Portal Page.

To access the documents, click on Church Portal on the IGRC Homepage or go to: https://www.igrc.org/churchportal to find the log-in page. Select your District from the dropdown menu. This will trigger a second drop-down menu where you select your Church. The passcode is the church's six-digit GCFA number which can be found on the monthly remittance form for apportionment payments.

In preparation for charge conferences in the fall, the Finance Office has prepared two pages of information that will assist you in your budget building for 2023.

A document outlining the Clergy Benefits and Costs for 2023 includes action taken by the 2022 Annual Conference with regard to minimum salaries for full-time elders and full-time local pastors.

A second document Important Numbers for Charge Conference provides additional information and background. The Apportionment calculations and the Charge Conference forms will be published in the next few weeks.

Churches that have been identified as receiving an additional member to annual conference for equalization purposes should elect that person at the church's charge conference.