Last Stand for Traditional Northeastern United Methodists at the NEJ?

Dan Fuller,a delegate from the Upper New York Annual Conference, shares this report on the efforts of theologically traditionalist Northeastern United Methodists last week. Dan is co-chair of the 2022 Traditional NEJ Connection, which emerged at the recently concluded 2022 Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference. He is a 2019 graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary with a MA in Theological Studies. Dan can be reached at danfuller2000 at gmail.

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The 2022 Northeast Jurisdictional Conference (NEJ) of the United Methodist Church (UMC) met from October 31 to November 4 in College Park, MD. Delegates who are theologically traditional/evangelical are a small minority in the Northeast, and hadn’t been organized recently. However, spurred on by UMAction, a small team quickly pulled together and organized the “Traditional NEJ Connection.” Our goal as traditionalist Northeastern United Methodist delegates was to work for the election of bishops who would be fair to those from a traditional theological perspective, both in terms of fairly facilitating the disaffiliation process for congregations seeking to join the Global Methodist Church (GMC) and in terms of respecting those who will remain in the UMC beyond 2023 (either because they become “trapped” when the disaffiliation process expires at the end of 2023, or because they choose to stay). The traditional team also prepared to respond to NEJ legislation and try to “hold the line” for fairness and compliance with our current doctrine and Discipline. Prayer support was requested throughout the jurisdiction.

Somewhat amusingly and symbolically, the event started with a surprise for traditional delegates. Since the traditional team is not an “official UMC organization”, we could not reserve a meeting room in the hotel complex. We were, however, told we could meet in a side room of the hotel bar as long as the conference wasn’t using it. On Tuesday morning, November 1, the traditionalists gathered there for their first meeting, with a speech by Mark Tooley. By some apparent misunderstanding, however, the group was requested to leave the space before the event concluded. So, this may be the first time that a group of United Methodist delegates, who were quite sober, have been kicked out of a bar! Undaunted, the team of faithful and dedicated delegates continued to assemble during the week in lobbies, hotel rooms, and other open spaces.

ELECTION OF BISHOPS

The Northeastern Jurisdiction had decided that it would elect two new bishops. Rev. Hector Burgos of the Greater New Jersey Conference, propelled by the backing of more than one caucus group, was elected quickly, on the third ballot. He is the first Hispanic bishop to be elected by Northeastern United Methodists. Although he is an advocate for “full inclusion” of LGBTQI+ persons in the life of the church, he has committed not to interfere in the disaffiliation processes that annual conferences have adopted.

After the election of Burgos, things got interesting as 15 more ballots were taken to elect the second bishop. Knowing that the two solidly traditional candidates were unelectable, the traditional delegates rallied around and continued to support Alyce Weaver Dunn, a more theologically “moderate” candidate who indicated she would treat both traditional and theologically progressive/liberal United Methodists fairly and with kindness. Going into the second day of balloting on Thursday, November 3, the traditional team was reaching out extensively to help build support for Dunn. She gradually climbed to a high of 74 votes (49 percent of votes cast), apparently as several “centrist” progressives and “institutionalist” delegates joined traditionalist delegates in supporting Dunn.

However, it was clear that a core of the very progressive, activist delegates were determined to elect an openly gay, practicing homosexual as bishop. Declared candidate Giovanni Arroyo, a gay man who was accompanied to the NEJ candidate interviews by his husband, initially received 32 votes (21-percent), but then withdrew after the fifth ballot. Later, progressives also nominated Jay Williams of New England, a self-described “queer cisgender man” who has publicly acknowledged having a male “partner.”  Williams’s support among Northeastern United Methodist delegates continued to grow to a high of 72 votes on the 13^th ballot, at which point he and Dunn were essentially tied above 45 percent, but below the 60-percent threshold our rules require for election.

Early on Thursday, overtures were made to the traditional team by “centrist” progressives seeking traditionalists help to somehow derail the Jay Williams candidacy. Traditionalists, though, did not get involved in the fight between different factions of progressives and supported the elections playing out to the end. Overtures were also made to the traditional team by some of the very progressive delegates to see if some deal could be cut to get traditionalists to vote for Jay Williams (or abstain). Traditionalists, though, held by their convictions and as a matter of integrity, would not aid in electing someone apparently living in a manner which is a chargeable offense in the UMC Book of Discipline, even if we might gain some advantage. Traditionalists sought some other ways to compromise with the progressives on bishop elections, but ultimately could not find a way around the divide.

Meanwhile, various plays were going on with minor candidates, but none could get close to Dunn or Williams in votes. In particular, it appears that the Rev. Tony Love of the Baltimore-Washington Conference was raised up as a new candidate on Thursday to give progressives a “safer” option than Williams. Love, however, never got enough traction. He peaked at 31 votes (20 percent) on the 8^th ballot and eventually dropped out after the 12^th ballot. At that same time, the Rev. Sang Won Doh of the Greater New Jersey Conference also dropped out, essentially leaving no other viable candidates before Northeastern United Methodists except Dunn and Williams.

As balloting went on late Thursday, Williams support started to drop. It appeared many of the progressives got cold feet and were afraid of the backlash from congregations if an openly gay bishop was elected in their own region.Votes peeled away from Williams until he dropped down to 50 votes (33 percent) on the 18^th ballot. Although Dunn was holding steady as the top candidate with about 70 votes, the delegates that peeled away from Williams were going to other candidates which had no significant chance of being elected. It was at this point that the plug got pulled. Various parliamentary maneuvers (led, apparently by the “centrist” progressives) managed to narrowly push through a move to “postpone” the election of any more bishops until 2024. It took a two-thirds vote to override the rules for Northeastern United Methodism and allow this postponement. Traditionalists largely held their ground and kept voting to let the elections play out. This means that the vast majority of progressives ultimately voted for postponement. It may be surmised that several progressive delegates who normally advocate for the moral imperative of “full inclusion” ultimately caved, realizing that Williams’s election would drive more people away from the UMC in the next year (before the disaffiliation option expires).The earlier rhetoric by some progressives about the importance of electing at least two bishops to provide adequate episcopal coverage evaporated when progressives seemingly became afraid they could not engineer the election of someone who passed all of their litmus tests. It appears that even one theologically moderate, fair, and very well qualified woman, such as Dunn, is not acceptable as a bishop in the new UMC that the progressives seek. So the progressives decided to quit the process, take their marbles, and go home. Thus, Hector Burgos is the only new bishop elected by Northeastern United Methodists in 2022.

The determined efforts and steadfastness of the traditional team surely contributed to the progressives’ abrupt retreat. Although Dunn was not elected, traditionalists’ efforts helped to block the election of a practicing homosexual bishop or some of the most extreme progressive candidates. The stalemate means the jurisdiction will have one less bishop starting in 2023. The NEJ reassigned all continuing bishops to their existing Annual Conferences for 2023-2024 and assigned Hector Burgos to replace Bishop Mark Webb, who is retiring from the Upper New York Annual Conference. Because of the efforts to derail Dunn, the New England Annual Conference emerged from the NEJ conference without an assigned bishop. The NEJ college of bishops will have to figure out what to do with this conference.  In many ways, the status quo in the NEJ will be preserved for 2023-2024. This is good for traditionalists in some annual conferences and not great for others, but it appears to be, overall, a better scenario than a further leftward shift. It emerged, in part, out of commitment by the traditional team to honor God in fulfillment of their duties. We will need to trust God with the results.

LEGISLATION

The traditional team also worked on the floor and behind the scenes to deal with progressive-sponsored NEJ resolutions. Traditionalist Northeastern United Methodist delegates put forward powerful floor arguments against the resolution to “Endorse Christmas Covenant Legislation” (promoting a recycled version of the “global segregation plan”), noting how its main effect would be to disenfranchise delegates outside of the United States (who generally hold traditional theology). Unfortunately, after being amended in some confusing ways, the resolution did pass. However, the irony should have been apparent to the delegates. They had been subjected to a blistering address by Bishop Schol the day before in which he associated disaffiliating churches with racism, stating “Racism has a way of repeating itself ….The overwhelming majority of churches disaffiliating are white congregations, often with some means.”

Schol’s speech was followed Thursday afternoon by hours of uncontrolled floor speeches by delegates, with several urging us to cleanse the UMC of “whiteness.”Although the delegates concerns and emotions are important, the net effect of this extended discussion was that the bishops allowed the Thursday afternoon session to go far off agenda and conclude with very little balloting and networking being done, at a time when it was most needed. This established the foundation for how later that night, our voting was deadlocked, and our running out of time was used as a reason for the move to prevent electing another bishop.  

When the “Leading with Integrity” (aka the “coerce traditionalists to resign”) resolution came to the floor Thursday evening, the traditional team put forward effective arguments against it during debate. They pointed out that the launch of the Global Methodist Church and the disaffiliation movement were triggered this year because a small progressive faction again postponed the 2020 General Conference much longer than necessary, so it now cannot meet until 2024. Although many strong traditional-leaning congregations hope to be able to disaffiliate and join the Global Methodist Church, many other congregations who have a majority of traditional members simply won’t be able to overcome all the hurdles, especially in the many Northeastern United Methodist conferences where major, draconian additional burdens are imposed on disaffiliating congregations. They may end up “trapped” in an increasingly liberal and punitive UMC if they cannot exit in 2023. Traditionalist delegates pointed out that they and all other traditional United Methodists around the globe still deserve strong representation and a voice as this process unfolds between now and 2024, when comprehensive decisions about the denomination’s future can be made in a democratic fashion for the first time in eight years at the General Conference. An Asian-American delegate called the “Leading with Integrity” resolution “white, liberal racism” and said it was designed to intimidate people. Several progressive delegates agreed with the appeals to fairness. Although the non-binding resolution passed, it was opposed by a healthy 42 percent of fair-mined delegates.

IMPORTANCE OF A TRADTIONALIST PRESENCE

I’d like to think that the traditional team’s efforts at the 2022 NEJ illustrate the importance of those of us who are traditionalist delegates staying “in the game” with the UMC through 2024, even if we are personally planning to ultimately become members of the GMC. Although the odds may be difficult, being present at the 2024 General Conference may help to secure fair treatment for those traditionalists who still remain in the UMC. That is not an easy task for delegates, but can be made as a sacrifice of love for the church and out of a strong sense of duty to those who elected us. This same logic can be applied to individuals in other positions of United Methodist leadership at the local-church, district, annual conference, jurisdictional, or denomination-wide levels. As long as traditionalists’ motives are good and we can hold our seats legally, we should try not to cave to pressure and coercion to resign before our duty is complete.

As disaffiliation plays out over the coming months, the reality is that traditionalists will unavoidably lose some delegates and leaders from the UMC. I hope that the UMC’s traditionalist renewal groups still plan to mount a sizable initiative as a major voting bloc at General Conference 2024.

As for Northeastern United Methodism, it is not likely there will be as many delegates in 2024 to have the modest influence we had this year. It is extremely unlikely we will ever see a year again like 2012, when the NEJ traditional team’s efforts were key in electing Mark Webb, the only traditional-oriented Northeastern United Methodist bishop in recent history. By 2024, traditional NEJ delegates likely will have dropped to a smaller minority, but hopefully their voices and votes will still have a positive impact to protect their large constituency of traditional United Methodists scattered in congregations throughout the Northeast.

God always has surprises, and we cannot discount the possibility that He could still revive the UMC in miraculous ways. But the signs clearly do not point in that direction. Time is of the essence and 2023 is the best time for congregations to disaffiliate from the UMC and join the Global Methodist Church if they can!

NEJ legislation, etc. can be found at:

http://www.nejumc.org/2022conference.html

Ballot results can be found at:

https://www.umnews.org/en/news/northeastern-jurisdiction-balloting-2022