Just before Holy Week, newly elected Bishop Connie Shelton brought an extraordinarily heavy-handed tone to her recently begun leadership of the (eastern) North Carolina Annual Conference. Shelton ambushed an historic, conservative congregation with the announcement that she was abruptly shutting it down, while seizing its property and assets!
This was imposed on the congregation suddenly, without prior consultation or notice.
I previously observed a worsening pattern of United Methodist bishops choosing to have fundamentally abusive relationships with the congregations they are trusted to lovingly shepherd. It is becoming increasingly normal for the former to effectively tell the latter, If you try to leave me, I will greedily and sadistically impose needless pain and suffering on you.
Now, liberal Bishop Connie Shelton has made an unforced choice to escalate things by effectively telling a conservative congregation, If I cannot control you, I will end you, very quickly.
Ironically, liberal church activists factionally aligned with Shelton have long falsely accused those defending biblical teachings within mainline denominations of “trying to destroy churches.” But Shelton’s outrageous action is a clear, non-exaggerated example of literally choosing to needlessly destroy and kill a church.
Other bishops have also used the vague declaration that “exigent circumstances” exist, with little to no effective checks and balances, to questionably, forcibly close congregations and seize their properties.
This shows how if your congregation makes the major, likely irreversible decision to forever chain yourselves to the rapidly liberalizing United Methodist denomination, by foregoing your historic, soon-to-expire opportunity to disaffiliate this year, that is a choice to subject your congregation to perpetual risk.
As long as you remain United Methodist, you will remain at risk of being ambushed by “the Bishop Connie Shelton treatment.” At any time that your congregation or pastor fall on the wrong side of personal biases or factional prejudices of your current or future bishop, or if your bishop is feeling particularly greedy in ogling your congregation’s property, beware! Your bishop can suddenly kill your church, seize your property, take away your pastor, and drive away all members, just as quickly, unexpectedly, and harshly as Shelton did.
On March 26, the Sunday preceding Palm Sunday, members of Fifth Avenue UMC in Wilmington, NC gathered for what they had been told would merely be an informational meeting. But Bishop Connie Shelton and her Harbor District Superintendent Tara Lain ambushed members with the surprise announcement that they had decided to forcibly close the congregation and seize its assets and reportedly valuable property! And they did not allow church members to hold worship services after Easter.
Bishop Shelton and her team moved quickly to seize the congregation’s assets, and, by the morning after this ambush meeting, change the church’s locks.
The church council issued its own press release, protesting this treatment of “a vibrant, closely knit congregation of devout Methodist Christians.”
A local NBC affiliate quoted one longtime Fifth Avenue member’s reaction to the March 26 announcement that the conference was closing and taking everything from the congregation: “It was a complete surprise. I’m really amazed we didn’t have heart attacks.”
The Christian Post quoted another member as reporting that he and other members had been “led to believe the informational session Sunday evening had been scheduled by the District Superintendent as part of an authorized disaffiliation process.”
The church council’s statement explains that while the North Carolina Conference had announced the closure, “What was not made clear or shared was that the local church leaders and parishioners of Fifth Avenue were completely blindsided by the closure” and that members are “in shock over the matter.”
Their statement makes clear:
“Fifth Avenue never asked for, agreed to or wanted the closure, nor were its members ever given a chance to participate in the decision to close the church down. Its members are devastated and brokenhearted by the closure which has been forced upon them.”
The statement begs “that the Bishop reconsider this ill made decision” and laments how “it breaks our heart to be treated this way.”
Ultimately, this situation highlights the potential of the UMC’s top-down governance to harm or even permanently destroy the ministries of any of our local congregations.
In response to several emailed questions, Bishop Connie Shelton did not deny that she took this extreme action against Fifth Avenue UMC without prior consultation with the congregation’s members or leaders. She merely provided a link to an official explanation I had already seen.
In this explanation, Bishop Connie Shelton and her team briefly claimed that singling out Fifth Avenue UMC for such extreme action was “due to declining membership,” and vaguely referenced needs of the community—as if community needs could not be met without killing this congregation!
But the facts suggest that this pretext for suddenly killing this conservative congregation and seizing its reportedly valuable property is simply not honest. (UPDATE: Page 509/516 of the 2022 North Carolina Conference Annual Journal reports that the congregation’s total property and assets were valued at nearly $3.5 million, with no debt!)
The official record shows that the congregation’s membership has not really declined, but essentially plateaued for the last several years, and actually slightly increased between 2020 and 2021.
According to the nifty “Churches by Size” tool of the UMC’s General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA), Fifth Avenue UMC’s formal membership is actually larger than the vast majority of others in its annual conference.
In terms of worship attendance, I am told that the congregation typically saw between 20 and 25 individuals in worship (the conference claims 20). While this is smaller than the United Methodist congregations I am used to, it is not unusually small by United Methodist standards.
Nationwide, GCFA has reported that 19.6 percent of United Methodist congregations average between one and nineteen weekly worship attendees. According to the official statistics from the last year on record (2020) in the aforementioned “Churches by Size” tool, some 30 percent of the (eastern) North Carolina Annual Conference’s congregations had average worship attendances of 30 or fewer.
After this congregation appeared determined to remain loyal to traditional biblical beliefs, Bishop Connie Shelton chose to single this congregation out, along with its valuable property.
In fact, whether we believe the low-ball estimate of 20 or the higher range of 20-25 for Fifth Avenue’s latest worship attendance, either represents an increase from 18 in 2021.
And in contrast to other smaller congregations, Fifth Avenue’s statement explains that this congregation (as of March) “remains self-sustaining.”
There is further hypocrisy with the track record of the aforementioned Harbor District Superintendent Tara Lain. The annual conference journal (see page 357 / 364) shows that her last appointment before becoming superintendent in 2020 was to pastor Trinity UMC, also in Wilmington, beginning in 2018. Under Lain’s leadership, that congregation’s worship attendance shrank, from 110 in 2018 (see pages 522-523 / 529-530) to 101 in 2019 (see pages 495-496 / 502-503). Yet after this dramatic single-year decline of eight percent, Lain was rewarded with a promotion to DS. This appears to be yet another example of liberal UMC officials saying “rules for thee but not for me.”
In any case, even if Fifth Avenue had experienced significant decline, that would have been hardly exceptional. The whole annual conference has been steadily declining, in attendance since 2018 and in membership since 2014.
How could Bishop Connie Shelton get away with such over-the-top church killing?
Paragraph 2549.3.b of the UMC’s very selectively applied Book of Discipline uses surprisingly broad language:
At any time between sessions of annual conference, if the presiding bishop, the majority of the district superintendents, and the appropriate district board of church location and building all consent, they may, in their sole discretion, declare that exigent circumstances exist that require immediate protection of the local church’s property, for the benefit of the denomination. In such case, title to all the real and personal, tangible and intangible property of the local church shall immediately vest in the annual conference board of trustees who may hold or dispose of such property in its sole discretion, subject to any standing rule of the annual conference. Exigent circumstances include, but are not limited to, situations where a local church no longer serves the purpose for which it was organized or incorporated (¶¶ 201-204) or where the local church property is no longer used, kept, or maintained by its membership as a place of divine worship of The United Methodist Church. When it next meets, the annual conference shall decide whether to formally close the local church. (emphases added)
Let’s unpack this.
Usually, the annual conference is in session for only about three days per year. So heavy-handed bishops like Connie Shelton can argue that they can use this “ad interim procedure” in any of the other 362 days.
On what basis? As long as conference officials declare the magic words, “exigent circumstances,” as Bishop Connie Shelton and her people did. Note that ¶2549.3.b (the only place where this phrase appears in the Discipline) does not clearly define the boundaries of what may count as “exigent circumstances,” beyond explicitly saying that these are not limited to situations where the property is no longer used for United Methodist worship or other original purpose. As long as the bishop really wants to kill your congregation and seize its assets, ¶2549.3.b offers no clear basis—neither size of your congregation nor its financial health nor the Kingdom value of your ministries—to say the bishop cannot do this!
This requires the agreement of (1) the bishop (Connie Shelton), (2) the majority of district superintendents, and (3) the district’s board of church location and building. Notice who is missing? Any leader or group from the congregation itself!
And remember, district superintendents are direct deputies of the bishop, and so are unlikely to oppose their boss on such a matter. And even if one or two superintendents bravely dissented, it would not have mattered, since Shelton only needed the majority of her deputies to consent to nuking the congregation. Furthermore, each district’s board of church location and building consists of the district superintendent and others nominated by this same district superintendent, per Discipline ¶2519.
So really, this destruction of a congregation was a decision by Bishop Connie Shelton, with the complicity of several leaders whose actions all ultimately reflect on her.
Congregations have limited options for fighting such an existential attack. Any legal battle of a lone congregation against an entire conference’s resources would begin on very unequal terms. Powerful United Methodist bishops have excelled in the warcraft of isolating and crushing those with less wealth and privilege. Within the church, ¶2549.3.b’s final sentence indicates that a majority of the next annual conference session could theoretically vote against closing such a targeted congregation. But such relief may be very limited if it comes only months after a building is seized and its worshippers are scattered. And it is very unlikely that more than a tiny minority of the conference would vote against the bishop’s wishes, especially if the targeted congregation was part of a disfavored minority.
Not long ago, a key evangelical leader in North Carolina was angrily accused of “fear mongering” and “misinformation” for telling congregations considering disaffiliation that if they stayed United Methodist, they would remain subject to the potential of the conference leadership shutting them down in such a way. Now Bishop Connie Shelton has proven such “fear mongering” to have been well-grounded!
I am not saying that your bishop definitely will ever close and seize your particular congregation if it remains United Methodist. But it is simply an objective fact that your bishop could do so, at any time.
As someone who has closely observed United Methodist bishops for years, and has met most of the active U.S. bishops, I say advisedly that there is not one U.S. bishop whom I could now firmly, confidently trust would never do such a thing. I would not have said this six months ago.
Consider how even self-described theologically traditionalist bishops have “punched down” by harshly lashing out against disaffiliating traditionalist congregations—but not one bishop appears willing to “pick on someone their own size” by publicly challenging Shelton’s outrageous bullying. When bishops are unwilling to call out even Bishop Connie Shelton’s church killing, why should we trust that they would never do the same?
As our denomination’s slow-motion separation over the past year, we have watched bishops and district superintendents who were supposedly fair-minded or even theologically conservative cross all kinds of lines we never thought they would have crossed of bullying, breaking promises, and trampling over Christ’s Golden Rule.
Multiple delegates told me that when she was campaigning for votes last fall, Shelton presented herself as someone who would be fair in her treatment of conservative, disaffiliation-minded congregations. She was arguably elected bishop because of this.
If you somehow trust your own current bishop to never do such a thing, that is all the more reason to disaffiliate now, while you still have the chance. Because your current bishop will be replaced next year, or in 2028 at the latest. Then you will become subject to a new pharaoh, “who did not know Joseph,” ias United Methodist bishops become increasingly liberal and heavy-handed.
Making the major choice to remain with the new UMC, no matter how different it becomes from the UMC as we have previously known it, is not just about your current bishop. It amounts to knowingly subjecting your congregation to an endless succession of future bishops enjoying such absolute power over your ministries, and placing absolute faith in all of these future bishops always having the character to never abuse such absolute power, before you even have any idea who these future bishops are.
If your congregation disaffiliates, it can become forever free of the threat of getting the “Bishop Connie Shelton treatment.” If you continue with others in the Global Methodist Church, you will not be subject to a trust clause and any similar risk. In contrast to what the UMC has become, the attitude of the GMC towards its congregations is one of “we’re not interested in your property or your money—we’re interested in the people in your community who need to know Jesus!”
Your congregation has a choice. If you disaffiliate now, you can protect yourselves from any future bishop suddenly killing your church for such reasons as factional spite and property-grabbing greed. Or else you can take a gamble of perpetually having this risk hanging over you in the new UMC.
In the meantime, I encourage those upset by Bishop Connie Shelton’s extreme bullying to respectfully urge her to reverse her decisions to kill Fifth Avenue UMC, to seize its assets, and to prevent it from exercising its right to decide whether or not to pursue disaffiliation from the UMC. Bishop Shelton’s email address is [email protected] and her office phone number is 984-240-7261. (Please remember that however justified our outrage, hateful or crass words do not honor Christ!)
Comment by Anthony on April 12, 2023 at 3:40 pm
Too bad traditional-orthodox United Methodists across the globe, especially in America, don’t call a convention, showing their solidarity and unity, in order to declare their independence from the corrupt UMC, write and adopt a declaration of independence, establish an independence Sunday date, then go home and stand their ground defending their properties, assets, and beliefs beginning on their established Sunday Independence day.
By what means would the hierarchy of the UMC counter this? Would they have each congregation physically evicted or physically blocked from entry into their buildings? How would the hierarchy actually seize, secure, and guard the buildings? Would they have each member entering the sanctuary for Sunday worship thereafter arrested and charged with breaking and entering-trespassing? Would civil law enforcement authorities agree to do this dirty work, or would the hierarchy have to hire private enforcement?
Comment by David on April 12, 2023 at 4:03 pm
This is the sort of thing that could drive a lot of Christians to a presbyterian form of church governance. No polity is immune from abuse, but there are too many high-handed bishops lording it over congregations.
Comment by Gary on April 12, 2023 at 4:26 pm
And I’ll bet that she hypocritically opened her letter with “Grace and peace” and closed it “In Christ”.
Comment by Kathleen Stelzner on April 12, 2023 at 6:01 pm
This is theft, pure and simple. I wish this church had begun their disaffiliation process much sooner.
This is like eminent domain seizures by the government except those people get paid. SHAME
Comment by Charles Michael Smith on April 12, 2023 at 6:04 pm
What a crock of misinformation. This church as been sliding down the slippery slope of death for 50 years-I say this as a twice DS & Director of Connectional Ministries. It’s high point was in the 1930’s. Mark Tooley strikes (out) again. Come on, IRD. You need new, competent leadership just like your party, the GOP.
Comment by Tana Mitchell on April 12, 2023 at 6:46 pm
Good for Bishop Connie!!!! I am so tired of cruel conservatism attempting to pass as Christianity. Hit them where they live – in their Maga-wallets!!!
Christ was NOT a “conservative”. He was a flaming liberal who loved and welcomed EVERYONE. Conservative values are Fascists – not Christians. Let them start their own religion – and stop calling themselves Christians.
Comment by Billy Olsen on April 12, 2023 at 7:01 pm
This video has a brief, but great history of Fifth Avenue UMC of Wilmington, NC. Featured pastor in the video is a super guy and a former pastor.
Tar Heel Traveler is a popular NC TV spot.
https://youtu.be/CiwoarozQtg
Comment by Barry Beers on April 12, 2023 at 7:28 pm
Occupy the building and make them go through eviction proceedings to remove you from the premises.
Re’ the church’s financial accounts; if the Bishop’s gang of conspirators are not on the bank signature cards and they seized the accounts, they have committed theft by conversion. Hire an attorney, have him address the issue with your bank president, and file a police report.
The bank is on the hook for funds released to an interloper adverse to their own rules. If they refuse, file suit against them and the Bishop for interference with a business contract.
Continue to meet at YOUR church in a manner that will allow you to claim adverse possession of the property.
Don’t give up! Take back what is rightfully yours. If you make this hard on them, they will cave. But your congregation is going to have to “Gird your loins” for battle. This is war and you need to get yourself in a mindset to win it.
As a last resort, file a suit of lis pendens to publicly establish your claim on the property such that any potential buyer will bear the expense of quashing your claim. This usually runs off buyers who need clear title.
Comment by Lawrie Evans on April 12, 2023 at 11:08 pm
I watched in horror as this travesty unfolded at 5th Avenue Methodist Church in Wilmington NC. The members of the congregation gathered at the Church the Monday morning after this ambush meeting. They had to watch as a bright pink lock box was attached near the beautiful entrance doors to the Church. The members were told they could make an appointment to gain entrance to the building from now on. They were not allowed to retrieve any of their precious belongings held within the Church walls, without “permission”. You cannot imagine the depth of pain and despair that was felt by these loyal servants of the Lord. It was as if a sudden unexpected death had occurred. All the while, the hatchet crew sent by the Bishop gloated in the office at how clever they were by stopping the chance to hold the vote. Begrudgingly, there was a small concession to allow that services still could be held for Palm Sunday and Easter. However, access to the church would be limited to the Pastor or other official being present and approving what could be removed. Right down to the family hymnals. The heartlessness coming from the Bishop’s office and their crew was staggering. Complete disinterest or compassion for the stunned and abandoned congregation.
The members of this Church have, for generations, given generously of their love and significant financial support. They were now being treated like an old shoe to be thrown out with the trash.
This was not a Church in financial trouble nor did they have a congregation to small to continue. This was a diverse and loving group of people who welcomed everyone regardless of their background or thoughts on gender issues. The 170 year old Church building has been carefully preserved and cared for. This grand 27,000 square foot building was a place of community gatherings. Emotional and addictive substance support groups have met there, a local Scout Troop has used the building for meetings. For many years it was the monthly spot the local Contra Dance Club met in fellowship and celebration. A group of woodcarvers could be found there whittling away and creating art pieces weekly. Several times this beautiful building was used to film TV and movies. This added extra revenue to support the Church and UMC conference. For countless years 5th Avenue Methodist proudly supported the NC Nourish Program. Every week the ladies of the Church would meet to assemble hundreds of backpacks with much needed food. The backpacks were carried to the schools and distributed to school children so that they would have food for weekends when they couldn’t access school lunches and breakfasts. How dare the UMC suggest that this congregation should be cast out and declared obsolete!
The bald faced lie that this congregation was too small to continue, was revealed when the Palm Sunday and Easter Services were held with over 100 people filling the pews. Some driving hundreds of miles and from out of state to have a chance to visit their home Church one last time. In fact, there are only a few other churches that disaffiliated in Wilmington. This congregation, with the right Pastor, is poised to grow and create a new Church home for other families leaving UMC.
In a pitiful excuse for the closing, it was mentioned that a homeless shelter could be the next use for this building. For a few years prior to Covid, the basement of the Church was utilized as a homeless day shelter with less than sterling results. Church members were accosted in the parking lot coming for bible study or meeting on other Church matters. Items were stolen from the Church and members of the Church. Cleaning up syringes, drug paraphernalia, used condoms, left behind items from people sleeping outside after the day shelter closed and regular deposits of human feces on the steps were having to be done on a daily basis. The neighbors close to the church reported similar problems and clean up. 5th Avenue Church is located squarely in the Wilmington historic district. Properties adjacent to the Church are valued at $500,000 and up. While we are in desperate need of additional services for our homeless, it seems unlikely that this would be the right use of an important historic building filled with priceless artifacts.
At the end of the day it comes down to greed. The UMC knew that disaffiliation would probably pass and they would have to hand over this valuable property and it’s contents to Global Methodist. So in a last ditch effort to keep the money an emergency closure was announced. In a serious “What Would Jesus Do” moment in time, UMC has failed this congregation. The Bishop, her minions, the Pastor, they have all failed the very people who have supported them and paid their salaries. They should be ashamed and held accountable. Save 5th Avenue Methodist for future generations to come!
Comment by Robert Lancaster on April 13, 2023 at 7:55 am
A church cannot do effective and full hearted minister with this threat hanging over their head. ALL of the Bishops should be ashamed of accepting such behavior out of one of their own. There has been no censure nor public statement made questioning her actions. Bishops wake up! Your behavior is that of tyrants and rulers rather than the love, grace and mercy Jesus called all of us to show to one another.
Comment by Crystal Lynd on April 13, 2023 at 8:03 am
Outrageous actions by more liberal UMC bishops who seem to be less God driven than power and money driven. I’ve been with the UMC for over 45 years and I’m devastated that the new liberal leaders of the Church I have loved have resorted to threats and collusion and trickery in the name of getting what they want. We are seeing this across the board. A travesty. But their actions won’t stop the more conservative churches from finding a way to meet and serve God. Unconscionable actions from leadership that should be turning to God, not themselves.
Comment by Henry Harr on April 13, 2023 at 9:54 am
This is mostly lies. Some congregations are leaving United Methodism because they are being lied to by their leaders, who then want to break all their legal obligations to the church in the process
Comment by Allan Stearns on April 13, 2023 at 11:35 am
As a member of a large UMC church in the N FL/Alabama District we are in the discussion phase of potential disaffiliation. Many of our surrounding churches have made the separation. We will vote at the end of this summer in order to meet the 31 Dec deadline. I am a new member and find this discourse dangerous if the Bishops take their own stance and forbid churches to decide on their own. The many YouTube videos that offer pro and con discussions are helpful in making my own decision. I do not find any Biblical reference that says Jesus Christ was anti-LGBTQ+. The early church did not have this problem. Framing the liberal argument is difficult to sell to conservatives, so the liberal leadership feel oppressed enough that taking drastic steps to preserve their viewpoint is their only alternative for survival of “their church”.
Comment by Yvonne Mikulencak on April 13, 2023 at 1:07 pm
I support the UMC totally. Those who are leaving to support a new Methodist congregation type are evil! God respects all good souls! UMC encourages good souls!
Comment by Rachel Fisher on April 13, 2023 at 4:10 pm
In response to Allan Stearns: the early church did not have this problem because their church was founded on basic Jewish principals, and the Bible makes it very clear that such intimate relationships between two people of the same gender is an abomination to the Lord; it would have been too obvious for Jesus to need to mention.
In fact, any intimate physical relationship outside of a marriage between one man and one woman was considered sinful— don’t you remember Jesus explaining why God hates divorce, or his talk with the Samaritan woman at the well?
Just read the old testament! Plenty of references to homosexual behavior being abhorrent to God– and absolutely zero evidence for support of any such behavioral choices.
Is ours a church of God, for His Glory, or of man… which would be no church at all, but merely a social support group, leading the innocents astray!
Comment by RPLRX on April 13, 2023 at 4:48 pm
What a tarnished one sided article.
No back history on the church.
There is SO much more than is written in this article.
The “true” UMC is one of Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.
Comment by Pam Thorpe Williams on April 13, 2023 at 4:51 pm
This is the second article I’ve seen today about issues in UMC. I find it very interesting timing, since there was such a move of God in Asbury University recently.
Comment by Jim burk on April 13, 2023 at 4:52 pm
A church is not a building. Closing a building is not closing a church. Christians are the church. There are many places to worship other than a closed building. Please follow Jesus and worship elsewhere.
Comment by Gary Bebop on April 13, 2023 at 5:40 pm
The bishop and conference are willing to play hardball. Is the local church willing? The history of this church offers proof of its viability and the ruthlessness of interloping by conference elite. Someone should litigate this matter on behalf of the congregation.
Comment by Clare M on April 13, 2023 at 5:49 pm
I don’t believe this to be true. Another trashing of forward thinking churches by conservatives.
Comment by Merrie on April 13, 2023 at 6:18 pm
Churches of all denomination have become big businesses. There is a CEO (the pastor, minister) and the elders, deacons. The most important are the people who feel they have to listen to these so-called pastors ministers who do not act like shepherds at all.
I’m afraid we have gotten away from what the meeting of believers should be.
I don’t know the answer as this has gone on for hundreds of years.
Jesus knew it would happen because of the pride of men/women to lead people along instead of shepherd them.
Can we close up all the buildings and start over. No. But we can act like Christians. Act like Jesus. Get it. No wonder roper who do not go to church do not want to go. As they watch the example of Christians and ask”if that’s Christianity I do not want any part of it. Sad sad. Wake church.
Comment by Michael Bishop on April 13, 2023 at 6:52 pm
If “churches” don’t recognize the authority of their own leaders and bishops, the mother church should shut them down, sell the assets, and let the freelancers go join the UCC or one of those “independent” churches and preach whatever hatred they want.
Comment by David on April 13, 2023 at 7:06 pm
“This decision was reached after careful consideration and prayerful discernment and is due to declining membership and the local community’s clear, present, and pressing needs,” according to the release.
Though the UMC congregation will no longer meet, the historic building will remain under the conference’s ownership. The goal is to utilize it for other ministries that need help serving Wilmington parishioners.
“While we do not regularly send out messages about closed churches,” a spokesperson said in the release, “due to the divisive climate in the United Methodist Church right now, we wanted to be as transparent as possible about this changing missional opportunity.”—Port City Daily (27 Mar. 2023).
Comment by Ike roane on April 13, 2023 at 8:16 pm
If a church espouses a violent theology and practice, it is good for it to be abolished. This sounds like a good shepherd
Comment by Rev. James Ek on April 14, 2023 at 1:05 am
What I see is biased reporting and the anger such short sighted reporting incites. While the vast majority of negative, hostile comments come from the so-called conservative side, such rhetoric generally brings out the worst in most people. I don’t understand why you ALL are so fearful of LGBTQ folk? You talk about them as an abomination or some monster like being. You all spent years around many LGBTQ people and didn’t even know it because they were in the closet. As such, they had to listen to your vicious “queer jokes” and laugh while they suffered inside. Who was the monster then? I had one homophobic woman say she didn’t like “them” throwing it in her face (i.e., they acknowledged their preference). So, she could love only those who looked and acted like her. Your author a some commentators are big on pointing out sin, the Book of Discipline, the Bible. Well, Jesus has something to say about sin, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” As for the BOD, it existed for almost 200 years without language that excluded anyone. And the biggy, the Bible has a lot of forbidden language that most of you ignore. The big one is divorce. With over 50% of the population in the U.S. being divorced, that makes a lot of people living in sin. But since LGBTQ only makes up maybe 10% of the population, it’s easier to pick on them. Beyond your fear of the ‘other’, you listen to what cannot be described as anything other than gossip and rumor. That is also forbidden in scripture. If you all were true disciples of Jesus Christ, thought homosexuality was a sinful choice, and really wanted to make the world better, you’d saddle up next to a gay person and make them a trusted friend and try to influence their choices. But that would be hard. Only true disciples do hard. It’s much easier to gossip, judge, and not find out the truth.
Comment by Freddie Burleson on April 14, 2023 at 2:18 am
This is not Christianity. It smacks more of Karl Marx than of Jesus. Jesus came to fulfill the Law. Not change it. His words are not those of a worldly worshiper of State.
Comment by John67 on April 14, 2023 at 7:00 am
Holly Gennero McClain to Hans Gruber in Die Hard:
AFTER ALL YOUR POSTURING, ALL YOUR LITTLE SPEECHES, YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A COMMON THIEF
https://clip.cafe/die-hard-1988/after-all-posturing/
Comment by Rebecca Blake on April 14, 2023 at 7:20 am
I think it’s important to pay attention to the numbers cited about facility, congregation, and attendance. 21 person attendance, 200 person membership, and a 27,000 building. Clearly a church that had seen better days. Don’t know how much rent all the community groups payed or what endowment it had (being an old, probably originally wealthy congregation) but the negative comments about how the former homeless day shelter created too many negative conditions makes me wonder if their thinking is in line with Christ’s love of the downtrodden. Being the child of a UMC pastor, it really hurts my heart that folks can’t find a way to reconcile rather than disaffiliate. And it hurts my heart that people are “losing “ their church buildings and it hurts my heart that churches vilify district and conference leaders making decisions that are primarily practical economics but maybe rushed by disaffiliation talk.
Comment by Teresa on April 14, 2023 at 8:12 am
I’ve been reading Roland Allen’s book Missionary Methods: Paul’s or Ours. This is definitely not in line with Paul’s methods. He planted churches. He did not use them as bait or cattle to be slaughtered for profit. Paul taught that healthy churches should be self governing, self supporting, self propagating, and self sacrificing. It’s time to abandon general&district conference models, southern Baptist conventions and the power and politics that are associated in all churches. Thom Rainer wrote a book called Simple Church-the post pandemic church. It’s time to get back to simple church. The UMC quit being a church a long time ago. They chose chose liberal ungodly politics, turned their churches into the right arm of dept of social services, and did a piss poor job of promoting the welfare of the community they were in. I watched junkie after junkie take communion and get baptized at a church service without any evidence of repentance or profession faith. The liberal pastors made a blatant mockery of the sacraments. God will not be mocked or robbed. Monthly “community meals” became so gross the majority of our congregation quit attending or serving. The whole fellowship hall wreaked with cigarette smoke&alcohol&urine. Foul sexually explicit language, kids spilling stuff in the floor and I was reprimanded for making an elementary kid clean up his mess. Kids back sassing youth leaders. One kid bit a youth leader. I complained to the minister about the behavior. He told me It was a culture thing. That’s a lie. It’s a spoiled brat thing. I told the minister we are all volunteers here and we can pack up and unvolunteer. It got to where no one volunteered to work vacation bible school or chaperone the youth. It was a liability. Let me tell you if they have to clean up at school, church isn’t any different.
The bishop needn’t think that congregation can’t serve the community without the high and mighty district superintendent and the lynch mob. There’s a church on every corner that will welcome their knowledge skills and talents. . Find a Wesleyan Church. I left the UMC for good during the pandemic. I was furious they closed our church for 2 years when all of our Wesleyan, Baptist & independent churches continued to have inside and outside meetings. I latched on to a growing evangelical Wesleyan Church. Saw what I wasn’t getting spiritually from the UMC. I’ve been there 3 years now. Little did I know the UMC used the pandemic lockdown to hold their back door closed meeting to begin this dominoe effect hatchet job. They knew then what churches they were going after. I’m praying for everyone hurt by the umc. You will experience grief and anger. God is faithful and just. His Word and promises won’t fail. The bishops have NO control over that.
Comment by Peter Cartwright on April 14, 2023 at 10:29 am
Well you can stand there and cry like a plump baby, or you can get back up in the saddle and learn to ride.
Comment by Jared on April 14, 2023 at 10:33 am
Interesting, that refrain of heavy handed liberals. Which side was so sure of their rightness at General that they leveraged donations to Africa for votes and tried to side with bigamist bishops? But sure, those darn bullies moving forward with an agreed-upon policy.
Comment by Dan W on April 14, 2023 at 12:50 pm
I’ve traveled/worked all over the U.S.
For years I had a Walk to Emmaus sticker on my pickup, and Methodists have left notes on my windshield telling me how blessed they were. I’ve had Methodists stop in the aisle to chat while boarding a jet, because they saw me reading my Disciple Bible Study. I have not met any of these “evil,” LGBT “hating” Methodists. Most of the folks I’ve met/worshipped with were slow to anger and kind beyond measure. The members of Fifth Avenue in Wilmington were treated horribly. Was the congregation 170 years old? Did the Bishop and her lackeys spend 170 minutes contemplating their fate? Fifth Avenue, Mt Bethel, Christ Crossman, how many more will be treated worse than strangers?
Comment by Palamas on April 14, 2023 at 2:35 pm
Once upon a time, I served as a pastor in this annual conference. (Charles Michael Smith wouldn’t remember me, but I remember him, as a conniving, ladder-climbing, yes-man to bishops, who wouldn’t call out someone who could help his career if he or she committed murder in the chancel of Edenton Street Church.) The remarks by Smith and the other hateful liberals in this thread are vomit-inducing. Smith says, “This church as been sliding down the slippery slope of death for 50 years,” which reminds me of the UMC as a whole, but also applies to dozens of churches within that conference that the leadership is perfectly happy to keep open. Tana Mitchell says that remaining faithful to the revealed Word of God is “fascist,” using a word the definition of which she obviously doesn’t know, but someone told her was really, really bad. Rev. James Ek wonders why “you ALL” (all of who? anyone who thinks that Scripture is more than a putty nose?) “are so fearful of LGBTQ folk?” Maybe he should ask the people of Fifth Avenue UMC whether there is anything to fear from those who would steal the property of a congregation before it can take advantage of the Discipline-permitted disaffiliation process. That’s who evangelicals are afraid of–power and money-hungry church bureaucrats, not gay people.
The excuse given for these actions is nonsense. This conference has allowed churches this small and smaller to stay open for decades. I served one that had an average attendance of 12, and preached at one in the Elizabeth City district that averaged 4. Obviously there was something about Fifth Avenue that got under the skin of the bishop and DS, and they decided to use the most unChristian process possible to shut it down. I left that conference, and the UMC, because I could see what the future held. It’s tragic that a great institution has been degraded by the likes of Shelton, Lain, and their fellow Judases.
Comment by Penny Mitchell on April 14, 2023 at 3:32 pm
Whoever wrote this obviously knows very little about what is actually happening within the UMC concerning churches that are disaffiliating and has failed to do fact checking. Just because someone writes an opinion piece, doesn’t mean they have the facts.
Comment by Bill Gill on April 14, 2023 at 4:25 pm
Stealing church properties, and selling them,
Will insure leadership pensions, as liberal congregation lose attendance and giving.
Comment by Bryan Hobbs on April 14, 2023 at 4:58 pm
All these actions and comments just show that those who do not agree with the national UMC leadership’s progressive direction just need to find another denomination. The UMC does not take scripture as god-breathed or as infallible in its original languages. It will continue to bend it to man’s interpretation. His is not heathen and not necessarily unkind or perhaps not unchristian in the generic meaning but imo unscriptural. Supporting a denomination that no longer believes 1) scripture contains all needed for salvation or 2) no longer believes it is infallible is not a hierarchy I can support despite the beliefs of my local congregation. It is said that we as long term members have invested in beautiful buildings which many will no longer be able to use due these theological differences. But…legally the local churches ceded ownership to the church hierarchy. The church hierarchy believes they are called to preserve the UMC. Members who see staying as not an alternative must leave and start over. Many former conservative churches may not make it without district and conference support. I trust and pray that the new Methodists AND the old UMC churches will bring more souls to Christ. Nearly all UMC churches have IMO failed by and large to grow the kingdom and make disciples with sufficient zeal and success that the Lord is pleased. Maybe we need a split and some competition and some reliance more on faith and the Holy Spirit.
I will likely depart the UMC after many years toward a more biblically centered and biblically focused denomination. I hate to leave Wesley, who I believe had the balance of the places holiness and grace and works and human-ness worked out and expressed better than any other denominational leader. God bless the new and old Methodist denominations. Take the gospel to the world. May our differences “win as many as possible” whether we follow Paul or Apollos.
Comment by Empire on April 14, 2023 at 8:42 pm
As I read of the grievances laid as charge against the UMC, I can not help think about the many times I heard about Colonialism and Empire, using force to levy conversion and consession from the Indigenous. If true, isn’t the bureaucracy using these same harmful tactics today, becoming Empire against the local church? Laying claim to the properties and beliefs of the people who have worshipped in the churches; those who laid the foundations of these buildings and whole-heartedly ran building campaigns or left trusts to the mission of the church and it’s trustees sure sounds smaks of the behaviors and claims laid against the colonists. Whether it is Africa, India, or the Americas, power and money used for the sake of conversion, with the guise of saving people from themselves seems to be the exact tactics being used by the liberal arm of the church to make it cave upon themselves. Has the one screaming hate become the very thing they, themselves proclaim to hate? Discerning the grievances in my heart out loud. Lord in your mercy hear the utterances of our hearts & let your will be done.
Comment by Pastor Mike on April 15, 2023 at 8:42 am
Rev. James Ek. I acknowledge that homosexuals continue to experience hatred and hostility that lead to increased suicide rates, depression, anxiety, and other related problems in church communities. As a heterosexual male, I continue to make a good-faith effort to listen and learn about what it is like being a homosexual in the church. I strive to extend love to all members of the body of Christ. All persons have sacred worth. But we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23). I have friends who self-identify as homosexual and Christian. I will respond to the homosexual community with boundless compassion and love. However, I believe that we as Christians are called to biblical standards of sexual morality. I cannot endorse homosexual activity as a lifestyle, just as I cannot endorse all other kinds of behavior that displease God. However, I will not endorse condemning, hate-filled, self-righteous attitudes toward those in the gay community. I strive in my church appointments as a pastor and Christian man, to lead and foster a church community that allows persons who self-identify as homosexual, to feel wanted, loved, and valued where they can be introduced to the love of Christ and be nurtured by Him. I strive to extend the grace of Christ to all persons.
Comment by Ron on April 16, 2023 at 3:38 pm
Bishop Connie Shelton honed her teeth for this in Mississippi by taking over the Fellowship hall at Pearl UMC. She told them to get their furniture out of their Fellowship Hall because she was taking it over. She was District Superintendent at the time.
Comment by Palamas on April 17, 2023 at 5:54 pm
Speaking of opinion pieces, Penny Mitchell, thank you for your fact-filled, well-researched, tightly argued comment that amounts to, “so’s yer mother!” Why don’t you enlighten us regarding what important information John overlooked in his article? Seems to me that he’s the one with the facts, not you.
Comment by Michael Murphy on April 17, 2023 at 6:53 pm
Unreal. Where is the biblical truth in all of this? The UMC is no longer a church. It is a corporation.
All real, actual Christians should shake the dust off of their feet and abandon the UMC. I’m not saying that there is any organized denomination that is perfect. But while the Bible, believing Christians in the Methodist church continued to fulfill the great commission, the liberal leader ship in the church, absolutely decimated them.
There is a special place in hell for those people. They are not Christians; they are usurpers. A church is to be about worshiping God, and making disciples of all nations.
When the number one priority of any church is to seize and preserve financial assets, it is no longer a church.
I left the Methodist church 18 years ago. I left, because I could see that politics were more important than worship or evangelism. When a pastor stands up to give a sermon, and does not mention Jesus in that sermon at all, it is time to find a new church.
If you are a follower of Jesus, then you will also be a follower of his words. The UMC has abandoned the word of God, and has replaced it with the word of man in our current societal incarnation. The church is not to be about what is trendy; it is to be about Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
Nothing else.
Anything else is not a church; it is a social club. And that is what the UMC has become.
True believers in Christ: do not worry about your buildings, or your assets. God has provided you in the past, and he will provide for you in the future. Just walk away and find another home to worship in.
Or, stay together as a congregation, and find another denomination or location to worship in. Lord knows, the money that you save from paying a portion minutes could actually go and do some good in the world.
This focus on political opinion, or sexuality, is not what the church is about. Anyone who thinks otherwise does not know what the church was originally for, and cannot, in good faith be considered a Christian.
If I seem angry, I am not. I left this denomination many years ago, because my spiritual needs were not being met. What’s more, I did not see the opportunity to evangelize and witness like the Bible calls me to do. I am just sad to see the UMC Dissolve like this, in a pile of polity and political correctness. This is certainly not the way of Jesus, not the Jesus that we read about in the Bible. If there is a different Jesus than that, I do not know him.
Comment by Cathy Garza on April 17, 2023 at 9:50 pm
Yes, I attend a UMC because of their involvement in serving the homeless. However, coming from Disciples of Christ background, I don’t understand why y’all put up with your church highercy. What do they do for you? Get 10% from you so they can do what? Pay bishops to do what?? And yes, I have found to way too support my congregation and not have any of my money go to the highercy.
Comment by Wade Compton on April 18, 2023 at 1:23 am
Thanks John for making us aware of another ecclesiastical act of piracy. It’s amazing how a bishop is so imperceptive of the reality that, “Someone is watching.”
Comment by John Tomky on April 18, 2023 at 10:38 am
As a lifelong member of the UMC and being first and foremost a follower of Jesus Christ and a conservative Christian let’s let our ideas about church change. I realize that this is out and out theft of property that was bought and paid for by its members.
My suggestion is if we are fed up with what the wolves in sheep’s clothing in the man made hierarchy are doing let them have the property. We have been duped for thousands of years that the church was a great building with ornate walls and not what it was intended for.
Go meet in a house, garage, restaurant, park, or old store front and take the Gospel to the people!!! Pray for people at the store that are hurting, go two by two down your street and tell them about Jesus, get people together in small groups and read the Bible instead of going through studies that “educated scholars” tell you what they want you to believe. If you read the Bible for yourself then you will know what God says about social issues and personal behavior instead of someone telling you what they are.
If the 20 worshippers that were self sustaining in giving will keep meeting wherever and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit soon they will be 25, 30, 100 or more. We have too many churches and not enough congregations.
Comment by George on April 18, 2023 at 12:29 pm
I am surprised at how many UMC stalwarts have come to the aid of their leaders. One thing is for sure though, ITS ABOUT THE MONEY. Everyone needs to stop hiding behind love for all things and refrain from calling those wanting to disaffiliate homophobes and haters. Please just for once tell the truth. You have a whole lot of salaries and liberal projects that you need to fund with the property of faithful, God fearing Christians.
You all say”leave, get on down the road. Just leave your property.” The Lord knows what’s in our hearts. Be open about it. My church was able to pay the half million ransom. We were lucky to have a bishop with some integrity. He didn’t rob us or lie to us. John, keep on with your work. When you tell the truth, it’s like turning a bright light on in a dark alley.
The rats are everywhere.
Comment by Paul Zesewitz on April 18, 2023 at 4:00 pm
“Christ was NOT a “conservative”. He was a flaming liberal who loved and welcomed EVERYONE.”
Interesting. Doesn’t sound like this ‘liberal’ bishop welcomes conservatives. Just saying.
Comment by Paul Zesewitz on April 18, 2023 at 4:07 pm
Being raised Baptist I would suggest these displaced congregants start attending a nearby Baptist church, because the local Baptist church is autonomous and is run by its members and pastor without fear of some hierarchical dictator getting ready to pull the plug on a congregation. Pretty sure Jesus isn’t to happy with the job this ‘shepherd’ is doing or how she’s doing it.
Comment by Nick Stuart on April 19, 2023 at 7:50 pm
Remember Lot’s wife.
Comment by The Rev. Dr. Lee Cary (retired UMC clergy) on April 20, 2023 at 1:57 pm
There is no reason why any of this should surprise anyone familiar with the history of the now deceased UMC. None. Zero.
Comment by Star Tripper on April 25, 2023 at 6:24 pm
The smell of sulfur continues to pour out from the worldly temple known as UMC. But it was a woman bishop and her female DS who did the deed so it must have been full of righteousness and Girl Boss goodness.
Comment by John Smith on April 28, 2023 at 7:46 am
And still the GMC insists the problem is a few bad actors rather than the office itself and that its bishops would never misbehave and if they did they have plans and means to handle it. In 20 years the GMC will be the UMC redux.
Comment by Bert Faraday on May 8, 2023 at 11:08 am
As a lifelong Methodist who is aquatinted with the law, both civil and church, it is my opinion that churches wishing to disaffiliate should file lawsuits against the UMC and their Annual Conferences. Those lawsuits should be filed by individual churches, not together as a class. Then the UMC and Annual Conferences would have to fight each suit individually and in each local jurisdiction. They could not financially afford to fight them all. If 50 to 100 or more churches did this the Conferences would have to surrender, make concessions or at the least let the churches go.
Further, the legal argument could be that Bishops have broken the common covenant (Book of Discipline) therefore we (the local church) are not bound by the covenant either. The Bishops broke the covenant by allowing clergy to perform same sex marriages without redress.
Just my thoughts on this matter.
Comment by Clinton W. Spence on July 3, 2023 at 7:41 pm
This author completely misrepresents how The United Methodist Church functions. Paragraph 2549.3.b of the UMC’s “Book of Discipline” is a provision that laypersons and clergy, elected by annual conferences throughout the world, have voted in holy conference to make the rule of the church. This author erroneously blames Bishop Mitchell for being a petty, liberal, greedy, power-hungry tyrant of making a hasty decision as the new bishop to steal this local church’s property.
The author’s accusations clearly make a tragic, tearful, and troubling decision into a conspiracy awaiting every local congregation, when, in fact, this adverse action rarely occurs due to a grace-filled church that has given this local unfaithful, undisciplined, and rebellious congregation more than enough time to follow Christ in Truth, after decades of declining faithfulness to the Word.
Comment by Lena on September 15, 2023 at 7:49 am
I mean, WWJD? He welcomed ALL!!!…
Homophobia has no place ANYWHERE in civilised society…
Love is Love!!!🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜
Comment by Skipper on October 5, 2023 at 1:02 pm
Sympathy and Prayers for the congregation who had the rug pulled out from under them by a Bishopress.
The devil took the day off when this happened, because he had someone doing his work of destroying churches for him.
I hope the members will start a new church founded on God’s Word and the Chief Shepherd. Evangelize the neighborhood because there are people who need to know Jesus everywhere.