How and Why: Becoming Nokesville Methodist Church

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Jeff Brown serves as Lay Leader at Nokesville Methodist Church, a Global Methodist congregation in suburban Prince William County, Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C. Brown authored this account of his church’s disaffiliation process, which is posted with his permission.

In 2018, Annual Conference Delegate Jacqui Mason approached me at church to express her concern over the way the United Methodist Church (UMC) seemed to be leaning in respect to a change in the Book of Discipline regarding the appointment of noncelibate gay and lesbian clergy and same-sex marriage. We had a number of discussions, agreeing that God’s will would prevail.

At the specially-called 2019 General Conference, the Traditional Plan passed instead of proposals intended to remove prohibitions contained in our Book of Discipline as they pertain to noncelibate gay clergy/marriage. I figured the debate within our church was concluded.

In 2022, I became a delegate to Annual Conference for Nokesville UMC. Jacqui had passed away from an aggressive form of cancer; I served in the same role she had previously held. At Virginia Annual Conference 2022, I was made aware of the section in the Book of Discipline on disaffiliation: paragraph 2553, added in 2019 as a path for progressive churches who did not support the Traditional Plan to leave the UMC. My bishop was insistent that any church wishing to leave the UMC by reason of conscience had a relatively short term to exercise their right to leave, with the window closing in December of 2023, and that each church should make their own decision.

As Lay Leader in addition to having been Delegate to Annual Conference, I took the position of providing data and answering questions both to the Administrative Council and the Congregation. In our first straw poll, we broke down the poll so that we could see whatever polarity existed; in our first poll in August/September, 15 voters stated that they would leave if we did not disaffiliate; only 2 said they would leave if we did not. Everyone else was in the middle (20 out of 37 votes). 

We invited the Global Methodist Church (GMC) to make a presentation before the congregation in July, 2022, and our district superintendent came for a question and answer session in October. After this session, and having taken the summer to research on our own, our Administrative Council voted unanimously to request the entry into discernment.

Up to this point, our pastor had been silent on the issue; as a lay pastor he serves at the pleasure of the District. After discernment, he told me that it was his intent to stay United Methodist, but that he would not disclose this to the masses as he wanted each to follow their own path. This became an issue later, but not an overriding one.

The information that I did provide to my church included my opinions as follows:

1. Those who wish for things to remain the same are in fact the ones who now appear must leave/disaffiliate if they wish to support their traditional values.

2. The Book of Discipline is being enforced inconsistently, resulting in noncelibate homosexual candidates for ministry being considered, most recently seen in the North Carolina Annual Conference. Where is the soul of an organization without rules?

3. Traditionalist leaning churches have no guarantee that the window of disaffiliation will remain open, including rights to the buildings that congregations paid for if they “wait and see”. My bishop stated to our Annual Conference that the window closes 12/31/23; my district superintendent is certain that there will be a path, but that she cannot guarantee it. I took the position that we either disaffiliate now or forever let it go.

Various social media posts paint Traditionalist churches as being “anti-gay”. I do not see it that way. Gay and lesbian members are welcome in these churches, as are all sinners, and this is where the fine points show. The UMC proclaims that “The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching”. If this is not true, then the church I grew up in has been lying to its members for more than 50 years. Traditionalists do not want to change this, but the fear of changes in the Book of Discipline as evidenced by the failure of the UMC to enforce these provisions, combined with the disaffiliation deadline (in paragraph 2553) of 12/31/2023 has forced the division that some profess not to want.

Accordingly, we held a month of discernment in November, a straw poll in December which reflected little overall change (more than 70 percent favored disaffiliation), and requested in January that the District Superintendent schedule a Church Conference as soon as possible to hold a vote. As it turned out, “as soon as possible” became late March, but this delay helped us to prepare. We had further correspondence in a “reply to all” email format as each member pitched their opinion. Overall, this was a good thing, but some members used the format to directly question/argue/push an agenda, crossing a line. When one member expressed concern over the placement of our pastor, the pastor himself chimed in that this should not be part of the vote rationale.

Once the date of the church conference was set, approximately 280 letters were sent out; we had not updated our attending membership rolls in nearly 15 years. When the date arrived, 57 members voted. 40 members voted to disaffiliate; 17 members voted to stay UMC. Of those who voted to stay (we did a secret ballot), I am aware that three have departed the church. Many who voted to stay UMC are staying with the local church to see what happens. Will there be change? I hope so; we were slowly dying as a United Methodist Church.

Once we were slated for separation and approved by the Virginia Annual Conference on May 6, 2023, we had to face the real need of deciding whether or not to remain independent or join the Global Methodist Church, and the need of finding a pastor. When we held our first Church Conference on May 7, the 25 members in attendance voted unanimously to join the Global Methodist Church. We all agreed that the Global Methodist Church affiliation would give us support and guidance going forward. In our pastoral search, one door closed and almost immediately another door opened. I got a call from a friend informing me of a United Methodist pastor looking for a home, as he would be resigning from the UMC. In less than two weeks we were able to come to an understanding and secure a new pastor. As I write this, I anticipate that Pastor Sung Yoo will begin on July 2, 2023.

This process took a lot of time. If your church is within the Virginia Annual Conference, there is almost no time left. All documentation must have been completed and in the Conference office to be considered for the October Virginia Annual Conference. While I cannot disclose our specific terms, our disaffiliation cost was two years apportionments plus a similar amount for underfunded pension liabilities. As the number of Methodists in the UMC drops, the burden on those remaining will grow. When separation payments are exhausted, there will be a reduction in services.

I have had my first experience with social media rumor and hate speech as it relates to my church. Two days ago, a non-member posted a review of our church which stated in part, “I heard they disaffiliated and went to the GMC so they could discriminate against LGBTQ+ people”. When I asked/challenged where they heard this, she cited our website. I confirmed that she has never set foot in our church, and let the comment stand. Our actions will speak for us. While the last year of discernment and struggle has diverted our ministry focus, I believe that our congregation has paid more attention to the bible and scripture that we ever had – God is working to reinforce His word in our lives.

As the only church thus far from the Northern Virginia District of the UMC to disaffiliate, I am hopeful that our church growth will be aided by new membership coming from other churches who have not allowed discussion of the issues, of which there appear to be many. Whether a disaffiliation vote passes or fails at a given church, I know from personal experience that there will be hurt feelings from those who did not “win”. There are no winners in a vote like this. Either side in a church will have a  right  to “vote with their feet”, but that too can be painful with respect to a church that you may have attended for a generation or more.

Our job going forward is to help those in need to heal, and not lose their faith in God. This has been a long and painful process, but I am optimistic that God has a plan for us, and He will lead those in need to our doors.