Methodist churches mull stand against LGBT front

Both churches recently began discussing whether to pursue disaffiliation. According to Bill Willson, chairman of the administrative council at FUMC in Monroe, churches all over the state were disaffiliating because of the denomination’s progressive beliefs about homosexual church members and their ability to hold ruling and teaching positions in the church.

Willson said that according to the UMC Book of Discipline—the guiding set of principles for the United Methodist Church—identifying as a homosexual did not mean one could not be a member of the church. It did mean, however, that one could not serve as a pastor or bishop.

“We believe that when you aspire to the level of responsibility and leadership of a pastor and especially a bishop, there are certain requirements,” Willson said. “Those are my personal beliefs and the beliefs of many other people. We always want to try to use the Bible as our primary guide.”

According to a letter which was sent to all members of FUMC Monroe in September, the church’s reasons for considering disaffiliation were widespread disobedience by the leadership, conflicting views about the interpretation of Scripture and a division between the clergy and laity in how they defined what it meant to be an “inclusive” church.

“Over the years, clergy and lay would challenge the status quo by breaking the Book of Discipline,” the letter stated. “In the 2016 general conference, the tension over this point peaked as a call came from the floor for the bishops to step in and lead the church.”

According to Willson, several bishops at a nationwide conference in 2019 said that they were no longer going to uphold the portion of the Book of Discipline which barred people from holding certain positions based on sexuality.

“You had about 19 bishops that identified that they weren’t going to uphold or be held to that particular portion of the Book of Discipline, and a bishop I believe in California that became a bishop knowingly and professing to be a homosexual,” Willson said.

At a statewide United Methodist Church conference in June, Willson said the tone was much more “liberal” and “political” than usual.

“After this statewide meeting, that’s when our folks were very concerned about the direction the United Methodist Church was heading,” Willson said.

According to Jay Mitchell, lay leader at FUMC in West Monroe, the West Monroe church recently voted to go through a process to discern whether to disaffiliate as well. He said that once the process began, a church had 120 days to make the decision.

Mitchell said that if the church decided to go through with disaffiliation, he hoped it would mean “very little” for the church and its members.

“We don’t intend to change anything—how we as a congregation worship or how we relate to each other in our community,” Mitchell said. “Our congregation has very strong ties to each other. I’m not concerned that no matter what decision is made, almost all of our members are committed to our church and each other.”

After church officials and the congregation hold further meetings to discuss disaffiliation, the entire congregation is expected to take a vote on whether to disaffiliate. Two-thirds of the congregation must vote in favor of disaffiliation for it to happen. 

Mitchell said that upon disaffiliation, the church could choose to either become an independent church or join another Methodist denomination.

Mitchell said he did not know which direction the West Monroe church might choose to go if it pursued disaffiliation. Willson said the Monroe church, if it chose to disaffiliate, would likely remain independent.

“The plan would be for us to be independent for a while,” Willson said. 

Willson and Mitchell said that no decisions had been made concerning disaffiliation other than the vote to consider it.

“Theoretically, we may have one third of the congregation or more say, ‘You know what? We don’t want to leave,’” Willson said. “If that’s the case, then we would remain within the United Methodist Church.”

According to the FUMC Monroe letter, disaffiliation would mean that the church would have to pay an exit fee, which would include its 2022 apportionment of $425,954 along with two more years of apportionments and its unfunded pension liabilities.