Faith Works 6-10-23

Faith Works 6-10-23
Jeff Gill

Getting specific about challenging things
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Over the last decade I've been asked if I have anything to say about the challenges facing the United Methodist Church, both asking me personally and also often hoping I might offer some thoughts in this column. Long-time readers will know I've basically avoided the issue like the plague.

That's on me, and as with many things in my life I'm trusting in the grace of Jesus for all the mistakes I've made, sins of omission as well as commission. There's quite a pile of 'em, but Jesus says it's all covered and carried away, for which I'm thankful.

Having said that, I have been torn in many ways, for multiple reasons. First, I'm not a Methodist, but I'm deeply invested in Methodism. I've taught on and off for years at MTSO, the Methodist Theological School in Ohio over in Delaware, a seminary a number of Disciples of Christ students have attended since we don't have one in Ohio. I teach, ironically, history and polity, but for my own tradition. Occasionally I'd get Methodist students signing up out of curiosity, but it was the Methodist ethos the students were immersed in that's ensured I've kept up with United Methodist Church (UMC) polity over the last two decades, along with my own.

And if you are any sort of Christian in central Ohio, you are working alongside of Methodists, I guarantee it. I've told my classes that in the Midwest, at least, when Methodists catch a cold, other churches get pneumonia. Most of the reading audience here is in the judicatory called the West Ohio Conference of the UMC.

Last week, Bishop Gregory V. Palmer presided over their first in person gathering for West Ohio's Annual Conference since 2019. His Episcopal Address is available on Facebook and well worth watching. When he said "Five minutes in the narthex of a church, and I can mostly name its health," I said an "Amen" out loud. He knows.

But last year there were around 950 congregations "in full connection" with the West Ohio Conference, but there were 80 congregations who asked to disaffiliate in that year; the 2023 Annual Conference just ended approved another 172 disaffiliations, leaving about 700 congregations. That's 26.5% of the conference's congregations choosing to depart, and looking at nationally reported figures, I'd suspect that will total around 30% or a bit more of membership.

However, looking at patterns nationally and in the Annual Conference book of reports for West Ohio, it was pretty clearly indicated that churches which were choosing to leave already paid their share of the conference budget at rates lower than "continuing" churches did; United Methodists know all about apportionments as their means of supporting their wider church structure, while the Global Methodist Church, where most of the disaffiliating churches are going, is making much of their not having an expectation of apportionment support, and it will be interesting to see how that works out in practice. The remaining UMC churches in West Ohio Conference may be losing 30% of their people, but it could be as little as 20% of their giving.

None of which deals with the hard reality that over the last few decades, United Methodist numbers in general, and for many Protestant denominational bodies, have been sliding south. If there was already a 5-10% decline per year in some categories, these losses intensify an already existing challenge for Methodism, but also for organized church bodies in general. We will be hearing later in June about divisions and separations in the Southern Baptist Convention, a church body formerly thought to be immune from some of the problems of the old-line Protestant communions.

Why are churches disaffiliating from the UMC? That and Southern Baptist divisions will both have to wait for the next column.


Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he tends to avoid specifics until he absolutely has to. Tell him about your specific concerns at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.