United Methodists affirm 141 disaffiliations at Susquehanna Conference
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Members of the Susquehanna Conference of the United Methodist Church entered the Community Arts Center this week to do what Bishop Sandra Steiner Ball called "work that is not easy" as they voted to affirm the disaffiliation of 141 member churches. In essence, the churches had voted within their congregations prior to the conference to no longer be a part of the United Methodist Church and to go their own ways.
"We recognize that after this evening, we will look differently when all is over. Yet, even in the midst of disaffiliation, God is present and God is faithful," Ball said.
Throughout the evening, regions within the conference were called and votes were taken with the members of the conference who filled the Community Center. In almost all cases most hands were raised to accept the vote of the majority, with only a few no votes sprinkled throughout the crowd.
It was a solemn process. There were no shouts of joy that members had decided to leave, but there were no tears either as the group was encouraged by their leaders, even while they acknowledged the grief they were feeling, to "move forward with hope."
One woman, who is a member of a church in the Harrisburg region, questioned what was being done for members of a church that had voted to disaffiliate -- something they did not want.
"What is being done to support the laity whose churches are leaving them?" she asked.
"They're feeling forgotten, lost, hurt and unimportant in this conference. They're in need of assurance and support and guidance, but little has come to them," she continued.
"What is going to be done to help those people transfer their memberships, to reassure them that they are important to this conference and that they are not being left behind because they wanted to stay United Methodist?" she asked.
The disaffiliations were coming as the result of the United Methodist's current stance on the ordination of people from the LGBTQ community and whether same-sex marriages should be performed by ministers in the church.
Although they were not on the list of area churches choosing to disaffiliate, Pine Street Methodist Church has had the discussion several times over the past year, according to Pastor James Wooster Jr.
"Over the past couple of years, we've had that discussion within our congregation, within our leadership team several times. And we have just not felt that that was the appropriate move for Pine Street at this time," Wooster said.
"The primary issue seems to revolve around the Methodist Church's stance on LGBTQ issues. Historically, the Methodist Church has said that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. That has led to the Methodist church not allowing LGBTQ individuals to serve as clergy to United Methodist pastors to officiate same gender weddings and for our church buildings not to be used for same gender weddings," Wooster said.
"Not everybody in the church agrees with that, and at our General Conference in 2019, the issue really came to a head. While nothing changed in the discipline, there were those that felt something should change.
"There were those that felt things should change to be more open, and there were those who felt things should change to be more restrictive," he said. "So there are some folks that are saying because of all this turmoil, the United Methodist Church's lack of agreement on this issue, that we've reached a point where it's really hard for us to be the church together anymore."
That's when the United Methodist Church instituted a policy that would allow churches to disaffiliate.
"That allowed churches to disaffiliate if they disagreed with the discipline or if they disagreed with their conference's action or inaction regarding the issue," Wooster said.
"Predominantly, the people leaving are more conservative-leaning on the issue. Many of them don't feel the discipline goes far enough in terms of restricting who can be clergy, who can be in the pulpit, who can serve in leadership," he said.
"But there are folks that are leaving because they don't feel the discipline is open enough -- that people should be allowed to serve in all of those positions. But the predominant group leaving tends to have a more conservative approach," Wooster said.
The issue will surely be on the agenda at next year's general conference, which will bring together United Methodists from throughout the world. Wooster noted that the international group tends to be more conservative.
When asked if he felt the question would be discussed, Wooster replied, "It may be the only question."
Wooster cautioned against assuming that whether a church's decision to disaffiliate or not disaffiliate is a statement against a social issue.
"Every church is unique with a different mix of pastors, leaders and congregational members. Every church really has to make their own decision in this regard, and there are many factors that churches have to take into consideration. And so there's not a one-size-fits-all prescription," Wooster said.
"Churches that are leaving or staying are not automatically making a political statement for or against a certain issue," he said. "Churches are attempting to be faithful to following their understanding of who God has called us to be. There are many of us across the United Methodist connection on both sides of the issue that grieve what is going on. But, our Christian story is that God brings life out of death. God turns bad into good and so our hope in the midst of this is what looks like a dead end and irreconcilable conflict, that God can somehow turn that around for His good."
At the conclusion of the special session of the conference, Ball offered words of encouragement to those attending, thanking them for the way they had conducted themselves.
"We are indeed different when we walk out these doors tonight than when we came in," she said.
"As we walk out these doors differently, let's walk out differently in heart, mind and spirit, preparing ourselves to be repairers of the way for it is only in repairing our relationships that we will truly be able to make the witness of Christ to this world -- a witness that causes us to be a reconciling people, reconciling relationships with one another and a people who work together so that people can know Christ and receive the gift of salvation," Ball said.