Posted on 02/18/2021 8:08:45 AM PST by lightman
John Lomperis and I signed this statement with United Methodist bishops and other leaders urging our denomination to move forward by ending our theological conflicts and adopting the Protocol for dividing our denomination into separate new churches:
February 16, 2021
Coalition of Traditional Leaders Continues to Support the Protocol for Reconciliation and Grace through Separation
Over a year ago, a diverse group of United Methodist Church leaders released the Protocol for Reconciliation and Grace through Separation. Never before had leading bishops, general church officials, and leaders of advocacy groups representing centrists, progressives, and traditionalists agreed on a plan for resolving the church’s long dispute over its sexual ethics, teachings on marriage, and ordination standards. Among the members who negotiated the agreement were United Methodists from Africa, Europe, the Philippines, and the United States. Additionally, they had the services of Mr. Kenneth Feinberg as their mediator, a world-class attorney with a distinguished record of mediating conflicts and managing high profile settlements.
In response to the Protocol, we, the undersigned, met in Atlanta, Georgia, in early March of 2020 to cast a vision for a new traditional expression of Methodism. We are a group of bishops, clergy, and laity, men and women, African-American, Asian, Caribbean, Caucasian, and Hispanic persons from every U.S. jurisdiction, and three central conferences who seek a faithful future for United Methodists. Over the past year, and in light of the anticipated passage of the Protocol, we have focused on preparing for a new, traditionalist, and global Methodist church that is committed to making disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly. Like the mediation team that produced the Protocol, we have gone about our work in a spirit of grace and peace, looking forward to the future God has for us.
Our preparation for this hopeful future has been interrupted by the global Coronavirus pandemic. We grieve the loss of over two million people worldwide, the severe economic hardship caused by measures to combat the virus, and the geographic, racial, and economic inequities highlighted by the pandemic. The Christian Church, including The United Methodist Church, has been severely challenged to find new ways of ministering to the heightened needs of a broken world. Financial shortfalls are affecting all aspects of the UM Church, threatening the survival of some congregations and drastically changing the work of general church agencies and bishops.
In this critical time, it is all the more important for the UM Church to make crucial decisions about our future. Structural changes precipitated by this crisis must involve those who envision a long-term future together, while giving those who are called to different directions the opportunity to craft those directions unhindered by ongoing conflict. The absence of a decision on the way forward only exacerbates institutional inertia and loss of momentum for ministry.
We therefore urge the Commission on the General Conference, working with the Council of Bishops, to find a way in the spirit of the Protocol for the General Conference delegates to debate, deliberate upon, and ultimately pass the Protocol’s implementing legislation at the earliest possible time. Our local churches, annual conferences, and the church’s general boards and agencies can no longer remain in a state of uncertainty and unrest where there is no clear guidance or official direction for the future. For the sake of the greater mission of the church catholic, we must bless one another and then be about God’s mission as each new church discerns it.
We affirm and support the Commission on the General Conference in their significant responsibility to provide for a General Conference experience that can accomplish what needs to be accomplished for the present and future of the church within the limitations imposed by current circumstances. We uphold the non-negotiable principles of ensuring the greatest safety practical for delegates and participants, as well as the equal voice of all delegates, regardless of geographic location or access to digital technology. We urge the church to continue in fervent prayer for the Commission and all charged with planning and administering the General Conference.
We continue our wholehearted support for the Protocol as the best mechanism to free our church from its debilitating conflict and position the church to move forward in ministry. We support the passage of the Protocol’s implementing legislation that would allow for an amicable separation of the UM Church into two or more new churches. It is our prayer that the people drawn to them will be given the freedom and space to discern God’s will for their missions as they seek God’s guidance. We call on all bishops and clergy to allow local churches, annual conferences, and central conferences to determine freely with which new church they wish to align, once the Protocol’s implementing legislation is adopted.
We reiterate our intention, after the Protocol is passed, to form a global Wesleyan movement committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the authority and inspiration of the Scriptures, and the work of the Holy Spirit in conveying God’s truth, grace, renewal, and sanctification to all people who repent and believe. The pandemic-occasioned crisis in our church only increases our urgency to bring to fruition the vision articulated in our statement of last year. We remain committed to a global church that ministers to all and is mutually accountable throughout our connection to the high calling of our identity in Jesus Christ.
We urge conferences, districts, clergy, and congregations to prepare now for the changed reality of a post-pandemic church, including a post-separation church. Knowing the identity of our churches coming out of the pandemic will facilitate reengaging members who have fallen away in the interim and will form the basis for new outreach in mission to the world. As we long to move forward into a new reality, we embrace by God’s grace the current reality of expectant waiting, trusting God to provide the wisdom and strength needed for this liminal time.
Rev. Keith D. Boyette, Co-convener President, Wesleyan Covenant Association, Spotsylvania, VA Virginia Annual Conference
Bishop Scott Jones, Co-convener Resident Bishop Houston Episcopal Area, Houston, TX
Patricia Miller, Co-convener Executive Director, The Confessing Movement, Indianapolis, IN Indiana Annual Conference
Bishop Young Jin Cho Retired Southeast Jurisdiction, Centreville, VA
Bishop Eduard Khegay Resident Bishop Eurasia Episcopal Area, Moscow, Russia
Bishop J. Michael Lowry Resident Bishop Fort Worth Episcopal Area, Fort Worth, TX
Bishop Pedro M. Torio Jr. Resident Bishop Baguio Episcopal Area, Baguio City, Philippines
Bishop Mark Webb Resident Bishop Upper New York Episcopal Area, Liverpool, NY
Rev. David Alexander Senior Pastor, First UMC, Mansfield, TX Central Texas Annual Conference
Rev. Nola M. Anderson District Superintendent, Crossroads District, Liverpool, NY Upper New York Annual Conference
Rev. Dr. Joe Connelly, J.D., D.Min., M.Div. Pastor, Bethany UMC, New Orleans, LA Louisiana Annual Conference
Rev. Dr. Jan Davis Senior Pastor, Central UMC, Fayetteville, AR Arkansas Annual Conference
Rev. Dr. Maxie D. Dunnam Minister at Large, Christ UMC, Memphis, TN Kentucky Annual Conference
Rev. Walter B. Fenton Vice-President for Strategic Engagement Wesleyan Covenant Association, Spring, TX New Jersey Annual Conference
Rev. Dr. Jeffrey E. Greenway Pastor, Reynoldsburg UMC, Reynoldsburg, OH Vice Chair, WCA Global Council West Ohio Annual Conference
Rev. Jay Hanson Pastor, The Chapel UMC, Brunswick, GA South Georgia Annual Conference
Rev. Eric Huffman Lead Pastor, The Story, Houston, TX Texas Annual Conference
Rev. Thomas A. Lambrecht Vice President, Good News, Spring, TX Wisconsin Annual Conference
Rev. Jae Duk Lew Senior Pastor, Valley Korean UMC, Granada Hills, CA California-Pacific Annual Conference
John Lomperis Director of UM Action, Portland, OR Indiana Annual Conference
Rev. Dr. Ken Loyer Lead Pastor, Spry Church, York, PA Susquehanna Annual Conference
Rev. Dr. Carolyn Moore Lead Pastor, Mosaic Church, Evans, GA Chair, WCA Global Council North Georgia Annual Conference
Rev. Martin Nicholas Lead Pastor, First UMC, Sugarland, TX President, UMAction Texas Annual Conference
Rev. Rob Renfroe Pastor of Discipleship, The Woodlands UMC, The Woodlands, TX President, Good News Texas Annual Conference
Rev. Steven Taylor Pastor, Panama UMC, Panama, NY Upper New York Annual Conference
Mark Tooley President, Institute on Religion and Democracy, Washington, DC Virginia Annual Conference
For more information, contact Keith Boyette at president@wesleyancovenant.org or at 540-891- 4007.
Therefore:
Lutheran (EL C S*A) Ping!
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Keep a Good Lent!
The August 19 date refers solely to the adoption of the gaysbian agenda, NOT to the “Full Communion” agreement.
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Seems like that's the big religious divide these days, not just among Methodists, and not just among Christians.
It's as if sodomy itself were a religion.
Bingo.
"The church also urges congregations to advocate for laws that prevent or reduce gun violence, such as:
Universal background checks on all gun purchases
Ensuring all guns are sold through licensed gun retailers
Prohibiting gun purchases for those under restraining order due to threat of violence and those with serious mental illness who pose a danger to themselves and their communities
Ensuring greater access to services for those with mental illness
Establishing a minimum age of 21 years for a gun purchase or possession
Banning large capacity ammunition magazines and weapons
Promoting new technologies to aid law-enforcement agencies to trace crime guns and promote public safety"
This content was produced by Ask The UMC, a ministry of United Methodist Communications
This is part of why the UMC is fracturing. The church hierarchy has taken active part in advocating for one side of several political issues which are directly opposed to the views of the members.
I look forward to joining the Conservative church that arises from the ashes of the UMC.
Message to the UMC Leadership: Our natural rights are not negotiable, ever. Hands off, encroach at your peril. And mind your own business while staying within your appropriate lane.
“It’s as if sodomy itself were a religion.”
It is. Religion is at its core a concept of the cosmos, and every sodomite I know (and I have known many, working in the culture/arts industry for five decades) views *every aspect* of existence through the lens of their genitals and perverse urges.
That's the real question.
“But how did it come to be ruling class orthodoxy?”
Calling Antonio Gramsci... Calling Saul Alinsky...
We’ve had this conversation before; Dear Old Mom is a Methodist - mainly because she got kicked OUT of our Misourri Synod Lutheran Church back in the day when they took Divorce VERY seriously.
I cannot STAND going to church with her. It’s nothing but a gab-fest, glad-handing and goofing around.
The Word? Maybe a few minuted devoted to that.
This is not surprising to me in the least. *Rolleyes*
I used to do all my discussions and debates in mainline churches in the United States. That doesn’t happen anymore. Because the factions within the mainline churches that insisted that they were tolerant and diverse and pluralistic, and that “we should hear all the voices,” after they gain the ascendancy in mainline denominations, they don’t want to hear all the voices anymore. They only want to hear their side presented. And that a group that claims to be tolerant and diverse and pluralistic ends up narrowing and radicalizing into a hard-left movement that no longer can call itself a viable representation of the Church to the world.— Dr. Robert Gagnon
(https://youtu.be/m9MzyV-vgqI)
Prophetically predicted by Charles Porterfield Krauth 150 years ago:
“”But the practical result of this principle is one on which there is no need of speculating; it works in one unvarying way. When error is admitted into the Church, it will be found that the stages of its progress are always three. It begins by asking toleration. Its friends say to the majority: You need not be afraid of us; we are few and weak; only let us alone; we shall not disturb the faith of others. The Church has her standards of doctrine; of course we shall never interfere with them; we only ask for ourselves to be spared interference with our private opinions.
Indulged in this for a time, error goes on to assert equal rights. Truth and error are two balancing forces. The Church shall do nothing which looks like deciding between them; that would be partiality. It is bigotry to assert any superior right for the truth. We are to agree to differ and any favoring of the truth, because it is truth, is partisanship. What the friends of truth and error hold in common is fundamental. Anything on which they differ is “ipso facto” non-essential. Anybody who makes account of such a thing is a disturber of the peace of the church. Truth and error are two co-ordinate powers, and the great secret of church-statesmanship is to preserve the balance between them.
From this point error soon goes on to its natural end, which is to assert supremacy. Truth started with tolerating; it comes to be merely tolerated and that only for a time. Error claims a preference for its judgments on all disputed points. It puts men into position, not as at first in spite of their departure from the Church’s faith, but in consequence of it. Their recommendation is that they repudiate that faith, and position is given them to teach others to repudiate it, and make them skillful in combating it.” (pp. 195-196)
From: “THE CONSERVATIVE REFORMATION AND ITS THEOLOGY as represented in the Augsburg Confession and in the history and literature of the Evangelical Lutheran Church” by Charles P. Krauth, D.D. (1871). [Note date]
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