Membership and attendance at most all churches dwindling. Younger people not going to church and not supporting churches financially. How will this help? What would Jesus do? He would tell us, yet again, to love one another.
Oh, thanks, I hadn’t heard this! Well, most Methodists are not evangelicals; I don’t think they’re as attached to guns. I could be mistaken, especially in some areas of the country, including Texas.
What a perceptive essay. I’ve been a United Methodist for 45 years. These last few have been difficult for me. I’ve come close to quitting, even though our particular church has been open and affirming for years. But how could I belong to this denomination that treated LGBTQ people with such contempt? I likened it to belonging to Augusta National in the days when blacks were not admitted. It’s unthinkable. To those who are disaffiliating, I say good riddance. They’re on the wrong side of history.
But as you write, Cheryl, it’s all a part of a larger movement in society. There’s so much I don’t understand. How can sensible Iowans back the politicians who get elected these days? What happened to people’s common sense? Their ability to sniff out BS artists? Their desire to protect the environment for future generations? Their support for strong public schools? Caring for the least of us.
Sorry for the screed. But I just don’t understand.
Had a chance to read the Global Methodist Church's 20 page "book of discipline" last year. It also contains language that specifically condemns abortion. I have been a life long Methodist. Always took pride in our church's open mind. Unfortunately Rockwell City United Methodist Church has also voted to disaffiliate. Sad times for Methodists
Excellent piece!! I recently relocated back to Iowa from the Kansas City area and the UMC church I attended in KC (Church of the Resurrection) was one of the leaders in trying to prevent the split. Sadly Pastor Adam Hamilton lost at the General Conference and the schism is the result.
Our UMC church in Pocahontas County voted to disaffiliate in January. We, in response, disaffiliated with them! Not long after we transferred our membership, to a geographically distant but theologically compatible church, a friend had a stroke. It was days before I found out though, because I'm now an outsider.
Conservative Religious hair splitting is especially well thought out scheme to build rancor and disassociation with others and it appearsto be working quite well for the Republican juggernaut.
Thank you for your thorough article. I have a couple of comments. First you say, "This focus of this column isn't specifically on the schism of the second-largest mainline Protestant church." I think the UMC is the largest mainline Protestant church.
Second, I think another source of the anti-LGBTQ sentiment is from Matthew 19: 4-6 , where Jesus says "“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” I don't agree with this, but I think it is a source of the disagreement. It's interesting that people will quote the Bible like this, but be perfectly quiet about divorce, which Jesus specifically condemned. I don't agree with that either, but it goes to show that proof-texting never solves an argument. God help us...
Wow, who would have thought - religious divisiveness could serve as a tool for downtown storefront redevelopment in small towns?
Your piece today certainly stirs emotions for many of us current and former United Methodists. Thank you for writing and sharing.
In our case (Humboldt County) the disaffiliation effort is being driven, not so much by anti-LGBTQ prejudices, but by clergy dissatisfaction with the UMC hierarchy and a desire to have their own church, not subject to control or accountability by a larger denomination. That, and the specification that churches disaffiliating this year can take advantage of a special paragraph in the Book of Discipline allowing for departing churches to “keep our own buildings and assets” if they meet (or claim to meet) specific criteria.
But the fractionalism has already begun and will only get worse (our vote is scheduled for late June, right before the deadline). A resulting loss of the UMC here will add one more county to the growing “Methodist desert” across this part of Iowa.
Years ago I visited my aunt Helen who lived in a small town in Missouri. She invited me to a small house church (about six people) she was attending there, which was formed when a few church members got upset at the current pastor. Little did I know then I might become part of a similar fate here, now at my late stage in life, for a different reason!
Dear Cheryl,
As a fellow writer, I particularly loved the delightful work in your last two sentences.
Dave Engelken
Thank you.
Membership and attendance at most all churches dwindling. Younger people not going to church and not supporting churches financially. How will this help? What would Jesus do? He would tell us, yet again, to love one another.
Oh, thanks, I hadn’t heard this! Well, most Methodists are not evangelicals; I don’t think they’re as attached to guns. I could be mistaken, especially in some areas of the country, including Texas.
What a perceptive essay. I’ve been a United Methodist for 45 years. These last few have been difficult for me. I’ve come close to quitting, even though our particular church has been open and affirming for years. But how could I belong to this denomination that treated LGBTQ people with such contempt? I likened it to belonging to Augusta National in the days when blacks were not admitted. It’s unthinkable. To those who are disaffiliating, I say good riddance. They’re on the wrong side of history.
But as you write, Cheryl, it’s all a part of a larger movement in society. There’s so much I don’t understand. How can sensible Iowans back the politicians who get elected these days? What happened to people’s common sense? Their ability to sniff out BS artists? Their desire to protect the environment for future generations? Their support for strong public schools? Caring for the least of us.
Sorry for the screed. But I just don’t understand.
Had a chance to read the Global Methodist Church's 20 page "book of discipline" last year. It also contains language that specifically condemns abortion. I have been a life long Methodist. Always took pride in our church's open mind. Unfortunately Rockwell City United Methodist Church has also voted to disaffiliate. Sad times for Methodists
Our local movie theater was sold to a church. I still am not over our town of 7000 people not having a movie theater. Angry, sad and frustrated.
Excellent piece!! I recently relocated back to Iowa from the Kansas City area and the UMC church I attended in KC (Church of the Resurrection) was one of the leaders in trying to prevent the split. Sadly Pastor Adam Hamilton lost at the General Conference and the schism is the result.
Our UMC church in Pocahontas County voted to disaffiliate in January. We, in response, disaffiliated with them! Not long after we transferred our membership, to a geographically distant but theologically compatible church, a friend had a stroke. It was days before I found out though, because I'm now an outsider.
Conservative Religious hair splitting is especially well thought out scheme to build rancor and disassociation with others and it appearsto be working quite well for the Republican juggernaut.
Cheryl,
Thank you for your thorough article. I have a couple of comments. First you say, "This focus of this column isn't specifically on the schism of the second-largest mainline Protestant church." I think the UMC is the largest mainline Protestant church.
Second, I think another source of the anti-LGBTQ sentiment is from Matthew 19: 4-6 , where Jesus says "“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” I don't agree with this, but I think it is a source of the disagreement. It's interesting that people will quote the Bible like this, but be perfectly quiet about divorce, which Jesus specifically condemned. I don't agree with that either, but it goes to show that proof-texting never solves an argument. God help us...
Charles R. Crawley
Wow, who would have thought - religious divisiveness could serve as a tool for downtown storefront redevelopment in small towns?
Your piece today certainly stirs emotions for many of us current and former United Methodists. Thank you for writing and sharing.
In our case (Humboldt County) the disaffiliation effort is being driven, not so much by anti-LGBTQ prejudices, but by clergy dissatisfaction with the UMC hierarchy and a desire to have their own church, not subject to control or accountability by a larger denomination. That, and the specification that churches disaffiliating this year can take advantage of a special paragraph in the Book of Discipline allowing for departing churches to “keep our own buildings and assets” if they meet (or claim to meet) specific criteria.
But the fractionalism has already begun and will only get worse (our vote is scheduled for late June, right before the deadline). A resulting loss of the UMC here will add one more county to the growing “Methodist desert” across this part of Iowa.
Years ago I visited my aunt Helen who lived in a small town in Missouri. She invited me to a small house church (about six people) she was attending there, which was formed when a few church members got upset at the current pastor. Little did I know then I might become part of a similar fate here, now at my late stage in life, for a different reason!
The Beat Farmers had a thing or two to say about this when they saw it coming in 1986
Well let's pack up the kids and take a break, get away
Leave the hustle and bustle of living from day to day
And I know that the crime in the city is-a getting worse
So we're going on down to the gun sale at the church
Well my lady's all set to have us a real good time
Baby Johnny's got fins but he don't seem to mind
So the family's all ready to pray at the holy perch
That's set up in the middle of the gun sale at the church
Well we'll ask the lord to forgive us all of our sins
And we'll look at the latest in gold plated firing pins
Well my two main men are Jesus and old John Birch
So we're going on down to the gun sale at the church
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe01Bvvzt6U