'Let us be us': Churches discuss life one year after first United Methodist exits

Disaster struck just three weeks after an Oklahoma City congregation took out a large loan to sever ties with the United Methodist Church.

The Rev. D.A. Bennett said St. Andrew's Community Church-GMC took out a $475,000 five-year loan to disaffiliate in October 2022, and a water main break flooded the main building of the church where he is senior pastor shortly afterward.

The incident is one way the church has experienced a new landscape since it left the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference. St. Andrew's and the other 28 churches that separated in October 2022 face a new world, one that they and the 98 other churches that have since separated will all be a part of during this diaspora.

What has happened in the last year to those 29 churches — the first of 127 total houses of worship to cut United Methodist ties?

More: 'Today is bittersweet': Final group of churches get formal OK for United Methodist exit

Money was among the challenges facing St. Andrew's and some of the other houses of worship. Some of the exiting churches also confronted other issues, like losing members and making the all-important decision to choose an affiliation with another denomination or remain independent. On the positive side, several church leaders said they also pressed forward feeling a sense of freedom and unity.

Bennett said fortunately, his church at 2727 SW 119 was blessed with "miracles" in the year after disaffiliation.

He said insurance paid for much of the catastrophic damage caused by the water main break, but there were plenty of other expenses and a struggle to operate with a "strong cash flow."

But "God provided for us," Bennett said. "The five-year loan was paid off in 10 months, and out-of-pocket expenses for flood recovery and rebuilding were miniscule compared to our upgrades."

More: Remaining Oklahoma United Methodists manage finances, moving forward with a 'dream'

The Rev. Jeff Ralston, pastor of Fargo Methodist Church, described the year of disconnection from the United Methodist Church as liberating.

"We feel free," he said. "We've got new hope. We didn't lose anybody, and we've had excellent support from our community."

Ralston said there have been no regrets about disaffiliation.

"It was definitely the right move for us," he said.

The Rev. David Player, senior minister of Victory Memorial, said his Guymon church spent several years in prayer and discernment before disaffiliating in 2022. He said his congregation has about 800 on the membership rolls and 300 who are active. They experienced what he called a "mixed bag" of emotions surrounding the final severance of denominational times and the months that followed.

"There was sadness because we were separating, and that changes the relationship, but there was also a sense of relief that all of that was behind us," Player said.

"There was a sense of joy that we could prayerfully discern what God wants us to be and do and live in it in a fresh and tasteful way. It was not easy to make a separation, but we felt it was necessary to honor Christ, and to be faithful to God's word."

Making decisions

The trend of exit-seeking churches is part of a widening schism in the international United Methodist Church ― one of Oklahoma's largest faith groups. Disagreement about the scriptural compatibility of same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly gay clergy is at the heart of the divide. The issues came to a head for many churches, prompting them to seek to leave the denomination.

The catalyst for the current disaffiliation trend is Paragraph 2553, a special provision added to the United Methodist Book of Discipline, a policy book. The provision allows for churches who disagree with the United Methodist Church's stance on human sexuality to disaffiliate and take their property and assets with them. While the Oklahoma conference has said it has held its last vote on exiting churches, globally the denomination is letting churches disaffiliate until Dec. 31.

More: Oklahoma Supreme Court rules against two churches in United Methodist exit cases

In Oklahoma, exiting churches were required to pay the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference any unpaid annual apportionments for previous years, as well as the current year, plus annual apportionments for an additional year after disaffiliation. The disaffiliating churches also were required to pay pension liabilities.

The Rev. Kim Mizer said money was a big concern for St. Paul's Methodist Church in Boise City and Kenton Methodist Church in Kenton, two small churches in the Oklahoma Panhandle.

She said St. Paul's, with average attendance of about 70 people, was able to pay $77,000 to disaffiliate, a feat that couldn't be accomplished without some members making large donations. The church in Kenton, with an average of about 10 people attending Sunday worship, paid about $19,000 to exit the denomination.

Mizer said the smaller congregation had considered closing the church instead of disaffiliating and purchasing the property from the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference, but this seemed risky because church members learned they wouldn't know how much the conference would charge them for their historic church property until after they closed their doors.

"I'm not going to say it's been an easy boat. Disaffiliation wasn't easy," Mizer said. "But, we made it."

Player also said money was an initial challenge for his congregation during the disaffiliation process because the stock market crashed six or seven months earlier. This meant there were fluctuating investments and retirement fund investments. The minister said this timing meant that his church's disaffiliation payment was steep.

"We had to come up with $449,000 which drained all our reserves and we had to do some extra mile giving," Player said. "But, everybody was with one heart and one mind and we did it. We achieved the necessary payment and we were glad to be in a position where we could still function without being crippled."

Independence day?

Members of Bennett's church knew they would be joining another denomination because they voted to do so on the same day they cast ballots to leave the United Methodist Church. In the year since disaffiliation, St. Andrew's joined the conservative Global Methodist Church. Other churches in that initial group of exiting churches also joined, including St. Mark's in Bethany, Willow View in Enid, and Fargo Methodist Church and First Methodist-Ardmore.

In fact, Lisa Beaver, presiding elder of the Global Methodist Church's Oklahoma City district, said many of the churches in the first-to-exit group have joined the relatively new denomination. They include: Hollis Methodist, Pocola Methodist, Hodgen Methodist, Victory Memorial in Guymon, Leonard Methodist, Faithbridge Methodist in Davis, Gould Methodist and Mannsville Methodist. This should come as no surprise because the majority of the 127 Oklahoma churches that have ultimately disaffiliated have leaned conservative.

Mizer said her St. Paul's and Kenton congregations have spent the past year discussing the merits of connecting with another denomination. She said the two churches are planning a November vote to determine if they will affiliate with the Global Methodist Church or remain independent.

Mizer said she's not sure what the two congregations will decide because about half chose disaffiliation because they wanted to own their church property and the other half voted to exit the United Methodist Church because they believe the Bible is "God-breathed" and should be followed on issues such as considering same-sex marriage a sin, which she said is a viewpoint in keeping with their conservative rural area.

Notably, Asbury Church in Tulsa remained independent after disaffiliating in 2022. It was the largest church, in terms of membership, to sever ties in that first round of disaffiliations. Asbury leaders could not be reached for comment to determine if the house of worship was considering affiliating with the Global Methodist Church.

Ralston, with Fargo Methodist, said he believed the Global Methodist Church, launched in May 2022, was created for churches like his. He said the church's weekly average attendance of about 40 people feels at home with its new denomination because it "fixed a lot of the problems that we were all concerned about with the United Methodist Church."

"And a lot of those problems had nothing to do with the homosexuality issue, but you couldn't say that and disaffiliate," Ralston said. "They (Global Methodist Church) let us be us."

The minister said he was glad that Fargo Methodist was among the first Oklahoma churches to disaffiliate because the regional conference leaders' resistance to disaffiliating churches seemed to grow as time passed.

Staying on mission

Bennett said his church lost some members after the church ended its affiliation with the United Methodist Church, but they gained many individuals and families in the same time period.

"Since disaffiliation, we had our largest confirmation class in years, and have received more adults by profession of faith than ever," he said. "We have new people visiting every week coming from a number of surrounding communities. Some needed a landing spot because their church did not consider disaffiliation, while others simply find St. Andrew’s to be a loving community of faith."

He said the church's primary concern over the past year, more important than any money issues or membership numbers, is its gospel mission.

He said the church discovered "great freedom" in the ability to financially support missions that make a big difference, including some ministries related to the United Methodist Church like Wesley Foundation and Circle of Care. He said the church has also been contributing to non-faith-based community organizations such as Positive Tomorrows, a school for children experiencing homelessness.

"God has provided for our every need ... our members are excited to move forward and not look backwards," Bennett said.

Meanwhile, the Rev. Mark McAdow, senior pastor of Willow View Methodist in Enid, said his church has had a year of transitions. He said the congregation decided in September to join the Global Methodist Church.

Like Bennett, McAdow said his church, with an average attendance of 220 people for Sunday worship, lost some members in the transition period after disaffiliation but "We've been holding our own in many ways."

"It hasn't been without pain, but overall, we're trusting God to lead us into a new future," he said. "There's an excitement, a sense of unity, and I think we're in a good place."

McAdow said Willow View has been on a moratorium for the last year in terms of giving to regional missions and worldwide ministry. He said the congregation will begin again in January paying what they now call connectional giving through their new denomination.

"I think that's one thing about the Global Methodist Church that we ultimately decided was good because it was part of our roots, our heritage, that strong focus on the word of God and the mission to make disciples," he said. "We felt like that's really the heart of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement."

The pastor said one particularly difficult part of the last year was the process he had to go through to cut his clergy ties to the United Methodist Church. McAdow said he had been a longtime United Methodist pastor, and he was required to submit his credentials to the regional conference as part of the process of withdrawal from the denomination.

"I was a United Methodist pastor for 36 years, and then to have to turn in my ordination papers — it was painful," he said.

The Enid minister said he is not bitter, but the conference returned his credentials "back to me stamped in red saying that I am fully withdrawn from the United Methodist Church — on the very front, not on the back. It didn't feel very kind or very appreciative of 36 years of ministry, but I really only answer to an audience of one — He knows."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma churches discuss life after United Methodist exits