Recently, I had a colleague reach out to me asking about what was happening with the United Methodist Church. She wanted the perspective of a “real live Methodist.” The UMC has been in the news as churches leave the denomination and as with any major change, it is confusing. So here is an explanation of what is happening in the UMC and how that looks in Wisconsin from the “real live Methodist” on the staff of the Wisconsin Council of Churches. Note: Polity and churches are complex, so this is a very simplified version of years of history. If you want more details, I recommend asking a local UMC colleague to help you understand more. 

First, it is important to understand that the UMC is a global church. This means that approximately half of the membership lives in countries outside the US (mostly in Africa, east Asia, and central Europe). When the UMC gathers every 4 years for its General Conference (the only official body that can speak for the United Methodist Church), it is a global gathering that brings together a multitude of cultures, theologies, and contexts. This means legislation can be complicated as about 1,000 people try to lead a global church.

There have been arguments about LGBTQ+ inclusion in the UMC for years. There is language in the Book of Discipline (official rule book of the UMC) that forbids “practicing homosexuals [sic]” from ordination and marriage in the church. While the global rules say one thing, the practice of ministry on the ground looks very different. Many Annual Conferences (smaller regional bodies that make up the UMC) have ordained LGBTQ+ people and looked the other way when pastors have officiated at LGBTQ+ weddings. Many churches have become “Reconciling” a stance that celebrates LGBTQ+ inclusion. In 2016, the Wisconsin Annual Conference’s Board of Ordained Ministry (the body that ordains UMC clergy in Wisconsin) released a statement saying, “The Board holds all candidates to high standards for fitness, readiness and effectiveness in ministry. We do not consider sexual orientation and gender identity to be sufficient reasons, on their own, to deny God’s call to ministry and they will not be considered in the evaluation of candidates.”

Divisions led to a specially called General Conference in 2019 that created a mechanism for disaffiliating from the denomination. After going through a specified process that includes disagreement on the stance of the denomination on LGBTQ+ inclusion, a congregational vote, paying apportionments (shared ministry funds) and unfunded pension liability, and a vote by the Wisconsin Conference, 43 congregations in Wisconsin disaffiliated as of June 30, 2023. Some of these congregations will join a newly formed denomination, the Global Methodist Church, others may remain nondenominational, and some may choose to affiliate with another denomination. There are 442 United Methodist congregations that have remained in the Wisconsin Annual Conference of the UMC. Outside of the United States, most congregations are also remaining with the UMC denomination.

While this is a giant step forward in this conversation, the work of inclusion and stabilizing the church is far from over in the UMC. There is still exclusionary language in the Book of Discipline and many churches are struggling with division on their local level. There is harm caused to LGBTQ+ people whose lives were proclaimed an “issue” and many relationships were broken. Healing takes time and hard work.

The Rev. David Simmons, the ecumenical and interfaith officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee offers some great suggestions about how those outside the UMC can approach Methodists (read his article targeted at Episcopalians but great for others too here) but I love his last suggestion the best, “In short, pray for them. Reach out to your Methodist friends and buy them coffee.” One of the things we talk about in Methodism is that we are all “moving onwards towards perfection.” We know that the Church is not (nor will ever be) truly perfect, but we pray that we can move forward in this season and be a little bit better and we ask that our colleagues continue to surround us in prayer.

— Rev. Breanna Illéné is the Director of Ecumenical Innovation and Justice Initiatives. Her piece is made available by the Wisconsin Council of Churches. Find more at www.wichurches.org.