UPDATED Discernment Packet

Introduction

Shalimar UMC Discernment Team Members

Wayne Walker Ken Winzeler

JD Peacock Oshane Buck

Janet Norris Mark Bethea

Joe Kocanowski Justin Day

Beth Russell Rev. Dr. Brad Bradford

Discernment Team Charter

The United Methodist Church is facing changes. Congregations around the globe are debating whether they want to stay with the denomination or disaffiliate due to several complicated and challenging disagreements, mostly due to issues surrounding human sexuality. To help our congregation make an informed decision, whether to even vote on this subject, the Church Council voted on January 30, 2023, to begin the UMC prescribed process of disaffiliation. A Discernment Team was formed by the Church Council Chairman to objectively gather and disseminate information about the relevant issues.

Guiding Scripture

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding, seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

Mission of the Discernment Team

Guided by The Holy Spirit, the Discernment Team will lead our church through a season of prayer, Bible study, and information sharing. In coordination with the previously created Denominational Issues Task Force,

the Discernment Team will continue to research, evaluate, address questions, and convey the implications of each option. The goal is to allow our church family to have informed discussions, prayerfully seek God’s calling on our congregation, and ultimately decide what path is best to fulfill the vision and mission of our community church.

This will be an ongoing process and the Discernment Team encourages all to move forward in prayer, faith, and love as we make these important and difficult decisions.

Discernment is a spiritual process with roots in Scripture. In the Book of Acts, whenever the early Christian community stepped into a time of prayer and discernment, it always resulted in greater growth and maturity for the Church as well as clarity for its leaders. Because of this, we know God will do some amazing things through our time of Discernment. We will encourage every person connected to Shalimar United Methodist to begin (1) praying specifically for this process; and (2) reading scripture every day.

Discernment Packet

Shalimar United Methodist Church History

Shalimar United Methodist first gathered in worship on June 17, 1951 in the in the concession stand of the Florida Drive Inn Theater. The concession stand was located in the parking lot of our now Family Life Center. Reverend John Lane specifically planned the first service on the date of John Wesley's birthday.

The United Methodist Church was created in 1968, but Methodism dates back to 1730 when John and Charles Wesley formed a “holy club” in England that eventually expanded around the world.

The Need for Discernment

There is a growing divide over the issue of human sexuality, but many people believe this issue is only one issue of many facing the United Methodist Church. Other concerns include Governance and Accountability: A concern regarding inconsistent leadership, leading to a lack of accountability through a failure to enforce the current Book of Discipline.

So, we as a church need to ask ourselves if there is a path by which we can stay with the UMC denomination and continue to carry out our mission as a church or is there a need to disaffiliate

History of Division in the UMC

As revised in 1972, the Book of Discipline prohibits “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals” from being appointed as clergy in the UMC. It also prohibits clergy from performing same-sex marriages in the UMC

• Our last regular General Conference was held in 2016. At that Conference, the human sexuality debate became so heated that the issue was ultimately tabled and a special session called to address

these issues.

• At this special session in 2019, delegates voted 53% to 47% to retain the existing prohibitions in the Book of Discipline on ordination of selfavowed practicing homosexuals as clergy and on same-sex marriages. The Book of Discipline remains that way today. This decision has been unpopular with many Annual Conferences, and Bishops in some conferences have performed same-sex marriages and/or appointed self-avowed practicing homosexuals as clergy within their Annual Conference. This is in violation of the Discipline, and there has been no action taken to address these violations.

• Following the 2019 Special Session, all of the Bishops serving the Western Jurisdiction issued a statement that they would not enforce the law of the church that had been adopted by the General Conference.

• As a result of the 2019 special session, a group of Bishops, clergy and laity representing traditionalist, centrist, and progressive theological stances brought forth a compromise called The Protocol for Reconciliation and Grace through Separation (“the Protocol”). The Protocol, if passed, would have provided for a split of the UMC into 2 denominations - one more progressive and one more traditional - as determined by each Annual Conference. Individual churches which didn’t want to align with their Annual Conference could opt out into their favored denomination. The more traditional church was led by the group that has now formed the Global Methodist Church and it was to be seeded with $25 million from the UMC and no church was going to have to pay any exit penalty for their property.

• It was anticipated that The Protocol would be brought up and voted upon at the 2020 General Conference. However, that Conference has been postponed now 3 times and will not be conducted until 2024. General Conference was first postponed to 2021 due to COVID. General Conference was postponed again to Fall of 2022. In March of 2022, the General Conference was again postponed, this time to 2024, due to the perceived inability of foreign delegates to obtain visas. Following this postponement, many African leaders denounced the UMC’s postponement, arguing that they had visas and/or had the ability to obtain them in time for the meeting. Therefore, some believe that the Protocol is now dead.

Paragraph 2553

• Another significant development from the 2019 General Conference was passage of paragraph 2553 which states: "Because of the current deep conflict within The United Methodist Church around issues of human sexuality, a local church shall have a limited right, under the provisions of this paragraph, to disaffiliate from the denomination for reasons of conscience regarding a change in the requirements and provisions of the Book of Discipline related to the practice of homosexuality or the ordination or marriage of self-avowed practicing homosexuals as resolved and adopted by the 2019 General Conference, or the actions or inactions of its annual conference related to these issues which follow. The provision of paragraph 2553 provides a means for churches to disaffiliate, while keeping their property, so long as they follow the prescribed process for disaffiliation and satisfy certain financial commitments. In short, churches disaffiliating from the UMC in the Alabama West Florida conference under 2553 must pay: 1) any unpaid apportionments for the 12 months prior to disaffiliation and an additional 12-24 months of apportionments to be determined by Conference Trustees, 2) its share of the Annual Conference’s unfunded pension liability, 3) its share of the Annual Conference’s unfunded health insurance, and 4) contingent pastoral salaries. To give some context to this, if our church were to disaffiliate from the UMC under Section 2553, our current projected estimate to pay to the UMC is $685,934.

• Paragraph 2553 expires in December 2023. At a special-called meeting on October 16, 2022, the members of the Alabama-West Florida Conference Board of Trustees adopted a resolution to allow local churches within the Alabama-West Florida Conference to exit the denomination under paragraph 2549 of The Book of Discipline after the sunset of paragraph 2553 on 12/31/23. The resolution reads, in part: After the expiration of the provisions of ¶2553, the current Disaffiliation Policy and any other applicable Disaffiliation Policies and Procedures approved by the Trustees, the Trustees will utilize the provisions of ¶2549 which vest the Trustees with the power to administer the disposition of property of a closed church, along with a process, terms and conditions similar to ¶2553, and consistent

with policies and procedures approved by the Annual Conference and/or the Trustees as a policy for local churches that desire to leave the Denomination; and it is FURTHER RESOLVED that a local church shall have a limited right to exit the denomination pursuant to the new policy authorized by this Resolution upon a vote of a two-thirds majority of the professing members of the local church present at the properly convened church conference, which shall become effective upon expiration of ¶2553 and extend no later than the first day of the 2025 Annual Conference; and it is FURTHER RESOLVED that any agreement that may be required as a result of the adoption of this Resolution or any policies resulting therefrom shall require approval by a majority vote of the Annual Conference.

As a result of this, our Bishop, David Graves, said the following in his letter to the Alabama West Florida Conference on January 10, 2023: § “I have repeatedly asked all our churches to wait until after the 2024 General Conference, that we now know will be held April 23–May 3, 2024, to discern next steps for their local church. After that General Conference, we will have more accurate information so that Annual Conferences and local churches can make strategic, Holy Spirit-led decisions and not business deals.”

Church Property and the UMC

Like all churches in the United Methodist Church, we own our church property but we hold it in trust for the United Methodist Church, for the benefit of the entire denomination, and use of the property is subject to the Book of Discipline. This is a requirement for any church becoming part of the UMC. This is considered a fundamental expression of United Methodism whereby local churches within the denomination are both held accountable to and benefit from their connection with the entire worldwide church.Titles are not held by the UMC or by the General Conference of the UMC but instead by Boards of Trustees established for the purpose of holding and administering property. The deeds to the property include a trust clause that provides that the property is held in trust for the benefit of the UMC and cannot be sold or transferred by the local church.

Paragraph 2553 provides a means for churches to disaffiliate, while keeping their property, as long as they follow the prescribed process for disaffiliation and satisfy certain financial commitments.

Impact on Pastors

Based on our vote and our pastors’ personal decisions, there may be a change in pastoral leadership whether we choose to remain or choose to disaffiliate.

If We Remain with UMC

• Financial Impact – No disaffiliation costs.

• Legal Impact – none

• Personnel Impact – If our congregation remains in the UMC, our pastors will remain at Shalimar UMC. If our pastors decide to leave the UMC, then new appointments would be made by the conference, based on availability of pastors.

Next Steps – If We Leave UMC

• If we vote to disaffiliate, we will remain United Methodists until approved by the next called annual conference.

• If we vote to disaffiliate, the Discernment Team will make a recommendation to the Church Council in considering the next steps. This process will take some time.

• Financial Impact – Once we have submitted a signed application for disaffiliation, the Alabama West Florida Conference Trustees would then determine the apportionments piece of the cost owed to the UMC. We could seek a revolving line of credit from a local bank for the full amount of disaffiliation plus several months of operating expenses.

We could plan to repay this line of credit via 1) the monthly budgeted allocation for such expenses (apportionments, salaries, etc.) and 2) a campaign for pledges to pay off the line of credit (much like a building/remodeling capital campaign).

• Legal Impact – We would need to legally change our name from Shalimar United Methodist Church to some other name (depending on whether we affiliate with another denomination or choose to become independent). Property deeds would need to be transferred into our new name and articles of incorporation prepared. It will also be necessary to prepare and adopt by-laws that would govern our new church.

• Personnel Impact – If our congregation votes to disaffiliate, the Staff Parish Relations Committee will begin to study personnel matters for other denominations under consideration and provide pertinent inputs to the Discernment Team. The SPRC will work with our current pastors according to their desires. Current pastors may choose to stay with the UMC.

Final Thoughts

For 72 years, this congregation has been a part of the community’s history. We will continue to be a part of Shalimar's story, regardless of what we decide. We will continue to carry out our church mission which is to reach our community with the good news of Jesus Christ, teach how to love God and to love one another as ourselves, and send disciples into the world to share their experiences of Jesus.