What is the destination for the United Methodist denomination? Is it staying unified? Is it separating amicably? Either of those are fine destinations, but our real destination is making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. What’s stopping us?
It took me a long time to accept that the United Methodist denomination was heading for a split. Does it have to be a messy, heavily litigated split? I hope not. It’ll be painful, but possibly we can lessen the damage by keeping these four principles in mind.
At a recent Town Hall, I tried to explain the unfunded pension liability that churches would owe if they leave the denomination. I didn’t do great so I’m going to try an analogy to explain it. I would love to hear your thoughts on it!
Last week, I was speaking to those planning to join the Global Methodist denomination. This week I’m focusing on those planning on staying United Methodist. Your church’s name and logo won’t be changing, but significant changes will be coming for the UMC. Here’s my thoughts on the subject.
Since the announcement that the Global Methodist denomination, I’ve had a number of pastors reach out to me and ask what this means for their church. Usually these are pastors of churches leaning towards leaving the UMC. Here’s what I’ve been sharing with them. The video gives some advice on what your church leadership can be doing now.
Is your church in Good Standing with the State? The other day, I did a search on the Secretary of State website for United Methodist churches. You would be shocked at how many churches have been involuntarily dissolved because someone missed filing the Annual Report. In this post, I show you how to check your church’s status and how to undo the damage if your church isn’t in Good Standing.
It is surprising to me how many churches are trusting in their institutional memory when it comes to donor restrictions. If your church is doing this, there will be a day when someone challenges that memory. Do you have the donor restriction in writing? What if you lost the actual written donor restriction?