A group of United Methodists is urging bishops to allow congregations that want to do so to leave with property now — rather than wait for General Conference.
“As the writer of Ecclesiastes notes, ‘For everything there is a season,’ and the season for waiting on General Conference legislative solutions as the only way forward has passed,” says the group’s open letter, titled “A Call to Grace.”
The ad hoc group released its letter Nov. 2 — as the Council of Bishops begins its fall online meeting that goes through Nov. 5.
“We call bishops and annual conferences to use existing disciplinary authority to find grace-filled ways for these leaders and churches to follow their call now, allowing them to take their church property with them where appropriate,” the letter said.
As of its release early Nov. 2, more than 250 United Methodists had signed the letter. The document began circulating late Oct. 29.
Initial signers include General Conference delegates,lay leaders, pastors, district superintendents, seminary professors and other church members. Signers come from across the U.S. as well the denomination’s central conferences — church regions in Africa, Europe and the Philippines. The group now invites other United Methodists to sign.