As you probably guessed, I’ve been reappointed to College Avenue UMC for another year, but I know a lot of folks who are moving. I was thankful for this message from Great Plains Bishop Wilson.

This Sunday is a pivotal day in the lives of our Great Plains Annual Conference churches.

 

Many pastors will begin preaching in their new appointments. Others will continue serving in their assigned mission field.

 

Newly retired clergy will not be preaching for the first time in years. Our new class of ordinands will assume their duties in new roles.

 

In each of those locations, laity are exploring ways to work with pastors who are new to them or to work even more effectively with pastors they have come to know and love.

 

I ask that you join me in prayer this weekend for all of these transitions in the life of our annual conference. I pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide all as our faithful clergy go into these transitions with excitement, joy and grace to lead congregations and ministry settings. I pray for our laity who will continue to help clergy with these transitions with love and grace. I pray for God’s continued blessings upon our ministry and service together in the Great Plains Annual Conference and beyond.

I’m praying for all my friends and colleagues who are preaching their first Sunday at a new church tomorrow. But I’m very happy to be continuing at College Avenue UMC. I’m looking forward to all the possibilities of the coming year.

Seven people from College Avenue UMC—Forest Buhler, Mary Ann Buhler, Courtney Fowler, Paige Fowler, Liz Collins, Grace Hutchinson, and I—have all been at annual conference this week. We should finish up later this morning. It’s been a blessing, perhaps the best on I have ever attended. The Holy Spirit has shown up and I have seen a lot of encouraging signs.

Bishop David Wilson was installed this past Saturday, February 11, 2023. The service can be viewed below.

In the event the video embedded above will not play, here’s a direct link: https://vimeo.com/798562726

From Forrest Buhler, CAUMC Lay Representative to the Great Plains Annual Conference:

I thought you might be interested in an article entitled “Taking stock after a season of disaffiliations” published December 15, 2022, by the United Methodist News (UM News), the official source of information and news about The United Methodist Church. The link to the article is below. The article puts together in one place information and links on the results of disaffiliations so far from across the
United States. You will also see a link in the article to stories showing how this is impacting the budget process for the UMC General Council on Finance and Administration.

Overall Numbers in the US. The article includes the numbers so far for Jurisdictions and Conferences in the US. All disaffiliations from the UMC must be completed by the end of 2023, so there is still more to come (see link below), but the article helps to give a picture of what the numbers are at this point. For example, the UM News says that 2,003 churches in the U.S. have disaffiliated so far. That translates to about 6.6% of U.S. congregations withdrawing since 2019 when the church’s disaffiliation provision took effect. The Southeastern Jurisdiction has the highest number of withdrawals.

South Central Jurisdiction Numbers that Include the Great Plains Conference. The article includes a chart with the total number of disaffiliations in each of the five Jurisdictions in the UMC. Our Great Plains Conference, made up of Kansas and Nebraska churches, is in the South Central Jurisdiction, which includes the states: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. According to the article: “The Texas Conference, stretching from the Houston area to the eastern part of the state, on Dec. 4 approved the highest number of disaffiliations — 294, or nearly half of its 598 churches. The Northwest Texas Conference, voting on the same day, ratified the highest percentage of disaffiliations — 74%, or 145 of its 196 churches.” Similarly high numbers were recorded for churches in the Southeastern Jurisdiction. There is a link in the article to the numbers for each of the Conferences in the United States.

Great Plains Conference Numbers Relatively Small. So comparatively speaking, the 77 disaffiliations we have experienced so far in the Great Plains Conference out of about 960 local congregations, is much lower than the conferences elsewhere. In addition, the income on which the Great Plains Conference based its budget for 2023 increased over previous years.

Hopeful signs. There are hopeful signs as well. The article says even with the disaffiliation, there are still more than 28,500 United Methodist congregations in the U.S. The article also reports new congregations forming made up of members who did not agree with the disaffiliating church’s decision.

The link to the article is as follows: http://bit.ly/40ezLtc

Link to Special Sessions for disaffiliations in 2023: http://bit.ly/3kRUwut

The Great Plains Conference Website has the details.

Link: http://bit.ly/3E1Fiu0

Bishop Saenz has put out a video about why he will remain United Methodist following the launch of the Global Methodist Church  (GMC) on May 1, 2022. He names many of the reasons why I will remain United Methodist as well. The United Methodist Church has long been a big tent denomination and I love the image the Bishop used of the UMC having a hard Jesus center and being soft around the edges to include all kinds of folks. 

And because I had a question about this, let me assure you that remaining United Methodist as a member of Abilene First is easy. You just stay right where you are. There’s nothing else you need to do. If you’re conservative, and you choose to stay—fear not—it looks like you’ll have plenty of company. The UMC will remain a big tent denomination.