Those who violate our rules do so with full knowledge of what they do. They are radicals who are attempting to take our denomination the recent directions chosen by the PCUSA and the ELCA. They are failing.
One thing to remember is that there is NO ONE in charge of the Methodist Church. It’s only voice is the General Conference that meets once every 4 years for 10 days.
There is no pope, no president, no overseer who can issue orders or directives. There is no one who can hire or fire.
Each bishop covers about a state-sized geographic region, and he answers to no one. If he/she chooses is one of the radicals or is in bed with them, there is no effort to bring violators to trial.
But this is no different than the independent church down the street from a 2nd independent church. Church A cannot tell church B what to do. They cannot force Church B to fire a pastor or kick out a member. They have no authority.
That’s true. I was a Methodist for many years myself and a lot of the time it really depended on who was the Pastor. Some were liberal, some were truly born again. I was a counselor for 10 camps at a Methodist camp and truly found purpose there with those kids. I also went later, when I had left the church, to the Walk to Emmaus, another fantastic experience. Most of the congregations around here are small and there’s not much life in the churches. Mine closed down and another group took over and calls itself a community church now.
I rejoice that the radicals are failing. Hallelujah. I will always love those little churches that I was a part of over the years.