The issue is that the congregations have a lot of personal assets invested in the church, and the pastor is likely on a retirement plan with the UMC. All that goes away and assets get confiscated, probably hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars.
Yes, I agree that integrity is more important. But there is a cost that needs to be counted. And when they played by the rules when congregations were allowed by the denomination to separate, and then they were denied, that is a matter of principle.
“...that is a matter of principle.”
Like I mentioned in another post, one the methodist church’s major acts in it’s early years was to set up the religion to be run by the parent organization at their whim and way. Their theories on religion were originally based out of Wesley though processes within the Church of England. Wesley changed that when he created a religious business of making ways to bind the churches together under one non-local determining group. It copied the same theories as the Catholic Church which today is having the same problems of ruling their practitioners. And the big guys/gals are going to protect the organization before they bow to the locals. I believe this is why there are more nd more small churches sprouting up in cities not affiliated with large groups like the Vatigan, the Mormons in Salt Lake, the Baptist World Alliance, the Lutheran World Federation...there’s more. Thesed little churches are slowly growing with their more bendable theologies.
Being progressive in large based religion is a toss up. But it still is catagorized within the parent organization. So you either bend with the wind, or snap. And the only other choice is dig yourself up and move to a new piece of earth.
wy69
“The issue is that the congregations have a lot of personal assets invested in the church”
But when they allowed their church to be placed under the wing of the United Methodists, they forgot to read the contract.
This is a little long, but tells the story:
While the UMC as a whole does not own assets, all of the assets of each of these groups are held in trust for the UMC as a whole. This is the famous “trust clause” of the UMC, which reads, in part:
“All properties of United Methodist local churches and other United Methodist agencies and institutions are held, in trust, for the benefit of the entire denomination, and ownership and usage of church property is subject to the Discipline. … In consonance with the legal definition and self-understanding of The United Methodist Church (see ¶ 141), and with particular reference to its lack of capacity to hold title to property, The United Methodist Church is organized as a connectional structure, and titles to all real and personal, tangible and intangible property held at jurisdictional, annual, or district conference levels, or by a local church or charge, or by an agency or institution of the Church, shall be held in trust for The United Methodist Church and subject to the provisions of its Discipline. Titles are not held by The United Methodist Church (see ¶ 807.1) or by the General Conference of The United Methodist Church, but instead by the incorporated conferences, agencies, or organizations of the denomination, or in the case of unincorporated bodies of the denomination, by boards of trustees established for the purpose of holding and administering real and personal, tangible and intangible property.” (Book of Discipline ¶ 2501; emphasis added)
In other words, the UMC as a whole doesn’t own anything, but ownership by specific UMC-related legal persons is subject to the provisions of The Book of Discipline. This applies to most famously to local churches, but also to districts, annual conferences, jurisdictions, and boards and agencies.
When the founders of the local churches joined, they joined this trust. So do they own anything, yes the locals own it all. They just can’t do anything with it without the clearance of the big club because everything is in trust to them and the locals gave it to them. The locals gambled they would be happy with the parent organization being on total control as long as the biggies wanted. They chose poorly.
A full reading on that is here:
wy69