A Report from a GMC Annual Conference
When you have known strife for so many years, you can forget what unity feels like.
I began to become aware of the politics in the United Methodist Church when I was in seminary. Over the years the tensions around doctrine, ethics, and polity became ever stronger, until they finally rent the denominational fabric during the 2019 United Methodist General Conference. To anyone with eyes to see, it was clear there was no way forward under a single polity. We were a house divided. The alternative to formal separation was decades of bitter conflict and accelerating decline. In 2022 the Global Methodist Church came into being in the hope of generating a new, more coherent expression of Methodism.
The Allegheny West Provisional Annual Conference
October 12-14, 2023, I attended my first annual conference as a Global Methodist, the inaugural meeting of the Allegheny West Provisional Annual Conference. The theme of the conference was “Becoming One.” The gathered people of God expressed unity in their vision of God and broad agreement about the contours of the Christian life. Those preaching and presiding at the conference inspired us to greater heights in the Christian life. We heard from Jeff Greenway, Bishop Mark Webb, Bishop Emeritus Mike Lowry, Jessica LaGrone, Leah Hidde Gregory, and Kevin Watson. Tesia Mallory and her team led us through worship with power and sensitivity to the work of the Spirit. A sense of momentum and joy rose up during our time together. I left the conference feeling renewed and hopeful—an entirely new experience for me.
Near the end of the letter to the churches in Rome, Paul writes, “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 15:5). A common confession—unified not only with those in the room, but with the saints across time stretching back to the days of the apostles—is indescribably powerful. It is powerful to unify in one body and one Spirit, “just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph 4:4-6). That is what I experienced at this annual conference—a unity of spirit, but even more importantly, a unity in the Spirit.
The unity we experienced did not arise out of some sense that now we were rid of “those people.” Rather, it emerged from the realization that we can follow Jesus faithfully without the constant grind of internecine conflict. Speaking personally, many progressive and centrist United Methodists were my friends. I’m grateful for those who still are, and I lament the loss of those who aren’t.
In fact, lament is quite common among those who have left the UMC, and we acknowledged as much in our times of worship. Many of us who have come through this ecclesiastical battle have the scars to prove it. Some of us have endured the pain of public ridicule and shaming. Some, like me, were lifelong United Methodists, and until the last few years had no intention of serving in any other denomination. A few even traced their lineage to the Evangelical United Brethren or the Methodist Church, the two parent denominations of the UMC. Many at this new GMC annual conference experienced tears, prayer, the laying on of hands, and healing. I expect United Methodists might have the same reactions at their annual conferences in the days to come. .
The Road Ahead
While our first annual conference reached a spiritual high note, our future will not always involve holding hands in a circle and singing Kumbaya. Right now all of this is new. We are happy to be together without the politics and infighting we’ve gone through for so many years—a legitimate cause for celebration. But what will happen when the new-car smell goes away? What will happen when we think of the GMC not as our new denomination, but simply our normal denomination, and we face hard questions and difficult decisions? We need to be clear-eyed about the fact that the Global Methodist Church will have its own disagreements, probably sooner than later. Unrealistic expectations could give rise to disillusionment.
We do, however, have reasons for great hope. First among these stands our hope in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit he has sent to guide us in the ways of truth and righteousness. Consistent attention to the leadings of the Spirit, and repentance when we go astray, will be crucial for maintaining unity amid disagreement. Churches go off track when they begin to rely on their own ingenuity, when they try to build the kingdom in their own strength. The plans of the church will bear lasting fruit only when they come into agreement with the plans of God. Put differently, the church has no mission in itself. Rather, it participates in the missio Trinitatis. Prayer, discernment, and humility must become central features of our common life.
Another hopeful feature of the Global Methodist Church is that we have rooted our common life in the time-honored wisdom of the church catholic. We have seen the fruits of doctrinal pluralism and have tried to cut a different path. We will disagree, but my hope is that our agreement on matters of primary importance, particularly our common confession of faith, will help us resolve disagreements about secondary matters, however passionately we may feel about them. We must make room for difference, but within the framework of beliefs and practices we consider essential for the Christian life. There is real wisdom in the old saying, “In essentials unity; in nonessentials liberty; in all things charity,” but this approach to Christian unity only works if we identify the essentials clearly.
Perhaps the most hopeful feature of this more unified denominational life is that we can now look consistently outward toward the saving of the lost. The conflict we have experienced around the divisions in the UMC and the formation of the GMC has forced us to look inward for too long. We focused disproportionately on ourselves, our denominations, our politics. As a result, we have expended less time and energy on the salvation of a broken and sinful world.
Western culture is awash in loneliness. As the influence of the church has faded from view, we increasingly labor amid a crisis of meaning. People are asking the age-old questions: Who am I? How should I live? What significance does my life have? The truest answers to these questions reside within God’s self-revelation to us in Jesus Christ, and the church is the steward of these answers. We need to look outward, to the making of disciples of Jesus Christ, baptizing and teaching them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and instructing them in obedience to all Christ commanded. Getting our house in order is important, but our mission is to bring the gospel to the world.
When you have known strife for so many years, you can forget what unity feels like. Now is the time for a new posture, a new mindset, and new expectations.
David F. Watson is Academic Dean and Professor of New Testament at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. He serves as lead editor of Firebrand.