Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body – whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be?
As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
– 1 Corinthians 12:12-20
Our United Methodist body is dividing, separating, divorcing itself from itself.
We find ourselves witnessing eyes saying to hands,
“I don’t need you” and “We do not belong together.”
Yet, our very diversity of 12 million strong is what has made and continues to make our whole body such a beautiful work of our creative God.
Bishop Trimble of the Indiana Conference reminds:
We are liturgical, contemporary, charismatic, traditional. We are urban, rural, suburban, young, and old. We care deeply for the lost, the least, the lonely, the hungry, and the hurting.
We are a holy communion of different races, ethnicities, cultures, and perspectives united by the Holy Spirit, called and driven by the mission of Christ, bearing the good news of an unmerited grace that changes lives and transforms communities.
We are very different, yet united in mission and ministry throughout the world, and that is an amazing gift and an amazing witness! With so many differences which could separate us, we have remained united throughout the years making disciples of Jesus Christ and in service and ministry for the sake of Christ. We have been united in being Christ’s body in the world that others may see Him, know Him, and be transformed by Him. United in living out and offering the gracious sin destroying death defying so love of God which sent the Son into the world that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life!
We have been so different all along the way all around the world, yet united in what matters most,
following the example of Christ by loving God and Matthew 25-ing it in every nook and cranny of need, with every heart and soul we meet.
We haven’t always done this perfectly, or without conflicts, or without the challenges of needed growth – yet we remained united in seeking to love like Jesus… sacrificially, unconditionally, mercifully, graciously.
That is who we have been as United Methodists by God’s grace, and who we will continue to be by that same guiding and forming grace.
Still… we are in the midst of change as within our body,
eyes say to hands, “I don’t need you” and “We don’t belong together.”
In the NC Conference, 366 congregations have inquired
about the disaffiliation process
183 congregations have requested a church conference to
vote on disaffiliation
59 congregations have held a Church Conference and
voted to disaffiliate
In the Fairway District, 33 churches out of 95 have inquired
about disaffiliation
11 have requested a church conference to vote on disaffiliation
6 have held a church conference and voted to disaffiliate
I have held 8 Q & A sessions regarding the disaffiliation process and have one schedule for Thursday, September 15th at 1pm at Candor UMC, with more being scheduled.
I share this with you because we are on this journey together. These are not just numbers, they are representative of our brothers and sisters in Christ, of lives and communities and histories of salvation and ministry over generations dating back to Methodism’s birth in America.
We are on this journey together by God’s grace, and we will continue in that same
guiding and forming grace in the days, the weeks, the years, and generations to come to the glory of Christ our Savior.
Journeying with you and thankful for you, 
Dena
Recently, Andrew (Andy) Rollie Wolfe, of Birmingham, Alabama reflected on why he chooses to continue following Jesus in our United Methodist family. “We are told that there are two sides in the current turmoil: progressives and traditionalists. We are being asked to choose between them, like a child who is being asked to choose between two parents in a divorce. I choose not to choose.
For me this represents a false choice for a church which from its beginnings has brought together the best from many streams of Christian faith. Finding the connections is in our spiritual DNA. For Methodists, the choice is not faith OR good works, it is faith AND good works. Likewise, it is personal holiness AND social holiness; works of piety AND works of mercy, knowledge AND vital piety;
sacramental AND evangelical expressions of grace. For me, it is both “traditional” AND “progressive.”
Wesley was a “traditionalist.” His feet remained firmly planted in the church into which he was born and died. The instructions he sent to the fledgling Methodist movement in America were drawn with little change from the Anglican Articles of Religion.
But Wesley was also a progressive. He preached in the open air, licensed women as preachers, opposed slavery – all outside the box for the church of his time. I fear a church that is not both deeply rooted in tradition, but also open to new and often more faithful expressions of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
I do not want to live in an echo chamber. I appreciate both those voices calling me to faithfulness to the scriptures and tradition AND those voices calling me to a more faithful understanding of the faith. Both have shaped and continue to shape me.
I am grateful to be a part of a church that has brought me comfort when I needed it but, perhaps more importantly, a church that has made me uncomfortable when I needed to be made uncomfortable. As a child of the 50’s, I was brought kicking and screaming to the table over issues like women in ministry and racial equality. I was tied to the “traditional” ways we used to think about these. It took those other uncomfortable voices in the church to lead me to a more faithful understanding of the Gospel. My reluctance has become gratitude for those other voices through which I have heard God calling me to a greater faithfulness to Christ….
I shall remain a member of the church that is focused on who is included rather than who is excluded. For me, the cornerstone of John Wesley’s theology is the conviction that the love of God was in all and for all. Against any view of limited grace and atonement, Wesley declared the universal love of God for all. His life’s work was spent among those who the established church had written off. Our passion has been more about building bridges than about building walls. I love the words of the Charles Wesley hymn: Come sinner to the gospel feast, let every soul be Jesus’ guest, ye need not one be left behind, for God has bidden all humankind.
It has been said that Methodists talk too much about grace. Maybe we are guilty of that charge. But I, for one, am glad that we do. Are we a perfect church? No. Are we in need of reform? Lord, yes. I don’t know a church that isn’t or doesn’t! I choose to stay at home in the church that made a home for me.”