Proposed UMC Protocol’s Day Has Passed, Some Negotiators Claim

By Heather Hahn

A much-trumpeted plan for amicable separation unveiled in early 2020 no longer offers a path forward for The United Methodist Church, say more than a quarter of the agreement’s negotiators.

Five of the 16-member mediation team released a statement late June 7 rescinding their support for the agreement.

In the statement, they said, “we can no longer in good faith support the Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace through Separation or work towards its adoption at the next General Conference.” The denomination’s top lawmaking assembly is now delayed to 2024.

What has changed the calculus, they say, is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the launch of a theologically conservative breakaway denomination. Read More

A number of churches have already voted to leave the United Methodist Church and to join the Global Methodist Church or become independent. Some have voted to join the Free Methodist Church. In several communities members of a church that is remaining in the UMC have migrated to a church that is leaving, significantly reducing the size of the congregation of the church which is remaining to the point that it may not be viable. The proposed protocol would have allowed conservative, centrist, and progressive churches to part company on relatively good terms. The Christmas Covenant does not do that. It would devolve authority to determine matters related to human sexuality to the regions. The split in the UMC is well under way. It would not stop the split. The negotiators who have withdrawn their support of the proosed protocol are only going to make things more difficult.