UCRP
and UMC
must change
UCRP may be a little church on the corner of Morse and Ashland Avenue, its resolve of being a “church on the hill,” a light for the Methodist Church giving an example what Christ taught.
Both our local church and the world-wide United Methodist Church [UMC] are going through some major changes. Church attendance has dropped so that both UMC and United Church of Rogers Park [UCRP] must look at what to do next.
Attendance
Church attendance has dropped so that both UMC and United Church of Rogers Park [UCRP] must look at what to do next.
UMC is the largest of the seven major American Protestant Churches. [1] All the denominations are reporting decline in attendance.
When the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged in 1968, it made a membership of 11 million making it the largest Protestant Church.[2] Their membership dropped to 10 million in 1975. This was the start of the question whether LGBTQ+ people were “Incompatible with Christian teachings.” [3] The numbers have dropped even further to 6 million in 2020.
fifty-year issue coming to a head
This LGBTQ+ issue continue being usually the number one issue at each of the General Conference gatherings [the body that set official policy and speak for the UMC]. Fifty years this hot topic reigned that in 2019 the General Conference voted on three ways to move forward for the UMC:
1. One Church Plan –
allow each conferences make their own decisions on the LGBTQ+ people being fully accept within the UMC.
2. Connectional Conference Plan –
churches join one of three conferences within the United States to their understanding on this issue.
3. Traditional Plan -
keep the anti- gay language that no clergy could be “Self-avowed, practicing homosexual.”
The Traditional Plan passed which affirms the church’s current bans on ordaining LGBTQ clergy and officiating at or hosting same-sex marriage. It also boosts penalties and accountability for transgressions of those bans. The Conservative UMC members called that the Progressive UMC members must change their stand or leave the UMC.
After the shock wore off that a church excludes other Christians, the Progressive UMC members took a stand that they had for the past fifty years to continue strive for change within the UMC to include all God’s children – gay and straight allies.
Instead of the Progressive UMC members leaving, the Conservatives decide to leave instead. A schism within the United Methodist Church was occurring.
schism
[ siz-uhm, skiz- ]
noun
division or disunion, especially into mutually opposed parties.
the parties so formed.
Turns out schism is nothing new for the church. It’s in our blood. It’s right there in the history books.
Methodist have been doing schism for a very long time. Perhaps what is different this time is that we haven’t split YET over this issue. In the past, splits took place every 20 years on average.
The last major split in the church occurred in the 1840s, when the question of slavery opened a rift in America’s major evangelical denominations. For years, the churches had successfully contained debates over the propriety of slavery. Denominational leaders, clergymen and parishioners largely agreed to disagree. When the schism did finally come, many observers worried that the inability of the churches to maintain unity portended something far more serious. And they were right.
Amid handwringing over the current state of political polarization, it’s worth revisiting the religious crackup of the 1840s. The United States is not likely staring down the barrel at a second civil war, but in the past, when churches split over politics, it was a sign that country was fast coming apart at the seams.
The current schism was to happen in 2020, but COVID delayed the General Conference from gathering. The Traditional Methodist have formed their own domination before UMC General Conference meets to work out the division. They call their new domination Global Methodist Church.
As of 31 December 2023, twenty-five percent of churches have disaffiliated from the UMC. Churches from the southeastern part of the United States account for the most disaffiliation at 50%. These churches were mostly white members [97%]; less likely to have an Elder[1] as their Pastor [37%]; their lead or pastor was male [81%].
In the Northern Illinois Conference, only 8 churches disaffiliated from the UMC. As of 1 June 2023, in Wisconsin, 43 churches in the Wisconsin Conference disaffiliated from the UMC.
SAS
For UCRP’s part of change is our coop model. At the start of the coop we had two pastors serving 4 churches. This was a new model – in away like the Circuit Riders of ole. [5] Today, there are more clergy than churches. Just the same, the clergy are spread thin with the 3 churches. UCRP and the Northshore Coop need a change.
UMC is made up of clergy and laity together in leadership and policy. General Conference is made up equal numbers of clergy and laity. Back in the days of higher membership, local churches leadership had 2 Administrative Boards, 4 must have committees [Finance, Trustees, Staff-Parish, and Nomination], and numerous committees [Worship Committee, UpLift]. Back in the 1970s, local churches went down to just 1 Administrative Board, 4 must have committees, and a few committees.
The local church level, the laity outnumber the local clergy. There are three exceptions: At the Staff-Parish, the clergy must be presence [the minister or District Superintendent] at all these meetings; the pastor has authority to override the Worship Committee; and the pastor is chair of the Nominations Committee. These three differences give some balance to the clergy.
Today, UCRP is looking into a smaller leadership model by reviewing Simplified, Accountable Structure model [SAS] which moves our church from four administrative committees to one Leadership Board encapsulating all responsibilities and authority of the previous four separate administrative committees in compliance with the UMC Book of Discipline in Paragraph 247.2. The chart is just an example the this proposed governed structure for UCRP.
For the next few months, the co-op is planning monthly Town Hall meetings about the structure of the co-op. These meetings will be every 4th Sunday of the month. All are welcome to these monthly meetings.
Join us for the Northside Co-op Churches Town Hall on Sunday, March 24, at 3:00 PM, held online via Zoom.
This gathering is an excellent chance for our community to connect and share valuable insights.
Please access the meeting through this Zoom link (The Zoom link will be provided closer to the Town Hall Date)
This month’s Town Hall will outline the different pastor’s roles in the churches and co-op, and announce our design team, which will begin their work on April 28th.
You can attend in person at UCRP or vitrual by Zoom:
https://goldininstitute.zoom.us/j/4809420687
Meeting ID: 480 942 0687
+13126266799,,4809420687# US (Chicago)
[1] The seven major American Protestant are:
· United Methodist Church (USA);
· Christian Church (Disciples of Christ);
· Presbyterian Church (USA);
· Episcopal Church;
· Evangelical Lutheran Church in America;
· American Baptist Churches (USA);
· and the United Church of Christ.
[2] In 1969, after the merge, the UMC reported 11,026,976 members.
[3] In 1972, newly adopted United Methodist Social Principles included the first statements on homosexuality and the right of divorced people to remarry. The decades-long church debate on homosexuality begins. In The Book of Discipline, the sentence, "We do not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider it incompatible with Christian teaching," is added to the phrase, "Persons of homosexual orientation are persons of sacred worth." The Discipline also makes the first reference to homosexual unions: "We do not recommend marriage between two persons of the same sex."
[4] Elders are ordained United Methodist clergy who are ordained to a ministry of Word, Sacrament, Order, and Service.
[5] In the late 1700s, there were not enough clergy to fill positions of Methodist Churches. Clergy would ride a circuit of churches by horseback seeing that the congregations received the sacraments, usually visiting a church once a month. These devoted clergy were referred as “Circuit Riders.”
Click here to return to UPCOMING EVENTS page