After a four year delay, the 2020 session of the General Conference of the United Methodist Church is only weeks away. Soon, delegates will gather in Charlotte to debate legislation that will shape the future of our church and, perhaps, decide the future for several of our annual conferences. Mississippi has been hit particularly hard by disaffiliation and there is legislation that would allow disaffiliation to continue in one form or another. I’ve been through this with a congregation and I do not care to go through it again for a myrid of reasons. To that end, I have emailed the delegates (well, the ones I could find email addresses for) and expressed my views on the legislation. Find the contents of that email below. If you would like to contact your delegates to express the same views, feel free to take what I have written and adapt it for your context.
Above all: Pray for our delegates and the proceedings of General Conference. This one is going to be tense and it’s vital that there is focus on God’s kingdom above all.
Dear Delegates:
I greet you in the name of our risen savior Jesus. I pray you all had a great Easter and that you received anew the blessing of resurrection!
I want to take a moment to say a couple of things. First, know that I’m praying for all of you as General Conference draws near. The time it takes to prepare and the sacrifice of time away has to take a toll and I hope you all don’t think it goes unnoticed. Especially in the difficult season we find ourselves in, I know your jobs are not easy and I appreciate your willingness to serve and to represent Mississippi United Methodists at General Conference.
With that in mind, we’re all aware of the impact that disaffiliation has had on the Mississippi Annual Conference. I’m not sure how many of you have had to deal with disaffiliation at the church level but I can tell you that it’s painful. When Pleasant Hill in Lucedale disaffiliated, I was serving there. While things were not as ugly as I have heard from other pastors in other appointments, I received my share of vitriol and abuse directed at me from certain individuals because I did not support disaffiliation and would not encourage the congregation to leave. I was accused of not being a real Christian and of being unfaithful to God. In short: It was the most difficult season of ministry I have ever endured (that word was used intentionally). The toll it took on my family was also immense. I’m healing but there was harm done. I can only imagine how much more harm has been done in other places as well as the cumulative harm done to the conference.
I urge you all to prayfully consider voting against any disaffiliation proposals that come before your committees and the plenary. Our first general rule has been broken numerous times because of Paragraph 2553 and the harm is being continued through the closure policy adopted by the conference trustees. The intent may have been good, but the only thing accomplished is increasing the already tremendous pain being felt throughout our annual conference. Because of how this policy has been implemented, the appointment making process must be a difficult, if not impossible, task right now, due to the uncertainty and the number of congregations that exercised Option C. I predict we will have clergy finding out at annual conference that they will be moving, needless to say a less than ideal situation for all parties involved.
As a colleague stated in a meeting last year: “Human sexuality is the excuse, but power and property are the reasons.” We should not be enablers of harm any longer.
I truly believe the future viability of the Mississippi Annual Conference is in your hands and the rest of General Conference. I appreciate your time and consideration of my comments. Please reach out if you have any questions.
In Christ,
Rev. Jonathan Tullos