Methodist Church Under Siege
The largest United Methodist church in the Atlanta metro area, Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church, finds itself under siege by its own liberal Bishop, Sue Haupert-Johnson and her minions. The latest attack by the bishop was to reassign the conservative and orthodox pastor, The Reverend Jodi Ray, to a newly "created "position within the North Georgia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. This was a thinly veiled attempt to replace the pastor with someone more aligned with the LGBTQ+ issues within the denomination. Officially the U.M.C. still maintains the traditional Biblical teachings on marriage, gender and sexuality, propped up by the African Church and a network of American pastors and laity within the church, but is largely ignored by the American bishops. Gay weddings are performed and gay pastors are ordained and foisted upon congregations. Not so much at Mt. Bethel U.M.C.,their pastor has refused the reassignment and is backed up by his congregation. The Church has begun a disaffiliation process with the denomination and Pastor Ray has surrendered his credentials as an ordained elder in the U.M.C.
In 2016 the General Conference, the U.M.C.'s global decision making body, voted to hold a special session to decide LGBTQ+ inclusion in the denomination , which has come up at every General Conference for the last 30+ years. The session strengthened the denomination's existing bans on ordination and marriage of LGBTQ+ United Methodists. Push back came from a faction that proposed a split of the denomination called, "A Proposal of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation." The final vote on this plan is not scheduled until August-September of 2022. The plan will basically split the denomination between liberals and the traditional Bible believing congregations. Everyone keeps their Church properties and goes on their separate ways. I would hope this works out as outlined, but the skeptic in me says probably not. The liberal left never gives up this easily and there is sure to be a battle royale over assets of the U.M.C. to come. The Wesley brothers will be spinning in their graves if they haven't begun to do so already. We should keep Mt. Bethel Church in our prayers as well as our Methodist brothers and sisters in Christ who stand firm for the Truth.