The Time is Urgent for Bible-Believing United Methodists
(John Lomperis) The decades-long battle for the soul of the United Methodist Church (UMC) is now lost. A liberal faction has secured an increasingly hostile takeover.
Christians outside of the UMC, please share this article with any Bible-believing United Methodist friends, to show the urgency of quick action. Please also learn from our mistakes.
Theologically conservative United Methodists, we have a soon-to-expire, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lead our congregations out of a rapidly radicalizing, declining denomination without losing our church buildings, which are technically “held in trust” for the denomination
Sadly, some denominational officials and even pastors of conservative-leaning congregations suppressed information or actively misled people about the UMC’s new leftward shift and our slow-motion schism.
This is no longer the UMC as we have known it. As documented on www.umchoices.org, the UMC’s increasing embrace of gay weddings brings with it increasing radicalism on a range of other theological and social issues.
Already, over 2,000 U.S. congregations have left the UMC, with at least as many in the pipeline.
Entire United Methodist regions outside of the U.S. have already begun departing.
Yes, the UMC’s official doctrinal and moral standards remain biblical, including forbidding gay weddings. But these “on paper” standards do not reflect reality.
This has a long history in the UMC and our predecessor denominations. Early on, we relaxed our counter-cultural, socially costly Christian stance against the evils of American slavery. Then we became increasingly lax in doctrinal accountability.
So, for many years, there has been no clear, universally agreed upon core of doctrine to which all United Methodist clergy actually have to affirm. One newly elected bishop, Kennetha Bigham-Tsai, has even declared that in the UMC, “it is not important that we agree on who Christ is.”
Despite much rhetoric about the UMC supposedly being a big happy family of conflicting theological views, this is unworkable. Indeed, the “big tent” never really worked well for us. I have yet to meet any loyalist of any of the UMC’s unofficial but influential liberal caucus groups who meaningfully views an evangelical Christian like me as a beloved brother in Christ.
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Sad. The excuse those who are staying as “lighthouse church” (I kid you not thinking they are a lighthouse for those who want to stay) is that those leaving “only wanted their buildings.” But I will say those leaving haven’t articulated the Biblical basis for them leaving well at all. The devil will be coming after them if they don’t stick to God’s Word and preach the Word.
Last night I had this conversation. I was talking about discovering a new Anglican church springing up in my area and how nice that was. One lady in my UMC church says her friend went there but didn’t “like it” and came to the UMC only to see them split “to keep their buildings.”
I believe it is easier for the delusional people staying in the UMC to say “they left to keep their buildings” (which by the way I TOTALLY agree with – who paid for those buildings? The people did. Not the UMC) than to admit they are making the conscious choice to go against God’s Word. People it is time to choose: God is either righteous and true or God is a liar. Choose.