Report of your Lay Member to the Special Session of the Annual Conference
by Johnnie R. Simmons
Lay Member to the Annual Conference
There was a Special Called Session of the Annual Conference held in Athens, Georgia on November 18, 2023. It was my honor to represent Ben Hill as your Lay Member to the Annual Conference. Gloria Bouduouin and Pellum Peters are also Annual Conference delegates elected by the Ben Hill Charge Conference. This was a very sad occasion for the Central North District, the North Georgia Conference and United Methodist everywhere. The actions ratified by this Special Annual Conference resulted in the disaffiliation of 261 churches in North Georgia including one of our largest predominantly black congregations, St. James UMC of Alpharetta. The request of four churches to disaffiliate was not ratified (The Fountain UMC at Sugarloaf in Duluth, McEachern Memorial UMC in Powder Springs, Trinity UMC in Rome, and Griffin First UMC). All 261 churches will separate from the United Methodist Church effective November 30, 2023. These churches will be given an additional thirty days (December 30, 2023) to fulfill the terms of the Disaffiliation Agreement ¶ 2553 which were added to the Book of Discipline (BOD) at the 2019 General Conference. Paragraph 2553 of the BOD “allows a church to disaffiliate from the denomination for reasons of conscience regarding a change in requirements and provisions of the BOD related to the practice of homosexuality or the ordination or marriage of self-avowed practicing homosexuals”. One requirement is that these churches bring their 2023 apportionments current and pay an additional twelve months of apportionments.
The disaffiliated churches are free to operate as stand-a-lone entities or join another group (such as the Global Methodist Church). None of the disaffiliating congregations voted to leave at the 100% level (two-thirds majority of professing members in attendance required) which suggests that many members may leave their disaffiliating church and look to remain United Methodist by joining another UMC. This will be a very difficult decision for many who have grown-up and dedicated much of their time, energy and resources to their “home church”. Please be in prayer as so many agonize over decisions on where and how they will worship in the future. In addition, it appears that at least 40 clergy (from the 261 churches) will remain with the UMC and will be separating from their disaffiliated congregations. As the UMC has a guaranteed appointment system for ordained clergy, it appears we will have more clergy needing appointments than are currently available. Please pray for all clergy. In addition, we are likely to see more reductions and consolidations of districts and their support staffs. To help bridge the pay gap, the North Georgia Conference has agreed to fully compensate the approximately 40 clergy that remain with the UMC through June of 2024.
As of December 2023, approximately 440 churches will remain in the North Georgia Conference.
For more information on disaffiliation, please go to www.NGUMC.org/Disaffiliation-Process-and- Information.
