wfn.org | One Tennessee church withholds funds, another postpones decision

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

July 7, 1998	Contact: Thomas S. McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville,
Tenn. 10-21-71B {401}

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -  The withholding of money from denominational
causes has been postponed by a large United Methodist Church in Memphis,
Tenn., at least until after the denomination's top legislative body
meets in the year 2000.  

Meanwhile, a smaller congregation in Savannah, Tenn., has announced it
is withholding about $15,000 from the denomination as an "act of
conscience" because it deems the church's policy against homosexuality
inadequate.

After what was described as a year of "careful review and weeks of
constant prayer and discussion," Christ United Methodist Church in
Memphis adopted a plan July 6 to encourage renewal within the
denomination.  

If the General Conference meeting in Cleveland makes "no substantial
improvement," then  the 6,211-member church will "seriously consider the
redirection of apportionments or other methods to restore the
denomination," according to a statement issued after the meeting of the
church's administrative board. Apportionments represent money requested
from local churches for mission and ministry both in the annual
(regional) conference and around the world.

While Christ Church is delaying any specific action to withhold funds,
provisions are being made immediately for members to designate their
giving to a "local operations account." Annual conference and churchwide
apportionments for the church total about $800,000 for 1998.

Leaders of the 455-member East End United Methodist Church in Savannah,
Tenn., near the Alabama-Mississippi border, want the denomination's Book
of Discipline to say that homosexuality is a sin requiring repentance.  

Official church policy, established by the General Conference in 1996,
says the practice of homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian
teaching" but that homosexuals are "persons of sacred worth."  The
church bars the ordination or appointment of "self-avowed practicing
homosexuals" but insists that all people, regardless of sexual
orientation, are entitled to have their human and civil rights ensured.

Nashville Area Bishop Kenneth Carder said withholding money is an
ineffective tactic that only punishes the many ministries of the
denomination.

Kirk Crotts, lay leader of the Savannah church, told The Tennessean
newspaper that the congregation would decide how to spend its
apportionments, probably earmarking them for other ministries. He called
the United Methodist Church a "sleeping giant" that "needs to open its
eyes." 

"The Baptists took a stand on this before it had a chance to get out of
hand," he said. "It's time for the Methodist Church to get off their
blessed assurance and fall down to their knees before God."

At their July 6 meeting, administrative board members of Christ Church
in Memphis voted 80 to 36 to initiate a "Barnabas" plan to "seek
accountability for the bishops, boards, agencies and other official
representatives of the United Methodist Church" and to require that they
be loyal to the "doctrine and ethics of our Wesleyan faith and
discipline as described in our Book of Discipline."

A Barnabas Committee is being created to "direct the renewal ministry"
of the congregation.  Representatives are to express concerns at the
governing board meetings of the churchwide Board of Global Ministries
and Board of Church and Society. They will also "coordinate and expand"
the church's involvement in the Confessing Movement, an unofficial
United Methodist organization created in 1994 that stresses the
importance of the denomination retrieving its "classical doctrinal
identity."

Resolutions will be developed for the 1999 Memphis Annual Conference
sessions and the 2000 General Conference. The committee will work with
other congregations and members to petition the General Conference to
"provide accountability from the boards and agencies."

"Active correspondence" is also planned with bishops and other church
leaders regarding concerns over "same-sex unions, partial birth
abortion, and other issues that deviate from biblical teaching and
ignore the theological doctrines in the Book of Discipline."

The Rev. William R. Bouknight has been senior pastor at Christ Church
for four years. The Rev. Will Wells was appointed pastor of the Savannah
church last month.

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