wfn.org | Large Maryland church plans to leave denomination

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

Oct. 29, 1999  News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-71B{578}

By Dean Snyder*

BALTIMORE (UMNS) - A United Methodist pastor reporting one of the largest
church memberships in the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference is
threatening to pull his congregation out of the denomination.

The Rev. C. Anthony Muse, pastor of Resurrection Prayer Worship Center
United Methodist Church in Brandywine, Md., has sent letters to clergy and
lay leaders throughout the conference, including copies of correspondence
addressed to Bishop Felton E. May that lists complaints against the
conference and the denomination. The letters also stated that Muse and the
congregation intend to withdraw from the United Methodist Church. 

May has asked Muse to surrender his ministerial credentials if his decision
to withdraw from the denomination is final.

Muse reports having the largest church membership in the conference. Last
year, he reported a membership of 4,259 and an average Sunday worship
attendance of 1,625, although neighboring pastors believe the numbers are
inflated. Resurrection Prayer Worship Center has two locations, one in
Brandywine and the other in Oxon Hill, Md. 

The church received national recognition last year when it was selected as
one of 25 resource centers for the United Methodist Church's program
"Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century." 

During the second week of October, local church lay leaders in the
Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference began receiving copies of an
unsigned, undated, six-page letter from Muse to the bishop. The letter
accused the conference and the denomination of lack of support, and it
stated that Muse and the congregation intended to leave the church.

Several days later, lay leaders received a signed letter from Muse stating
again that both he and his congregation had decided to withdraw their
membership from the United Methodist Church. 

"Knowing that we love our church and we love our bishop, however we can no
longer walk together with this denomination in ministry," the Oct. 14 letter
said. This signed cover letter included a postscript saying that it had
inadvertently been left out of the first mailing. 

Conference pastors later reported receiving both the unsigned letter and the
cover letter to May.

May, in an Oct. 21 letter to his conference pastors, said he had met with
Muse. 

"It was my sincere hope that Tony and his followers could be reconciled with
our conference and retain their affiliation with the denomination," he
wrote. "However, if Rev. Muse does intend to leave the United Methodist
Church, he must surrender his credentials. I have instructed him in writing
to do so if his decision is final." 

Muse accused the conference and denomination of undermining Resurrection
Prayer Worship Center's efforts to expand. "From a refusal to invest in our
church bond program, to a rejection of our requests for loans, to the
roadblocks deliberately placed before us in our effort to secure full
financing to finish our construction project, the conference has
demonstrated a total lack of concern for, understanding of, and sensitivity
to the struggle we have waged to meet the needs of an exploding
congregation," the unsigned letter alleged. 

"Yet, a pastor outside of the United Methodist Church stepped in, and within
a few DAYS, granted us $1 million to repay our denominational loans," it
added.  

However, the loans have not been repaid. To date, Resurrection Prayer
Worship Center has repaid only about $2,900 toward its conference loans,
according to the Rev. Jim Knowles-Tuell, conference treasurer. The
conference has made available nearly $600,000 in loans and security deposits
and a denominational agency had also offered to make another $600,000
available as a security deposit for the center.

The letter also accused the conference and denomination of covenantal
neglect, unfair assessment, abusive treatment, declining membership, lack of
harmony, insensitivity, abandonment of the teaching of Methodism founder
John Wesley, compromise of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and absence of
vision. 

Muse had not previously expressed disagreement with the denomination's
polity, theology, or social principles either on the floor of annual
conference, at conference meetings, or in writing to conference officials,
according to the bishop's office. 

May, in his letter to pastors, repudiated Muse's charge that the conference
and denomination had been less than fully supportive of Resurrection Prayer
Worship Center's effort to expand. 

"Indeed, as Rev. Muse's own letter effectively acknowledges, the conference
and General Board of Global Ministries have made more than $1 million
available to the congregation in the form of loans and deposits," he wrote.
"Few congregations in the entire denomination, never mind this conference,
have been the beneficiary of such generosity."

The bishop's letter said that he, the district superintendents, the
conference trustees, and other officials will develop a plan to minister to
those members of Resurrection Prayer Worship Center who wish to remain
United Methodists. Possibilities include maintaining the congregation at its
current location or combining the remaining members with those of one or
more nearby churches.

Continuing the United Methodist presence at the church's Brandywine location
is an option because Muse's congregation does not ultimately control the
property.

"The local United Methodist church holds the title to the property 'in
trust' for the entire denomination," said Mary Logan, attorney for the
denomination's General Council on Finance and Administration in Evanston,
Ill. 

"When a local church closes -- or a splinter group wants to leave the
denomination -- the annual conference is responsible under the Book of
Discipline for taking over the property, protecting, and perpetuating the
church's interests," she said. "The overarching goal is to make sure that
there is always a place for United Methodists to worship in the community,
and that clergy may freely spread God's Word both now and in the future."

That philosophy can be traced back to Wesley, she said. "He wanted to ensure
that pastors were free to preach the gospel from the pulpit, without the
risk of being removed from the church by congregants who didn't like the
Word, so he created the pastoral appointment structure. In order for this
structure to work, he also had to ensure that there was always a pulpit
where the pastor would be free to preach -- hence the trust clause. These
two parts of United Methodist polity are inextricably intertwined."  

"It remains my hope that we might find a way for Rev. Muse and his followers
to be reconciled..." May wrote at the conclusion of his letter. "Be assured,
however, that my office will act decisively and without hesitation to uphold
the discipline of the United Methodist Church for the sake of the mission
and ministry of Jesus Christ." 

# # #

*Snyder is director of communications for the Baltimore-Washington
Conference of the United Methodist Church.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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