News Roundup - May 1, 2023

Below is a run-down of significant (United) Methodist stories from the past month. Notable this month are the many stories from the continent of Africa.

United Methodist mission organized in Madagascar: Bishop Joaquina Nhanala of Mozambique traveled to Madagascar to officially inaugurate a United Methodist congregation in the capital city of Antananarivo. UMNews covered the occasion with a story and photo essay: https://www.umnews.org/en/news/bishop-makes-historic-visit-to-madagascar and https://express.adobe.com/page/X8DUHKwa4rkkx/

United Methodist mission organized in the Republic of Congo: Bishop Daniel Lunge and other leaders of the Central Congo Episcopal Area traveled to the Republic of Congo (across the river from the Democratic Republic of Congo) to organize United Methodist mission efforts there: https://www.umnews.org/en/news/the-united-methodist-church-moves-across-congo-river

Global Ministries holds series of meetings in Africa: Global Ministries held a series of meetings in Maputo, Mozambique, including an Africa Mission Partners Consultation on April 17-19, a board of directors meeting on April 20-22, and two missionary-related events. Global Ministries and UMNews both covered the events: https://umcmission.org/news-statements/global-ministries-to-hold-series-of-meetings-in-maputo-mozambique-focusing-on-mission/, https://www.umnews.org/en/news/global-ministries-meetings-focus-on-mission-in-africa, and https://umcmission.org/news-statements/a-global-community-of-love-and-good-deeds-is-mission-goal/.

Africa Forum holds inaugural meeting: The United Methodist Africa Forum meet April 21-22 in South Africa to organize the new group and set out a vision for the UMC in Africa: https://um-insight.net/in-the-church/umc-global-nature/united-methodist-africa-forum-sets-priorities-names-leaders/.

United Methodists seek to grow agriculture in Africa: Global Ministries shared positive outcomes around Africa from a series of trainings for African United Methodists at the Songhai Center in Benin: https://umcmission.org/april-2023/songhai-training-ignites-new-drive-in-yambasu-agriculture-initiative-farmers/. The organization also approved additional funding for the Yambasu Agricultural Initiative: https://umcmission.org/april-2023/yai-transforms-lives-and-gives-hope-to-farming-communities-in-africa/. And Bishop Quire of Liberia talked about the hope for agriculture in his country: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLsyUda1x2M.

Liberia plans and partnerships for Gbason Town university campus and mission station: The United Methodist University of Liberia announced plans for new academic programs including in agriculture at its Gbason Town campus, the site of the from Gbason Town Mission Station: https://www.westafricanwriters.org/umu-president-dr-yar-donlah-gonway-gono-visits-umu-gbason-town-campus/. The Liberia and Norway Annual Conferences also renewed a partnership with roots in Norwegian missionary service in at the Gbason Town Mission Station: https://um-insight.net/in-the-church/umc-global-nature/liberia-and-norway-united-methodists/.

UMC health boards combat malaria in Africa: World Malaria Day was in April. Health boards of UMC episcopal areas in Africa are dedicated to fighting malaria, working in cooperation with Global Ministries: https://umcmission.org/april-2023/zero-malaria-theme-of-world-malaria-day-is-the-goal-for-umc-health-work/.

Bishop Paul Boafo elected president of the Africa Methodist Council: Bishop Paul Boafo, presiding bishop of the independent Methodist Church of Ghana, has been elected president of the Africa Methodist Council, a regional pan-Methodist body affiliated with the World Methodist Council: https://irishmethodist.org/world-mission-news/new-president-of-the-africa-methodist-council.

Romania decides to stay in the UMC: United Methodists in Romania have decided to remain in the denomination, a reversal from their joint decision with Bulgarian Methodists last year to leave. The UMC churches in Romania will now be linked to those in Hungary: https://www.emk.de/meldung/hoffnungsvolle-signale.

European United Methodists continue to respond to the war in Ukraine: United Methodists in various European countries continue to assist refugees and others impacted by the on-going war in Ukraine. The Central and Southern Europe Central Conference provides an update: https://www.umnews.org/-/media/umc-media/2023/04/26/21/58/united-methodist-church-europe-ukraine-refugees-4-25-2023.

Swiss Methodists host ecumenical conference on online church content: Swiss United Methodists organized and hosted the first-ever Swiss conference for Christian internet content creators. The conference garnered strong ecumenical participation across Protestant and Catholic groups: https://emk-schweiz.ch/2023/04/12/erstes-schweizer-netzwerktreffen-fuer-digital-content-creators/.

Rev. Izzy Alvaran discusses inclusion from a global perspective: Rev. Izzy Alvaran of the Philippines Central Conference and Reconciling Ministries Network discussed the intersectional nature of justice, the current state of the Philippines UMC, and the promise of regionalization on an episode of the Bar of the Conference podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4ttmYLOGcAzp7CzBUMtdlg.

Filipino UMC grows in Canada: The Greater Northwest Episcopal Area profiled a growing congregation of Filipino United Methodists in British Columbia, Canada. The congregation exists in partnership with the Greater Northwest Episcopal Area, the United Church of Canada, and Global Ministries: https://greaternw.org/news/first-umc-canada-grows-through-filipino-leadership-immigrant-community-connections/.

Recommended Reading: Central and Southern Europe Episcopal Election

The Central and Southern Europe Central Conference has been meeting the past several days to elect a successor to Bishop Patrick Streiff, along with other business, including discussions about the future of the central conference. After 4 rounds of balloting, delegates to the conference elected Rev. Stefan Zürcher as the new bishop for the central conference. Rev. Zürcher is the District Superintendent for the Northwest Switzerland District and a member of the UMC Connectional Table. Rev. Zürcher was the leading candidate in the first ballot and throughout, though 11 candidates received votes initially, and Rev. Andrea Brunner-Wyss received strong support into the final ballot as well.

Up Next: Episcopal Elections in Central and Southern Europe and the Philippines

For many United Methodists in the United States, attention was focused this past week on episcopal elections in the five US jurisdictions. Although those elections are now completed, that is not the end of United Methodist episcopal elections this year. Up next are elections in the Central and Southern Europe Central Conference and the Philippines Central Conference.

The Central and Southern Europe Central Conference will meet November 16-20 in Basel. The Central Conference will elect one bishop, with balloting to begin on Thursday, Nov. 17 and continue to Friday, Nov. 18 if necessary (full agenda here). Unlike in the United States, the Central and Southern Europe Central Conference does not provide information about publicly declared candidates prior to the election, a function of its smaller size with more personal connections and differing cultural understandings.

In addition to its episcopal election, the central conference will also discuss its round table process to address the future of the central conference in the light of varying views of sexuality and departures from the denomination (for more, see this article and this fact sheet, both in German).

Next, the Philippines Central Conference will meet November 24-26 to elect three bishops. All three episcopal seats in the Philippines are up for vote in every episcopal election. There are numerous declared candidates for the episcopacy in the Philippines, and the National Association of Filipino American United Methodists and the Philippines Central Conference College of Bishops organized candidates forums so that Filipino United Methodists can learn more about those candidates. Videos of full forums are available here: [1], [2], and [3], and excerpts from each of the candidates are available in this playlist. 

Note the role of the US-based National Association of Filipino American United Methodists in organizing a candidates' forum for the Philippines. This is a clear indication that many Filipino American United Methodists still have strong ties to their home country and the church there. Episcopal elections always have implications beyond the boundaries in which candidates are elected, and in some instances, this is especially so.

Recommended Reading: Bulgaria-Romania AC Votes to Leave UMC, Join GMC

The Bulgaria-Romania Provisional Annual Conference posted a report from their annual conference meeting detailing a vote to withdraw from The United Methodist Church and join the Global Methodist Church. This decision was hailed by Traditionalists in the United States, but Bishop Patrick Streiff of the Central and Southern Europe Central Conference, who oversees the Bulgaria-Romania Provisional Annual Conference, told that body prior to their vote that he did not understand why they wanted to separate.

The report by the Bulgaria-Romania AC is notable in that it makes clear the different understandings between the annual conference and Bishop Streiff on proper procedure in voting to separate from the UMC. The annual conference took the view that, according to Paragraph 33 of the Book of Discipline, it had ultimate authority to make decisions as it wished. Bishop Streiff indicated that the annual conference should follow the provisions of Paragraph 572, which is the only place in the Book of Discipline that lays out a procedure for an annual conference in the central conferences to separate from the UMC (a point reiterated in a subsequent letter). Bishop Streiff regarded the vote of the annual conference as out of order according to UMC rules, but the annual conference proceeded anyway. Bishop Streiff indicated that he would regard the Bulgaria-Romania Annual Conference as an autonomous church (the result of separation under Paragraph 572), but the conference reiterated that they intended to join the Global Methodist Church.

In the end, whether or not the decision properly followed UMC rules may be moot. The Bulgarian church already changed its articles of incorporation under Bulgarian law. The Central and Southern Europe Central Conference may have little legal recourse to opposing the decision and little incentive to fight a unanimous decision by the annual conference.

Traditionalists in the United States are likely to want to use the Bulgaria-Romania conference's decision as a precedent, but it is worth pointing out the special circumstances of this case. Bishop Streiff clearly indicated that he regarded the move as illegal according to church law. But because of the complexities law involved in resolving disputes about church law across national boundaries and different secular legal systems, that objection is hard to pursue. Within the United States, church law is likely to matter more to secular legal processes.

What now? Europe Caught Between Crises

Today's post is by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Mission Theologian at the General Board of Global Ministries. It is the third in a series examining issues in The United Methodist Church following the further postponement of General Conference to 2024. The opinions and analysis expressed here are Dr. Scott's own and do not reflect in any way the official position of Global Ministries.

Having looked last week at the implications of the postponement of General Conference on African United Methodists, this week I will look at Europe. The context of European United Methodism is complex and varied, as this recent summary of Methodism in Europe put forward by European United Methodists makes clear.

Relative to the main focus of division within The United Methodist Church presently, there are differing views and laws on homosexuality between Western and Eastern Europe. However, views on sexuality are not the only salient part of United Methodist identity in Europe. Instead, there are multiple cross-cutting forces that pull European United Methodists, especially those in Eastern Europe, in different directions.

European United Methodists in all countries are a small minority defined against both largely secular societies and dominant churches from other traditions. In the face of such religious pressures, connections across countries have historically been important in Europe. This was even more true under Communist rule in Eastern Europe, and the emphasis on connectionalism is sustained not just by the machinery of United Methodist polity but by shared ministries and educational endeavors.

This tradition of shared ministry also recognizes Eastern European United Methodism’s financial dependence on Western European United Methodism. The church in most of Eastern Europe is not financially self-sustaining, and the sorts of social witness in which the church is engaged, including ministry with the Roma and other marginalized people, relies on monetary contributions from Western Europeans.

Based on the history of the Iron Curtain, United Methodists (and others) in Eastern Europe fear Russian domination. Therefore, even prior to the Russian invasion, the Ukraine Moldova Provisional Annual Conference had requested to withdraw from the Eurasia Episcopal Area, not because of distaste for Bishop Khegay personally but because of political realities that made being supervised from Russia difficult.

Thus, there are real differences in opinions on sexuality between Western and Eastern European United Methodisms, but there are also religious, connectional, financial, and (for countries other than Russia) political reasons why links between East and West are important.

Given that situation, Europeans have been discussing the future of the UMC in Europe even before General Conference 2019. General Conference 2019, however, certainly intensified questions about that future, with different parts of the European Central Conferences reacting differently.

Three of the four European bishops (Rückert, Alsted, and Streiff) have supported continued connection, though Bishops Alsted and Streiff have also announced their intention to retire. Bishop Khegay has previously indicated that his episcopal area would join the Global Methodist Church.

In May of last year, the bishops worked with other European leaders to lay out a timeline for moving forward as European United Methodists. How that timeline will be impacted by the further delay of General Conference remains to be seen.

Following General Conference 2019, the Germans rejected the Traditional Plan and formed a process of roundtables to discern a system by which the UMC in Germany (German initials: EmK) could remain united, despite internal disagreements on sexuality. That roundtable’s work has been completed, leading to affirmation of removing discriminatory language from the German Book of Discipline and creating a league for traditionalist Germans to support one another. This plan has been ratified by the central conference executive committee, but it has not been affirmed by vote of the Central Conference, which has not yet met due to the delay in General Conference meeting. The further delay in General Conference raises questions about whether German United Methodists will want to convene their central conference to ratify the roundtable’s work.

Both the Central and Southern Europe Central Conference and the Nordic and Baltic Episcopal Area also announced similar roundtable processes. The work of those roundtables has not progressed as far as the German roundtable, and that work remains ongoing. These roundtables have been complicated by greater variation within those areas of Europe than within Germany.

In the Central and Southern Europe Central Conference, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Romania have indicated that they may withdraw and join the new Global Methodist Church. However, Eastern Europe WCA leader and Bulgarian District Superintendent Daniel Topalski acknowledged in a WCA podcast all the factors outlined above that make the question of the future of The United Methodist Church in Eastern Europe a complicated one. He also indicated a distrust common across Europe of being treated as an afterthought by Americans making plans for the church’s future. Topalski will be wrapping up his time as district superintendent soon, though he will undoubtedly remain influential in Bulgaria and beyond.

On top of all these layers of complication, the war in Ukraine has added a new dimension of complexity. The war has further cemented Eastern European distrust of Russia (and therefore opposition to ecclesiastic leadership based in Russia). It has made connections between the church in Russia and any Western branch of Methodism—UMC or Global Methodist Church—much more politically fraught for Russian Methodists. And it has galvanized the connectional system so that European United Methodists across countries are working together to respond in generosity and compassion to Ukrainian refugees and other Ukrainians impacted by the war.

Due to the context of complicated religious, cultural, and political factors, a church split in the UMC was never going to be easy for European United Methodists. The timing of the split, coinciding with the war in Ukraine, has made it even worse. Many important questions – about central conference meetings, episcopal elections, roundtable processes, and decisions to stay UMC or leave for the Global Methodist Church – remain up in the air. But unlike American United Methodists, European United Methodists are currently confronted with something much more pressing than church politics: the largest war in their continent in 80 years.

Recommended Viewing: Meet Bishop Patrick Streiff

As part of the "Get Your Spirit in Shape" podcast series, Joe Iovino interviewed Patrick Streiff, Bishop of the Central and Eastern Europe Central Conference. Their conversation included Bishop Streiff's experiences growing up in Switzerland, his intellectual influences, his study of John Fletcher, and his work as a bishop in one of the most nationally, linguistically, and culturally diverse parts of The United Methodist Church. The interview provides an interesting glimpse into some of the experiences of European United Methodists.

Recommended Readings: Central and Southern Europe Study Group Process

Previous UM & Global updates on United Methodist in Europe after General Conference 2019 have omitted the situation in the Central and Southern Europe Central Conference. Here's a quick rundown of how things have unfolded there:

At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Central Conference in March, there were tense discussions about the widely varying opinions about gay marriage and gay ordination held by leaders within the Central Conference. In the light of this division, the Executive Committee approved the formation of a study group to investigate possible scenarios for future relations among the constituent annual conference.

A press release issued just prior to the second meeting of the study group last week (the first meeting was in June) clarified the stakes for the central conference of the possibility of structural changes. As the press release stated, "If positions within the Central Conference remain as they currently stand, a separation would be inevitable. However, each of the resulting sub-entities would no longer be big enough to be organized as a full standing central conference with the right to elect a bishop. This was a new discovery also for Bishop Streiff. In light of the planned election of his successor in 2021, it attracted attention and threw a spotlight on the importance of the pending decisions."

The process remains on-going, with a final report by the study group expected to be delivered to the Central Conference Executive Committee next March.

UMC Communications in East Congo and Central and Southern Europe

Today's post is by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Assistant Professor of Religion and Pieper Chair of Servant Leadership at Ripon College.

Earlier this week, I wrote a post about whether or not all annual conferences, all around the world, should submit news reports of the proceedings of their annual conferences, as you can find here for most 2014 annual conference meetings in the United States and the Central and Southern Europe Episcopal Area.  I noted the challenges that face many annual conferences in the central conferences in terms of resources to produce such reports.

In a coincidence of timing, GBGM posted an article the next day that had originally appeared in the November-December issue of the New World Outlook magainze.  This article detailed the communication challenges facing the Congo East Episcopal Area.  These challenges, which include lack of internet connectivity, lack of equipment, and lack of infrastructure, are exactly the sort of challenges I had in mind when I wrote my piece on Tuesday.  It's nice to see them confirmed in a official news article.

The good news from the article is that Bishop Gabriel Unda has pledged to improve and develop the communications department of the Congo East Episcopal Area.  Much of that effort is focused on internal communication (including via radio broadcast), but perhaps with God's blessing on the bishop's efforts, we will see reports from the annual conferences in Congo East on the 2015 roll call of annual conference news.

The UMC in Germany also just published another relevant article, an interview with Bishop Patrick Streif of the Central and Southern Europe Episcopal Area.  The interview (in German) covers, among other things, the difficulties involved in supervising an area that stretches from North Africa and France to the Balkans and Poland.  Bishop Streif mentions the importance of central conference meetings and partner churches, but we may also presume that good communication is an important ingredient.  Perhaps that is why his episcopal area was the sole one outside the US to submit reports about their annual conferences - They know that sharing news and communicating is what allows the church to stay together across national and cultural borders.