To begin let me say this, in the United Methodist Church there is no constitutional provisions in our Book of Discipline that allows an annual conference to vote whether to leave the denomination. No Division, Section, or Article in the Constitution of The United Methodist Church has directly established or assigned such authority to the annual conference. On January 3, 2020, a group of United Methodists announced that they had unanimously reached an agreement for separating The United Methodist Church into different denominations as a way to resolve the disputes and dilemmas involving human sexuality. They described their agreement as a “protocol” for the action that they envisioned. Several weeks later, the group and their allies released a package of legislative proposals for implementing the so-called “protocol.” Although it was intended to be a petition to the 2020 General Conference, the package came too late for submission to the General Conference. However, under an option in c

Photo of the delegates and Church leaders from four Annual Conferences in Nigeria meeting at the Catholic Pastoral Centre, Mile 6 Jalingo Grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. We pray every one of you is doing well and staying safe at this unprecedented time. We are the leaders of the United Methodist Church in Nigeria, among us are General Conference delegates, Central Conference delegates, Annual Conference delegates, District leaders, local church leaders both clergy and laity. Our attention has been drawn to an impersonating article published by John Lomperis of the Institute on Religion and Democracy’s blog on March 18, 2021, claiming that Nigerian Leaders Support UMC Separation and reject Africa Voice of Unity. As Nigerian leaders, we want to debunk this false information and made it very clear to the public that the article and the statement thereof is a scam. Therefore we wish to debunk the said article and the purported statement by stating categorically

  By: Rev. Ande I. Emmanuel  Grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. I hope my African brethren are doing well wherever you are in this great continent of Africa. I am putting this presentation together to help our African brothers and sisters understand clearly what is going on in the United Methodist Church as we face the uncertainties of our next General Conference.   Currently, there are two major petitions before the United Methodist General Conference which when passed will determine our future together or apart. One of these petitions is called "Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation" this is the plan that is calling split in the United Methodist Church. The other petition is called "Christmas Covenant" this is the plan that is calling for unity of the United Methodist Church that allows contextual and regional ministry in the United Methodist Church. At the moment in Africa, two advocacy teams are working among Africans to

GC 2022   Press Release February 25, 2021 WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to the further postponement of the 2020 General Conference, the Council of Bishops (COB) is calling a Special Session of the General Conference of The United Methodist Church (UMC) to be convened online on May 8, 2021.   According to the call letter signed  by COB President Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, the Special Session will be held in accordance with Division Two - Section II - Article II of The Constitution of The United Methodist Church as recorded in Paragraph ¶14 of  The Book of Discipline  (2016).   The purpose of the 2021 Special Session of the General Conference will be limited to gaining a quorum in order to suspend the rules for the sole purpose of allowing the use of paper ballots to act upon 12 pieces of legislation that would enable the church to effectively continue its work until the postponed 2020 General Conference is held in 2022.  While other potential amendments were considered, it was agree

  Meeting on February 20, the Commission on the General Conference made a decision to further postpone the 2020 General Conference until August 29 – September 6, 2022 in Minneapolis, Minn. as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the safety of mass gatherings and travel. It is the Commission’s responsibility to select the site and set the dates of General Conference. Further, the  Book of Discipline  requires the Commission on the General Conference to "take necessary measures to assure full participation of all General Conference delegates." The Commission concluded that mandate was not achievable by means of either an in-person meeting in 2021 or a virtual meeting. In making the decision, the Commission determined that it was not feasible to safely hold an in-person meeting involving all delegates as currently scheduled for August 29 - September 7, 2021 due to a number of barriers: The number of COVID cases continues to rise, with nearly 2.49 million confirmed  cases  t

For those of you who are reading this for the first time, there are two groups for now in the United States of America who have indicated their interest to leave the United Methodist Church after the next General Conference because they are not satisfied with how the United Methodist Church is dealing with the issues relating to LGBTQ+ individuals. These two groups that are leaving for now are: (a) Wesleyan Covenant Association (WCA), a traditional group. You can read more about them here: https://wesleyancovenant.org. (b) Liberation Methodist Connexion (LMC), a progressive group. You can read more about them here: https://www.thelmx.org/ . These two new break-away denominations that are planning to leave the United Methodist Church after the next General Conference is seeking for people in Africa to join their Break-away denominations. The question is: Will Africa join the new denominations? Which one will Africa join? Is it the Wesleyan Covenant Association or the Liberation Methodi