Staying United Methodist at Christ Church

On April 22, 2023, there was a called session of Holston Annual Conference to address one business item: to vote on accepting the request of 264 churches to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church. 578 churches remain in Holston. The percentage of members (comprising those 264 churches) leaving is 21%.

 

The Conference took place at Central UMC in Knoxville. Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett led the Conference in worship and served Communion, then the vote was taken, and those requests were affirmed. Some media have portrayed this as a “split” or “breakup” of the Church. It was not. It was several churches asking to leave. We lament their decision, and we still love them as brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

Last October, our Christ Church Council voted unanimously not to enter that disaffiliation process at this time but will wait to see what happens in May of 2024 at the General Conference session of United Methodists from around the world (the only official decision-making body of The United Methodist Church). We believe that efforts to recruit churches and pastors to rush to disaffiliate has been based in speculation, fear, and mistrust. We have chosen instead to keep the “people of Christ” focused on our mission and ministry, “learning to live the way of Jesus Christ and inviting all to follow him.”

 

If you have any questions or want to discuss this further, please feel free to contact any of our pastors or Becky Hall, our Executive Director, who is also the Lay Leader of Holston Conference and a member of our General Conference delegation. Also, you can go here and find more information. Finally, you are encouraged to go to the Holston Conference website and watch the Conference from Saturday, particularly focusing on the speakers after the break (at about the two-hour mark), who spoke of who we are and where we go from here. Along with the bishop, one of those speakers was Becky Hall.
 

Serving Christ,

Nathan Malone, Senior Pastor