My faith calls me to love everyone. It's time United Methodists moved forward.

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03-04-2025

When I think about the United Methodist churches throughout our great state, I think of words like grace, faith, courage, love, service and transformation. That's what I think about because I see it every day in worship communities large and small.
The almost 400 UMC churches share a Wesleyan connection that is anchored in grace and faith. That foundation gives us courage to love all people from diverse backgrounds, and it is that diversity that allows us to reach people in our communities and, ultimately, transform a broken world with action and mercy.
This is the faith tradition I've been a part of my entire life, and Methodist roots go back four generations in my family. These ideals are core to by soul.
However, if you are unfamiliar with United Methodism, the last few years might make you think of words like division, discord or disaffiliation.
That's because the UMC is only 15 months removed from the end of a two-year disaffiliation process that allowed churches who wished to exit our connectional system and the worldwide denomination to do so through a special clause agreed on by the international body called General Conference.
The division dates back to 1968, when the general conference at the time voted to insert controversial language that did not allow full inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals to become clergy or to be married in the church. Many in our denomination had been working for years to change the language in our Book of Discipline to establish a more inclusive future.
The majority of churches in the United States supported the full inclusion and welcomed the eventual change. However, some did not, and many of those individual churches felt it was better to take advantage of the short-term exit that allowed them to leave with their buildings and land. They separated from their denomination.
In some cases, the process to disaffiliate led to court cases and news coverage, which unfortunately overshadowed the UMC's long history of transformative work, placing the focus on the complicated work of church polity instead of the life-changing work of Jesus Christ.
The UMC churches who remained after disaffiliation — more than 70% of us — entered a new age in 2024 more unified and enthusiastic about the future without the division of recent years. You could feel that fresh energy at our annual statewide conference last May. It was tangible.
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But even with that energy, there will continue to be differences in how individual churches and individual United Methodists interpret scripture and live out their faith. There will always be room for those differences in the UMC tradition, so we were sad to see The Oklahoman's March 9 front-page article about the former First United Methodist Church in Waurika.
The article reported on the individual members' desire to keep worshipping in the UMC church property, but the 2022-23 window for the special disaffiliation clause that would have allowed that transfer of property was ended by our worldwide body. Regardless, those church members decided to leave the United Methodist connectional body and structure and are starting a new ministry in that community.
Our conference leaders wish those church leaders well as they navigate their future. After all, Christ's love is non-denominational. It's for everybody. We celebrate all healthy manifestations of Christian fellowship, and we hold no grudges.
But as members of the United Methodist Church, we value our connection. Each church throughout the state, whether is sits three blocks from the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Norman (McFarlin UMC) or three blocks from state highway 270 in Woodward (Faith UMC) ― those Christ-followers relentlessly serve their communities while being connected with United Methodists throughout the world with the singular mission to transform the world by living out our discipleship to Jesus Christ.
That is why I think about words like grace, faith, courage, love, service and transformation.
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As United Methodists in Oklahoma, we want to be an example of how a diverse group of people can disagree on politics or social issues, but engage in the messy middle ― loving, serving and breaking bread with all people.
Regardless of our differences, we support and strengthen one another to take action and make a difference — turning faith into something real, something seen and something lived.
God's love moves. So do we.
The Rev. Derrek Belase is the executive director of connectional ministry for the Oklahoma Conference of The United Methodist Church.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: United Methodist churches are enthusiastic about the future | Opinion