Breakaway group seeks to become organized church in October
9/2/1998 News media contact: Linda Green · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn by United Methodist News Service The members who left First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Neb., are working to form a new congregation by the end of October.
Since June, the 350 members known as the United Methodist Laity Fellowship have been discussing with Nebraska Annual Conference officials the possibility of forming a new church.
The group moved away from the 1,900-member First United Methodist Church and began worshipping at a high school last spring. Their move came after the senior pastor, the Rev. Jimmy Creech, was acquitted March 13 in a clergy trial on charges of disobeying the order and discipline of the denomination for performing a same-sex union ceremony at First Church.
In 1996, the General Conference adopted a statement barring the performance of homosexual unions by United Methodist ministers and in the denomination's churches.
Leaders of the United Methodist Laity Fellowship have been meeting with the Rev. Ron Croom, Omaha district superintendent, since July.
"During my first week, I met with some of the leadership of the group and talked about the process," Croom said. He has been supervisor of the 35 United Methodist churches in the Omaha area since July 1.
The most recent meeting between the group's leaders and conference officials occurred Aug. 24.
"We found them to be most cooperative, very supportive, eager to assist, interested in being able to find a way to accomplish all of our goals," said Linda Funk, chairperson of the group's leadership team. The nine-member team is structured in the same way as the administrative council of a fully organized United Methodist Church.
The fellowship seeks to create a church that firmly adheres to church tradition, incorporates a balanced vision of mission and ministry, and takes seriously the spiritual needs of its members. "We are investigating the possibility of becoming a fully organized United Methodist church by the end of October," Funk said.
The group will submit a proposal to the Omaha District Committee on Congregational Development on Sept. 3. Then it will meet with the committee as well as with the district board of church location and building and the conference congregational development committee by the end of the month.
The proposal will include information on the proposed congregation's ministry area or geographic boundary, location, charter members, genuineness of faith and purpose, name, budget and pastoral support. The procedure of beginning a new church is covered in the 1996 Book of Discipline, in paragraphs 263, 631.5j, 2519, 2520, 2521, 2522, 2543.4, 2543.5 and 2543.7.
The group plans to remain temporarily in its current location. A permanent site will be chosen with the help of data provided by the Percept market research firm.
"We will use Percept data for the city, choosing a location that would not conflict with another United Methodist Church and with neighborhoods to draw from," Croom said.
It is important for any emerging congregation to have a clarity of purpose and know how it plans to market itself and minister to the community, according to Rod Conser, chairperson of both the Omaha District and Nebraska Conference congregational development committees.
It is unusual for a group that splits from another United Methodist church to start a new congregation, Croom acknowledged, adding that the group wants leadership and direction.
"What do we do as the church to respond to that to include them within the fold?" he asked. "We need to consider their request and seriously and prayerfully discern God's will in light of their request."
If the process moves ahead positively, he said, "we could be setting a charter date with them in the near future."
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The above story was adapted from an article written by Cheryl Edwards, editor of the Nebraska Messenger, the newspaper of the Nebraska Annual Conference.
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