Sometimes, you really couldn’t make it up. There are some moments where the thought comes to mind: ‘How is that even a thing?’
Two recent examples spring to mind. In the first, the Methodist Church of Great Britain managed to approve two mutually-incompatible definitions of marriage: ‘Within the Methodist Church [marriage] is understood in two ways: that marriage can only be between a man and a woman; that marriage can be between any two people. The Methodist Church affirms both understandings…’ It’s just nonsense.
And in the second, the Bishop of Liverpool, Paul Bayes, said: ‘Let the world set the agenda … The world beyond the church has set the moral agenda, and those who kneel with our footballers, or who see no difference between attending the marriage of their gay or their straight friends or work colleagues, find the community of faith to be wanting and indeed increasingly offensive. Nowhere is that more true than in the area of human sexuality.’ Rubbish.
These are, therefore, difficult days for the 2,000 or so members of Methodist Evangelicals Together (MET). A decision has been made. What next? It is just possible that, looking ahead, some may find a home in the formation of the Global Methodist Church (GMC). This is likely to take place in September 2022 when it is expected the US-based but global United Methodist Church will formally approve a split into two separate denominations, a liberal one, and the conservative GMC.
The Church of England has yet to reach the same Methodist crunch point. But its evangelical leaders need to be well-prepared. The ‘Global Methodist Church’ sounds a bit like the ‘Global Anglican Future Conference’ (GAFCON)… Both have bishops, too. Is it too much to think some kind of future gospel unity might arise from these emerging groupings?
