David Donnan

To My SGAUMC Friends,

One of my guilty pleasures is watching a show called Pro Football Talk with Chris Simms and Mike Florio. One of the topics they debate is if a football player deserves to be in the National Football League Hall of Fame. A criteria they use is by asking the question, “Can you tell the story of the NFL without talking about this player?”

This past summer, while twelve months into my appointment, my church voted to leave the United Methodist Church (UMC). In August, the South Georgia Annual Conference approved the church leaving. Also, in August I notified my District Superintendent I would be staying with my local church.

For a variety of nuanced reasons I decided to leave my theological home that has supported, nurtured, and fed me. However, I am not leaving in anger, bitterness, or animosity. I am leaving with a tremendous spirit of gratitude. 

While you can easily tell the story of the UMC and the South Georgia Conference of the UMC and not mention me one time, there is no way to tell my story without explaining the rich ways the Triune God has blessed me through the people, ministries and churches of this conference. 

At Cordele First UMC I was baptized as a child, confirmed as a middle schooler, and had a “strange warming of my heart” while in high school during a testimony from University of Georgia Wesley Foundation student testimony. In college, I grew as a student at the Georgia Southern University Wesley Foundation. I met my wife at Pittman Park UMC. As a director of youth ministry at Statesboro FUMC I felt a call to pastoral ministry and married my wife. Both my children have been baptized at the Hagan UMC. While serving Twin City UMC I was commissioned a provisional elder.

While I am optimistic of the good things God has in store for the future, I will not move forward without looking back and marveling at the ways God’s love, mercy, and grace have blessed me through the UMC and particularly the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church.

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Friends, while I do not mention my future plans here, I do plan to play a role in the future church I join. I understand this can lead to mixed emotions. If you see me posting and writing about a future of Methodism that is different from the path I was on, I understand how this can make you upset. Please know I understand if you need to take a break from following me on social media. I still plan to partner with UMC ministries in the future. If there is an appropriate way I can serve alongside you in the future, I eagerly look forward to it.

The current reality and the future of Methodism (and all of Christianity) will be global in nature.

The past years in the United States has made us weary of globalism. We have seen how supply chain issues during the pandemic have pointed out the fragility of our global infrastructure. We have seen jobs shipped over seas and the detrimental effect it has had on industries like steel as thousands of workers are displaced.

Yet, our legitimate worries about globalism should not make us weary of the global nature and mission of the church.

Here is brief survey of the Holy Scriptures with my emphasis added in bold.

• In Genesis 22:18 (CEB) God tells Abraham, “All the nations of the earth will be blessed because of your descendants, because you obeyed me.”

• In John 3:16 (NIV) Jesus says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

• In Acts 1:8 (ESV) Jesus says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

• In Revelation 7:9-10 (NKJV) we see what future worship looks like, “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'”

Recently a group of scholars gathered together to discuss the future of my stream of Christianity, Methodism. The key note speaker, David F. Watson, concluded his address by focusing on the global nature of the future Methodism.

One way in which change has already come to the church is in its global nature. As we think about this peculiar Methodist future, we must bear in mind that Methodism is now a global phenomenon, not just a Western one. This is a positive development, but it complexifies things quite a bit. The character of Methodism is already being shaped by people all over the world. It will be crucial that we enter into ongoing conversations about how core Methodist ideas such as holiness, sacramentalism, and accountability translate into different cultures across the globe. I have had the privilege of teaching Methodists in places such as Kenya, Cuba, Vietnam, Mexico, and Indonesia. Others of you have experience with Methodists in many other parts of the world. There is great need for both theological education and academic theological discourse in places outside of the Global West, and we need to be involved… 

As Philip Jenkins told us years ago in The Next Christendom, the church’s center of gravity has moved east and south. We in the West are the outliers. We are no longer the head, but the tail.  We are a rich tail, but a tail nonetheless. After centuries of Western dominance, the bulk of the Christian world is now in Africa and Asia, and Pentecostalism is making massive inroads in Latin America. 

We in the West are going to have to recognize that the Next Methodism will not be primarily a Western or white phenomenon. And as scholars of the next Methodism, we are going to have to learn to speak and write and listen across cultures. We would do well intentionally to collaborate with people from the majority world. It cannot simply be the colonial model of us teaching them. They will also teach us. We are going to have to make our work accessible to people who make less than $100 a month.

I can not say this emphatically enough. To shy away from the global nature of the church is to the detriment of God’s Kingdom and your own understanding of it. I know there are sincere concerns about globalism. To tie those concerns to the global nature of the church is misguided and incorrect. They are simply two different things.

To shy away from the world mission of God out of worries of globalism is the equivalent of giving up running 5k races out of concern of critical race theory being taught in schools. The two sound the same but are completely different.

Will your church continue to be a part of the global mission of the church? I pray it does and will continue.

A recent article by the Associated Press had the headline United Methodist bishops acknowledge breakup is imminent. It’s true that hundreds of churches in the United Methodist Church (UMC) will be leaving over the next year. The question is what will they be leaving to?

I wanted to have a page I could keep straight in my mind all the options out there. Here is a list of my predicted most likely landed spots.

#1 The Global Methodist Church

The majority of churches that leave the UMC and join another denomination will join the Global Methodist Church (GMC). The Global Methodist Church was started on May 1st. It is similar in theology to the United Methodist Church. The largest difference will be in the accountability of clergy and bishops. There are other significant differences however.

You can view this video where I interview Jay Hanson. Jay in on the Transitional Leadership Team of the Global Methodist Church

#2 Become an Independent Church

Many churches will become an independent church with a Wesleyan Theology. They may join another group later on. There could be more churches that become independent that actually join an official denomination. Large churches like The Porch Community Church in Valdosta, GA and Christ Church in Fairview Heights, IL have decided to independent.

Christ Church has a great video on what it means to be an independent church.

#3 The Free Methodist Church

One of the largest UMCs in Alabama, Frazier Memorial announced they were leaving the UMC and joining the Free Methodist Church.

Here is what Encyclopedia Britannica has to say about the Free Methodist:

Free Methodist Church of North America, also known as Free Methodist Church USA, Holiness church in the Arminian-Wesleyan tradition that emphasizes the doctrine of sanctification, a post-conversion process of spiritual and moral growth through prayer, Bible study, interaction with fellow believers, and simplicity of worship and lifestyle. The church was organized in 1860 by the Rev. B.T. Roberts and several associates after they were expelled from the Methodist Episcopal Church, which they had criticized for not maintaining the original standards of Methodism. 

#4 Wesleyan Church

From their website:

“The Wesleyan Church is the result of an 18th-century revival, two 19th-century movements, and a 20th-century merger . . . strong roots which sustain a 21st-century vision for spiritual transformation across North America and around the world.

In 1843, when the silence of America’s churches on the issue of slavery was deafening, a new denomination arose – an abolitionist denomination. Led by Orange Scott, the Wesleyan Methodists called for an immediate end to slavery. Wesleyans even planted anti-slavery churches in the South before the Civil War and were active in the Underground Railroad as well.”

12 Stone Church is a large Wesleyan Church in Lawrenceville, GA

#5 Anglican Church of North America

The Anglican Church of North America was formed out of the Episcopal Church in the USA in 2009. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was an Anglican Priest in England.

Popular authors like Winfield Bevins have added value to many Wesleyan pastors across denominational lines. I am sure some will look at what it means to align with Anglican Church in North America.

Honorable Mentions

There are a few dozen other denominations someone could pick from. I imagine it may come down to having prior relationships to individuals in these denominations that may make them attractive. These may not be likely but I would not be shocked to hear of a church aligning with these denominations.

1. The Church of the Nazarene
2. African Methodist Episcopal
3. International Fellowship of Bible Churches
4. The Church of God (Anderson, IN)

So if your church is changing, what will your new church’s name be? I actually wrote about that. You can read it here.