Key points:
- United Methodist Men has ended its affiliate relationship with the National Association of Conference Presidents.
- The dispute is about the level of authority the association has under church law.
- Leaders of the general agency and national association offered hope for reconciliation.
The general agency that oversees United Methodist Men has halted — at least for now — its affiliation with a fellowship that supports U.S. conference men’s ministries.
At heart, the Commission on United Methodist Men’s dispute with the National Association of Conference Presidents is about whether the association has been claiming authority that, under church law, belongs solely to the commission. The national association is a separately incorporated organization.
“They have been presenting themselves as the United Methodist Men or the general commission, and that was causing a lot of confusion and mixed messaging at the conference level,” the Rev. Rick Vance, top executive of the Commission on United Methodist Men, told UM News.
United Methodist Men has asked the association’s leaders to refrain from messaging and logos that presents them as representing the commission.
Without official affiliation, Vance said, the association should also stop using United Methodist branding including the Cross and Flame.
Nevertheless, both the agency and association hold out hope that they can restore their relationship.
“The actions that we took Oct. 7 don’t preclude the NACP from entering into dialogue with us to become an affiliate again,” Vance said.
He added that the commission has “deep respect for the men who are faithfully leading ministry in annual conferences and in local churches.”
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Mark Dehority, the national association’s president, said the group was surprised by United Methodist Men’s Oct. 7 announcement but is already working to resolve the issues.
“We all need to be in lockstep with the general commission on the mission of the ministry,” he said by email. “The general commission is not ‘the other side.’ We are on the same side — the side of Jesus Christ.”
Dehority also said that upon learning of the commission’s action, the group immediately removed a statement from its website that United Methodist Men found objectionable. Instead, Doherity said, the plan is to replace those words with the group’s purpose as stated in its bylaws.
However, the group’s bylaws are a big part of the disagreement, Vance said in an Oct. 7 statement. At this point, the national association’s website is down.
The national association is intended to support the Commission on United Methodist Men and conference presidents, Vance said. Yet, sections of the group’s constitution and bylaws seem to set it up to compete with the commission — which contradicts Paragraph 2302 of the Book of Discipline, the denomination’s law book.
That paragraph establishes the Commission on United Methodist Men as a general agency and lists the agency’s mandates. The Commission on United Methodist Men, under the Discipline, has “primary oversight for the coordination and resourcing of men’s ministry within The United Methodist Church.”
The Discipline goes on to say that United Methodist Men “exists to declare the centrality of Christ in every man’s life.”
The commission’s mandate extends to United Methodist ministry around the globe, and Vance has been traveling across the African continent and the Philippines to strengthen his agency’s relationships with men’s groups denomination-wide.
The National Association of Conference Presidents is strictly a U.S.-based organization.
The Discipline says United Methodist Men is to maintain “effective communication and cooperation” with the association and other national men’s ministry organizations across the denomination and worldwide Methodist liaisons.
The national association’s president also serves on the commission’s board. In fact, Doherity serves on the board’s executive committee, and the current dispute does not change the board’s membership.
However, Vance said, tension has been building for years as the national association at times has presented competing messaging to U.S. United Methodist groups.
Among other issues, Vance said, the group has promoted training material developed by outside groups that do not conform to Wesleyan theology. Some of the training materials also oppose women pastors, which contradicts the denomination’s longtime affirmation of women serving in church leadership including as clergy.
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“We believe that Scriptures teach our men that all of humanity is created by God, and that we work equally together,” Vance said.
The dispute reached breaking point over the past two months when United Methodist Men tried to develop a memorandum of understanding with the national association as it has with other ministry partners. For example, United Methodist Men signed a memorandum of understanding Aug. 13 with WesleyMen, which serves men’s ministries across Wesleyan denominations.
Vance said the memorandum of understanding the commission presented to the national association preserved its internal governance but asked for changes to some language in its constitution and bylaws to bring the documents in line with the Discipline. Since August, the commission has sought the national association’s input on the memorandum, but instead of suggesting changes, Vance said, the national association rejected it outright. That led to the current impasse.
This is not the first time that the Commission on United Methodist Men has dropped its affiliation with a group. In 2014, two years before Vance started working for the agency, United Methodist Men ended its connection with the National Association of United Methodist Scouters.
As in the current situation, that earlier conflict was about the role of an affiliate of an agency in The United Methodist Church. Ultimately, United Methodist Men and the Scouters group parted ways.
But both Vance and Doherity indicated that the present disagreement can be bridged.
“This relationship goes back 30 years,” Doherity said by email. “We strive to work within the UMC Discipline and the constitution and by-laws of both organizations. We work for Jesus Christ. Changes in structure may subtly change how we do things. It does not affect our ministry vision to ‘help men meet, know, and serve Jesus Christ.’”
Vance told UM News that the agency and association can still collaborate in establishing a memorandum of understanding that is mutually beneficial.
Like Doherity, he also stressed how important men’s ministry is, especially amid the rise of the manosphere and Christian nationalism, which seem to replace the universal Gospel of Jesus with the idea that might makes right.
“Christian nationalism is a problem, and we believe that we have to present a different interpretation of Scripture,” Vance said. “We believe that we have a role in the church. … We believe that we need to be part of the conversation to create a safe space where all of God's people can work together.”
Hahn is assistant news editor for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.
