Email sheds light on what's next for First Church and Oklahoma United Methodist Conference

As the Aug. 6 deadline nears for United Methodist leaders to comply with a judge's ruling, The Oklahoman has learned how that compliance might come about.

The Oklahoma United Methodist Conference, led by Bishop Jimmy Nunn, sent emails to conference members on Friday outlining tentative plans for a special disaffiliation meeting on Aug. 4 or Aug. 5 at Oklahoma City University.

Conference spokesman Alan Herzberger said conference leaders will comply with Oklahoma County District Court Judge Aletia Timmons' July 17 ruling "even as it hopes it will be overturned."

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Conference leaders' email included brief comments about Timmons' ruling in favor of First United Methodist Church of Oklahoma City in a disaffiliation dispute with the conference.

"Because of the very short timeline we are laboring under, we will have to plan for this annual conference even as the ruling is pending appeal," the conference wrote. "So that you can prepare yourselves if you are a member of the conference, we are looking at Aug. 4 or 5 as dates for this meeting. ... The only business to be conducted shall be the court-ordered consideration of First UMC in OKC’s disaffiliation request. Registration shall be in person and photo identification will be required."

The planned meeting has been described as "unprecedented" and maybe a little "awkward" because of individuals who are expected to be invited — a group of individuals who already have severed ties with the United Methodist Church.

The conference must hold the remarkable gathering because Timmons agreed with the First Church's trustees who filed suit in June claiming that regional conference leaders kept the congregation from having its disaffiliation request considered and voted on at an April meeting. Timmons said she was skeptical of regional conference leaders who said that a study to assess First Church's financial and ministerial viability was a necessary requirement and not an intentional disaffiliation road block, as church trustees claimed.

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Timmons ordered the bishop to re-create the April gathering by Aug. 6, to give the First Church congregation the opportunity that was denied them: to have their request to sever ties considered and possibly ratified by the same United Methodist delegates who voted at the spring gathering — and that would have included clergy and lay delegates whose churches were disaffiliated at that meeting.

Plans for the unconventional gathering are among the latest developments in a schism under way in the international United Methodist Church. The ever-widening rift in the denomination, which makes up one of the Oklahoma's largest faith groups, is based on disagreements about about the scriptural compatibility of same-sex marriage and the ordination of gay clergy. The issues came to a head in the last few years, prompting some churches ― including 84 Oklahoma churches ― to head for the exit doors.

Who will return for the special meeting?

Reactions are varied among several United Methodists and former United Methodists who could potentially attend the special gathering.

Herzberger said each church in the regional conference has, at minimum, one clergy delegate and one lay delegate, who vote on disaffiliation matters. Some churches, particularly larger churches, might have more delegates. A church must have its disaffiliation request ratified by delegates before it is considered formally disaffiliated.

The Rev. Jim Hill withdrew from the United Methodist Church as clergy as a requirement to leave the denomination. He is pastor of First Methodist Church of Stigler, one of the churches that disaffiliated in April. He said he plans to attend the special meeting if the regional conference comes calling.

More: What we know: Oklahoma churches seeking to cut ties with United Methodist denomination

"I will do everything in my power to be there and have my lay delegate be there, as well," Hill said. "It'd be kind of weird and kind of awkward, but I would participate."

Hill said he thinks many former United Methodists who served as delegates at the April meeting will try to make it for the special vote.

"I can tell by the ruling of the judge appears to be the conference acted in bad faith, and they have to reconcile it," he said. "There's sort of a group cohesion of the churches that have disaffiliated. I think a number of those delegates will plan on going."

The Rev. Trina Bose North, pastor of Crown Heights United Methodist Church, said she disagreed with the judge's ruling because First Church's disaffiliation dispute was not a matter for the civil court system to decide. She said she would attend the special meeting if it occurred because she is interested in finding out if First Church is a viable and effective ministry, a question she said wasn't answered in the recent First Church hearing.

"When we become United Methodists, we submit ourselves to the denomination and to the governance of the United Methodist Church," North said. "The courts have no idea how we operate and who has authority."

The Rev. Chris Symes, lead pastor of Heritage Church of Broken Arrow, called the judge's ruling "bold" and "unprecedented," a term he also used to describe the special meeting. His church was one of the 55 churches that disaffiliated at the April meeting. Symes said he was unsure if he would return for the special gathering to consider First Church's disaffiliation.

"I would be undecided at this time and would have to pray through that decision," he said.

Meanwhile, First Church trustee Hardy Patton has said the judge's ruling was a positive development for the congregation seeking to exit the denomination. While they had hoped that Timmons would simply declare them disaffiliated, her ruling was appreciated because she sought to give First Church members an opportunity to have their disaffiliation request considered by the same delegates who voted in April.

Regional conference leaders vowed to appeal Timmons' ruling, but an appeal had not been filed on Friday.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: What's next for First Church OKC, United Methodist Church after suit