Mt. Bethel Church allowed to retain Methodist leader in lawsuit

Keith Boyette, Wesleyan Covenant Association, Mt. Bethel lawsuit — *Keith Boyette, Wesleyan Covenant Association*

A Cobb Superior Court judge has granted a request by Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church to add a leader of the denomination’s conservative wing to its legal team.

Judge Mary Staley Clark ruled in a motion on Friday that Keith Boyette, head of the Wesleyan Covenant Association and a qualified attorney in Virginia, could work on behalf of Mt. Bethel in a pro hace vice admission.

That’s when an attorney from one state is granted special admission in a court in another state in a specific case.

Attorneys for the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church filed an objection to Mt. Bethel’s request, contending that Boyette was actively involved in the East Cobb congregation’s attempts to disaffiliate, and that one of his “primary goals was to take land and buildings currently used by the United Methodist Church from the United Methodist Church so that they can be used by a newly formed denomination.”

But Staley Clark noted in her motion that the State Bar of Georgia, “having investigated the matter, found that Mr. Boyette has paid the requisite fees for pro hac vice admission.”

It was the first legal disposition in what figures to be lengthy litigation involving the North Georgia Conference, which in September sued Mt. Bethel over assets and property following a months-long dispute.

In April, North Georgia Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson reassigned Mt. Bethel senior pastor Rev. Dr. Jody Ray to a non-ministerial position.

Mt. Bethel announced it was not accepting a new pastor, and Ray turned in his UMC ministerial credentials. Mt. Bethel has kept him on as CEO and lay pastor, positions, the Conference say violate its Book of Discipline governing protocols.

Mt. Bethel then announced its intent to disaffiliate from the UMC and declined to provide Rev. Dr. Steven Usry, the newly appointed senior pastor, office space or pay him a full salary.

The Conference further ruled that Mt. Bethel was not a church in good standing, and ordered it to turn over its properties and other physical assets. Attempts at mediation fell through over the summer.

Mt. Bethel’s counterclaim to the lawsuit, filed Oct. 8, seeks an accelerated vote on disaffiliation.

Mt. Bethel has nearly 10,000 members and is the largest denomination in the North Georgia Conference.

It’s been grappling for years with doctrinal and other disputes increasing in the UMC, especially over same-sex marriages and lesbian and gay clergy.

Mt. Bethel has been actively involved in the creation of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, which is being tapped as a future destination for conservative Methodist congregations.

Boyette has been a leading figure in what would be called the Global Methodist Church.

But national UMC delegates are not scheduled to vote on allowing congregations to break away until September 2022 at the earliest, due to COVID-19 delays.

The Mt. Bethel Administrative Council scheduled a meeting for members on Monday night.

Mt. Bethel leadership has a special page on its website with its response to the lawsuit and the dispute with the North Georgia Conference.

A group of members upset with the congregation’s leadership, which calls itself Friends of Mt. Bethel, has formed its own website and started a newsletter.