During her lengthy recovery from a hiking accident last summer, Donna Lachance said fellow members of Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church lavished food and other offers of help upon her and her family.
“The community smothered me with love,” said Lachance, identifying herself as the hiker who was assisted off the Gold Branch Trails last August after hurting an ankle.
The social and civic bonds of belonging to one of East Cobb’s biggest faith communities are a major part of the draw for Lachance and her husband Frank, who’ve been Mt. Bethel members for 15 years.
She’s also served on the church staff as a photographer and in communications, and has been involved in other ministries.
What Lachance hadn’t done until recently is delve into the politics of a church with nearly 10,000 members.
But for the last two months, Mt. Bethel leaders, clergy, staff and members have been in an uproar over a decision by Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson of the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church to reassign Senior Pastor Jody Ray.
In dramatic fashion, Ray declined the reassignment and turned in his credentials as a UMC pastor. Mt. Bethel’s governing board announced it would not accept a new pastor, then declared its intention to disaffiliate from the denomination.
Mt. Bethel leaders also filed a formal complaint against the North Georgia Conference and said Ray would be staying on as CEO and lead minister.
Mt. Bethel is the largest of the 800 congregations in the North Georgia Conference, which has more than 340,000 members.
Mt. Bethel leaders have been vocal about theological disputes that have roiled the United Methodist Church in recent years, and that have prompted the denomination to set up a process to allow conservative congregations to leave.
This year, the United Methodist Church was to have considered adopting the “Protocol for Reconciliation through Grace and Separation.” Due to COVID-19 precautions, that process has been delayed until 2022.
Ferrell Coppedge, a member of the Mt. Bethel Executive Committee, also serves on the governing council of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, a group of conservative UMC churches that formed in 2016. Mt. Bethel was the host for the WCA annual conference in 2018.
In April, in his first sermon since the dispute began, Ray addressed his children by saying that “your Daddy didn’t bow the knee, or kiss the ring, of progressive theology. . . . which is no theology.”
‘Divisive like we have never seen’
Next Friday, July 1, the pastor reassigned to Mt. Bethel, Dr. Steven Usry, formerly of Sugarloaf UMC in Duluth, is set to begin his duties in East Cobb.
With that deadline approaching, Lachance, her husband Frank and Mt. Bethel members Bob and Janet Graff distributed an open letter to several hundred other members, concerned that the church leadership’s refusal to adhere to the UMC Book of Discipline—the denomination’s governing and doctrinal document—could trigger legal action and escalate continuing battles that have been brewing for years.
“I hope we can come together and get it to stop before it destroys our 180-year old community of faith,” they wrote in the first paragraph of their letter.
“If we don’t accept Dr. Usry, the Bishop will have no choice but to invoke the exigency clause and sue to take control of all Mt. Bethel property which, as with all UMC churches, is held in trust by the conference,” according to the letter, a copy of which was obtained by East Cobb News.
“Both sides agree she will likely win.”
The letter, entitled “A Different Perspective,” accuses the Mt. Bethel Executive Committee—made up of seven church leaders—of trying to “drag this fight out, hoping to run out the clock, until the Protocol is passed. . . .
“We don’t know about you, but we haven’t asked for this fight, and we don’t want it,” the letter continued. “We don’t know who is going to pay the substantial legal costs. We do know that we will all pay the costs in terms of discord, uncertainty, and suspicion among people who, until this started, were loving Brothers and Sisters in Christ.”
East Cobb News has contacted the North Georgia Conference and Mt. Bethel leadership seeking comment.
In an interview with East Cobb News, Lachance said she’s met with Usry, who’s considered a theological conservative, but not on the main Mt. Bethel campus on Lower Roswell Road.
She said he’s not been allowed to do that, and had been meeting with Mt. Bethel members at their request at nearby Mt. Zion UMC and neighborhood clubhouses in the East Cobb area.
“Saying you won’t accept a pastor isn’t something you can do,” Lachance said, adding that when Mt. Bethel leaders initially announced that decision, she wasn’t aware of that. “This is the bishop’s appointment to make.”
Lachance signed the open letter by citing Romans 13:1, which says, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.”
After attending a special town hall meeting held by church leaders last month, Lachance said her concerns grew.
“There was more to this story than what was being said,” she said, adding that she had kept an open mind about the dispute.
‘Not what Mt. Bethel is about’
Lachance said she admires Ray, calling him inspiring and saying he has been of great pastoral assistance to her family.
“I love Jody, he’s been great for Mt. Bethel,” she said. “But at this point we’re still United Methodists.”
What’s more, the full Mt. Bethel membership hasn’t weighed in on the matter, and a congregational vote would be required to disaffiliate. That can’t happen for at least another year.
“Basically, we’re being torn apart,” Lachance said. “I don’t know why we’re fighting this now.”
If that vote comes, Lachance predicted, “it will be divisive like we have never seen.”
Currently the Book of Discipline doesn’t allow for the ordination of gay clergy or performing same-sex marriage, but that could change should a new Protocol be approved.
Lachance said that “I don’t believe this is something our church should leave the denomination over.”
The Book of Discipline also has a specific paragraph allowing for disaffiliation for reasons concerning human sexuality.
“[Mt. Bethel leaders] will say it’s not just about that issue,” Lachance said. “But that’s how I feel it comes across.”
But she said her concerns are less about theology, but the procedural steps Mt. Bethel is taking now.
She said since her open letter went out this week, she’s heard from Mt. Bethel members who agree with her, but are reluctant to come forward.
“This is not what Mt. Bethel is about,” Lachance said. “We’re fighting ourselves instead of winning souls.”
‘A big test of our faith’
Church leadership created a petition against Ray’s reassignment that nearly 5,000 people have signed, but Lachance said there’s a considerable difference of opinion about how to proceed.
In their open letter, the Graffs and Lachances wrote that while Mt. Bethel leaders “are all good people, doing what they think God called them to do . . . we do not believe they should be taking us down this contentious path without a full, transparent discussion of the costs and benefits of doing so, and without listening to those who disagree.”
They also pleaded with their fellow members to tell the Executive Committee to pursue a different course: “If enough of us speak up, perhaps it will make a difference.”
Lachance said when she was picking up her husband on Friday from an activity at the main Mt. Bethel campus, she saw a fellow member who’s been a good friend, someone with whom she disagrees about how to resolve the congregational dispute.
“We just hugged and said we loved each other and had a very civil conversation,” Lachance said.
That’s the Mt. Bethel fellowship that she says has long nourished her as an evangelical Christian.
She thinks a lot of Mt. Bethel’s divisions “would go away” if Ray were to tell church members to embrace the new pastor, but she doubts that will happen.
“We are not winning a soul for Christ right now, and that’s what we’re called to do,” she said.
However, Lachance also is optimistic that Mt. Bethel will not stay this way.
“This is a big test our faith, but I do believe that we will get past this,” she said.
Related story
- Mt. Bethel Church files grievance against Methodist leaders
- Mt. Bethel announces intent to leave United Methodist Church
- Mt. Bethel UMC opposes reassignment of senior pastor
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Ever wonder why there are thousands of different Protestant Church? Now we have an answer. This unfortunate fight has been played again and again over the last 500 years. Can’t Christians just follow Christ without all the drama?
I believe this is all very much about the almost certain forthcoming LGBTQ invasion. Why on earth would any thinking human allow a clear minority to muscle in and cast aside the majority? Bishop Sue might well win the battle, but how many faithful will leave her in the pulpit of an empty church?
It is very irresponsible for this platform to write about only one perspective. But that is what happens with news today. Unfortunately, A LOT of facts were missing from this article. Facts that would defend Jody’s decision in a very clear way.
We have reported on the Mt. Bethel leadership’s perspective on this issue previously, including Pastor Ray. Please see the links below for those stories.
We reached out to Mt. Bethel to the story you are referring to, but the church has not responded.
Mt. Bethel Church files grievance against Methodist leaders
Mt. Bethel announces intent to leave United Methodist Church
Mt. Bethel UMC opposes reassignment of senior pastor
This bishop is bringing condemnation upon herself. She has no right to serve in the church, and to invoke Romans 13:1 here is completely inappropriate. The Apostle Paul, the writer of Romans, goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 14:34 that there is no place for women to lead in the church. This is also found in 1 Timothy 2. God has not instituted her as a leader and thus her orders hold no weight.
Hmm. The context of 1 Cor 14 is the proper order of the prophetic is a corporate setting. It was to be done in order. The women, mitt likely, wives, were to follow this order as well. In 1 Tim 2, the word ‘silence’ can also be translated ‘ tranquil’. The entire Bible witnesses to women who prophesy and teach. The prophet Joel said both men and women would prophesy. Gal 3:28 says there is neither ‘male nor female’ but all are one in Christ. Isolating scriptures and removing them from their context is tricky business.
If her goal is to destroy a church she did. She can explain why one day to the real master
Your comment Ms LaChance , I quote” But she said her concerns are less about theology, but the procedural steps Mt. Bethel is taking now.” The theology concerns are the utmost important thing at issue here….and the procedural mistakes made by the Bishop!!!
Several of my ancestors were Methodist Episcopal circuit riders in colonial and post Revolutionary times both in Eastern North Carolina and in Kentucky. They would be appalled at the behavior of this ‘bishop’ as well as the current direction of the Methodis Church. I am also.
Your comments are all valid! The church needs to turn to its historic, Christ centered doctrines and give a resounding ‘no’ to “progressive” doctrine!
As a member of this church and a member of the UMC for many years, I notice the conspicuous absence of context from this article. Even a very rudimentary review of the very same Book of Discipline that allows for the reassignment of preachers as described in the article would reveal that it very specifically defines the process of their reassignment. That process was completely ignored, both in process and reasoning. The timeline of events surrounding the reassignment of Dr. Ray is not in dispute- even by the incoming minister. The Bishop conjured up a list of inaccurate, misleading and defamatory accusations against the senior minister (which are flatly refuted by the information openly available on the North Georgia Conference website) in an effort to cloud the issue. There has still been no logical, consistent explanation for the reassignment of Dr Ray. The Bishop disagrees not only with Dr. Ray on discipline and doctrine, but openly opposes current, standing UMC church doctrine. For those who care, in the vows of Ordination as a Methodist minister, candidates …”express loyalty to the United Methodist Church, vowing to “accept and uphold” its order, liturgy, doctrine and discpline”
As a Bishop, during consecration, the candidate (who is already an ordained minister) is directed:
… Bishop (Name) take this Book of Discipline, guard the faith, seek the unity, exercise the discipline of the whole church, and supervise the Church’s life, work and mission throughout the world”
-Both taken directly from the UMC website-
This Bishop has flagrantly and openly broken and ignored every vow she has taken as an elder in the UMC.
If the “folks in charge” aren’t playing by the rules they vowed IN FRONT OF GOD to uphold in their own ordination and consecration, what is a pastor to do? The Bishop has openly embraced and championed what the UMC currently considers outside of our doctrine and beliefs. She has not been removed because there is currently no mechanism in the UMC for removal of a Bishop. Her actions were capricious, punitive, vengeful and serve to remove an obstacle to her goal of undermining the eventual Protocol for separation which will cost the more Liberal churches in Methodism MASSIVE amounts of money as the larger, more orthodox churches leave. They can’t financially afford to lose, so they have suspended fair play and have resorted to machavellian chicanery, division, and a good old fashioned “knee-capping” of one of the most vibrant, generous and missions- oriented congregations in the country. It’s truly shameful, and a sad reflection of what UMC leadership has become. If you value fair dealing, this should be appalling. If you are a Methodist, this should shake you to the core. The wolves are in the hen house and are taking out anyone who crows at their deviancy.