The day after announcing it was leaving the United Methodist Church, Mt. Bethel UMC filed a formal complaint against leaders in the denomination’s North Georgia Conference.
Mt. Bethel sent out out a release Tuesday morning saying a complaint had been lodged against North Georgia Conference Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson and Jessica Terrell, District Superintendent of the Central West District of the North Georgia Annual Conference.
The complaint alleges “Disobedience to the Order and Discipline of The United Methodist Church” for the reassignment of Mt. Bethel senior pastor Dr. Jody Ray. The complaint also accuses of Haupert-Johnson of “Relationships and/or Behaviors that Undermines the Ministry of Another Pastor.”
Mt. Bethel is saying that the North Georgia leaders went against stated UMC requirements (“Discipline”) to consult with congregations and pastors before making new appointments in reassigning Steven Usry of Sugarloaf UMC in Duluth to Mt. Bethel before either Dr. Ray or Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church were informed that a change in appointment was projected.
“Such notification and failure to consult denied the Committee on Pastor-Parish Relations of rights assured it by the Discipline and constitute disobedience to the order and discipline of The United Methodist Church.”
The Mt. Bethel statement on Tuesday said the complaints were filed to seek “a just resolution between the parties.”
Mt. Bethel leaders held a press conference Monday saying they were beginning the process of disafilliation from the United Methodist Church, the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States, with more than 12 million members.
Mt. Bethel has around 8,000 members and is the largest of the 800 congregations in the North Georgia Conference.
During Monday’s press conference, Ray said he was told he was given two options when informed of his reassignment to a racial relations role within the North Georgia Conference: Accept the new position or resign.
He said he was surrendering his credentials as an ordained minister in the UMC, and Mt. Bethel is retaining him as its CEO and lead minister.
The UMC has been riven with theological differences for several years and is in the process of beginning a “Protocol for Reconciliation through Grace and Separation” that is being delayed to 2022 due to COVID-19.
In her response to the Mt. Bethel disaffiliation decision, Haupert-Johnson said the East Cobb congregation leaders threatened to “withhold compensation, benefits and any reimbursement for a new pastor. They warned that upon his arrival the church, its ministries, and its school will ‘most certainly be unstable and likely hostile.’ “
Her pastoral letter can be found here; Mt. Bethel is providing updates on the situation here.
Related story
- Mt. Bethel leaving United Methodist Church; pastor remaining
- Mt. Bethel UMC opposes reassignment of senior pastor
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