The Rev. Dr. Steven Usry was to have been a part of “moving day” on Thursday in the United Methodist Church.
July 1 is the calendar date that UMC clergy take up new appointments, and Usry was to have moved into space at Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church in East Cobb.
He was appointed to oversee the largest congregation in the UMC’s North Georgia Conference in April by Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson.
But Mt. Bethel leadership’s dramatic and public decision to oppose his appointment has led to Usry having limited responsibilities for the time being.
The 10,000-member congregation has been roiled by Haupert-Johnson’s decision to reassign Dr. Jody Ray, the congregation’s senior pastor for the last eight years, to a non-ministerial role in the North Georgia Conference.
While Usry’s appointment is being accepted under protest by Mt. Bethel, he has been told there’s no office available for him at the main church campus on Lower Roswell Road. He’s also being paid only a portion of his salary while his Ray, his predecessor, remains in a prominent role.
Usry sent out a letter on Thursday addressed to the “Mt. Bethel family” expressing his disappointment with the opposition and his hope that the dispute can be resolved.
“For the past few months, I have been concerned that the present crisis would only get worse,” Usry wrote in the letter, in which he identifies himself as the Mt. Bethel senior pastor.
“Unfortunately, the actions by some at Mt. Bethel only exacerbate an already unhealthy situation,” he continued in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by East Cobb News.
He wrote that “the best path forward would have been to embrace healthy and Biblical pastoral tradition. Yet I know Mt. Bethel to be a great church. I am FOR Mt. Bethel. I will continue to seek solutions to the present crisis and will not be deterred.”
(You can read the full letter by clicking here.)
How many of Mt. Bethel’s nearly 10,000 members got the letter is uncertain. In sending his letter to those members for whom he has contact information, he noted in an e-mail that he had not been provided the church’s official e-mail address list and membership database.
Sybil Davidson, a spokeswoman for the North Georgia Conference, told East Cobb News that “the situation at Mt. Bethel is developing” and said that “the Conference is supportive of Rev. Dr. Steven Usry and appreciative of his faithfulness. Conference leaders are assessing the situation.”
She later provided East Cobb News a copy of a pastoral letter written Friday by Haupert-Johnson and addressed to “North Georgia United Methodists.”
She responded to Mt. Bethel’s actions by saying that “the United Methodist Church does not handle decisions, staff structure, nor compensation in this manner.”
The bishop wrote that “I am deeply concerned about the decisions being made by a small group of leaders at Mt. Bethel. These decisions appear to be in violation of the Book of Discipline [the denomination’s governing and doctrinal document]. I am also troubled that these decisions by a small group of leaders may not reflect the will of the Mt. Bethel congregation.”
She further stated that “I would emphasize that this crisis is unrelated to disaffiliation or theology. What has occurred is simply a rejection by the leadership at Mt. Bethel of the rules and procedures for our church as outlined in the Book of Discipline and amount to an obstruction of the appointment process and polity of The United Methodist Church. The appropriate Conference agencies are evaluating the proper response.”
(Haupert-Johnson’s full pastoral letter can be read by clicking here.)
On Thursday East Cobb News contacted Mt. Bethel leadership for a response to Usry’s letter, but has not heard back as of mid-afternoon Friday.
Part of the dispute concerns doctrinal issues regarding gay clergy and same-sex marriage that has been splitting the United Methodist Church in recent years.
Ray and Mt. Bethel also have protested that the bishop made the reassignment without proper consultation, and filed a grievance against her and a superintendent of the North Georgia Conference.
Ray also surrendered his UMC ministerial credentials and has been retained by Mt. Bethel as a pastor and CEO.
Larger concerns by Mt. Bethel and other conservative UMC churches stem from what they view as the denomination moving away from traditional interpretations of Christian scripture.
The denomination was to have held a conference this year to begin a disaffiliation process for churches wishing to leave, and Mt. Bethel, a conservative congregation, has been considered likely to do that.
But the conference has been postponed to 2022 due to COVID-19 measures, and in a press conference at the church in May Mt. Bethel announced its intent to disaffiliate.
Mt. Bethel is a founding member of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, a conservative organization created in 2016 that wants to establish what it calls the Global Methodist Church.
While disaffiliation cannot happen for another year, some Mt. Bethel members have urged the leadership in the interim to accept Usry, who resigned as senior pastor at Sugarloaf UMC in Duluth in May.
He’s considered a conservative theologically and among his supporters is Randy Mickler, who was Mt. Bethel’s senior pastor for 28 years.
But a Mt. Bethel member who spoke with East Cobb News said the church is being unfairly portrayed.
He said that while Usry “seems like a nice guy, he’s forcing himself on us.”
The Mt. Bethel member, who called Haupert-Johnson a “heretic,” claims a vast majority of members support church leadership and said there’s nothing draconian going on within the congregation.
“We’re a good-hearted church,” he said, adding that he’d be inclined to find another church home if Usry’s appointment is upheld, and many others would follow.
“They’re playing hardball,” the member said, referring to the North Georgia Conference. “They’re not giving me a choice.”
Related stories
- Mt. Bethel church members fears “that we’re being torn apart”
- 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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