United Methodist Prelude: Small Denomination Faces Its Own Split Over Bible and Sex
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(OPINION) The Reformed Church in America, one of those small denominations that usually get little ink despite rich history and accomplishments, is set to celebrate its 400th anniversary in 2028. But what will the RCA consist of by then?
At an Oct. 14-19 General Synod meeting in Tucson, Arizona, this venerable church will decide whether to split up.
Reporters can think of this as a prelude to the formal divorce that the huge United Methodist Church is expected to approve next year. In both churches, the central problem is the dispute over proper Bible interpretation, especially on sexual morality.
The goal of this Memo is to sketch out a few basics for journalists who'll cover the RCA showdown, which was postponed from 2020 because of COVID-19. The United Methodists have faced similar legal delays, of course.
Like the UMC, the RCA has spent nearly half a century discussing its traditional teachings on marriage and sexuality, which shaped rules on same-sex marriages and ordinations. All sides have reached a consensus that the divide is unbridgeable and the status quo untenable.
In 2018 the RCA commissioned a study team to consider future options that included "grace-filled separation." In July, the team issued its final recommendations with a proposed process for splitting.
The report offers a different and unusual path that avoids a formal schism by reorganizing RCA regional units — "classes," or singular "classis" — on the basis of "affinity" in belief rather than the usual geography, in effect creating two churches within a church. In yet another proposal. those staying within the RCA and those leaving would still cooperate in a new nondenominational foreign-mission agency.
In the schism plan, the RCA would change an existing policy and let any local congregation unhappy with the church’s traditional teachings leave and keep ownership of its building and other assets. A request to depart would need three-fourths approval by the congregation's governing board and then its voting members, though two-thirds margins are the more common Protestant practice.
Then there are other hoops to jump through. The reshuffling deadline to quit the RCA or switch into a different regional classis is June 1, 2026.
Reporters will try to figure out to what degree the conservative wing and/or the liberal wing would walk out and who then controls the ongoing RCA. If the church approves the "local option" or does not enforce traditional sexual teaching, an aspect the July report does not explore, that would prod many conservatives to leave.
Importantly, departing congregations cannot become independent but must affiliate with another denomination. The Christian Reformed Church — well-organized, more conservative than the RCA and of similar size and heritage — is a natural destination. But schismatic Protestants usually create new denominations, and the Alliance of Reformed Churches based in Grandville, Michigan, wants RCA dropouts to join a new body yet "maintain strong historical ties" to their old denomination.
On the left, the LGBTQ-affirming Room For All network of West Des Moines, Iowa, provides information for congregations and pastors to consider quitting to join the already-existing United Church of Christ or other mainline denominations.
Richard Ostling is a former religion reporter for the Associated Press and former correspondent for TIME Magazine. This piece first appeared at Get Religion.