On Monday, the Wesleyan Covenant Association, a network of theologically conservative United Methodists, responded on Facebook, saying it was “deeply disappointed, but not surprised, by the statement purported to come from all the African Bishops.”
But the association also questioned in its post whether all the bishops listed as signers support the statement, as it lists the names of bishops “present” at the meeting and not “bishops that were present and supported the statement.”
“We remain committed to working with theologically conservative Methodists across the continent of Africa to empower their witness to the faith and their right to make informed decisions about their future in the church,” the post said.
The Wesleyan Covenant Association also shared a lengthy response signed by 18 executive committee members of the Africa Initiative that characterized the bishops’ statements as a “declaration of war.”
The Africa Initiative’s response said the group resolved at its most recent gathering to continue its support for the proposal to split the denomination and to encourage African churches to wait for a vote on that proposal at the next General Conference meeting.
The African bishops aren’t the first to express concerns about tactics used by the Wesleyan Covenant Association and other conservative groups to encourage churches to disaffiliate from the denomination.
In his first official address as president of the United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops last month, Bishop Thomas Bickerton of the New York Annual Conference called on those groups to stop the negative rhetoric. That includes what Bickerton described as “accusations and statements that are just not true” made by the Global Methodist Church and Wesleyan Covenant Association.
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This article originally appeared on ReligionNews.com.
