Affiliation Discussion

Affiliation FAQs

What do you mean by “affiliation”? Before The Way disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church, we were “affiliated” with the UMC, which means we followed the UMC Book of Discipline, paid apportionments, and had access to a pool of vetted pastors and certain group benefits for our pastors. Upon disaffiliation, The Way became an independent Methodist church with no guiding principles or accountability other than the church’s vision and mission.

The Way disaffiliated from the UMC in 2022. Why has it taken so long for the Council to recommend an affiliation?  The church Council began researching affiliation opportunities shortly after disaffiliation from the UMC was completed. The research took time, but the bigger delay in making an affiliation recommendation to the congregation was the chaos taking place during that time. The Way leadership and congregation had been through a lot of change over just a few years: the WUMC/COAH merger in 2019, Covid in 2020 and 2021, the development and implementation of the Making Room Campaign starting in 2020, the disaffiliation from the UMC in 2022, and the Latimer Hall renovation over several years. These events took a lot of the Council’s time, energy, and emotions. Though research on the affiliation possibilities was completed in a timely manner, the Council and pastors felt the church needed time to “let the dust settle,” so to speak, to heal and to process the changes taking place. In addition, one of the organizations we wanted to research, the Global Methodist Church, was still in its infancy, having launched in May 2022; the Council wanted to wait until this group was more firmly established before gathering information.

What are the advantages of affiliation? Affiliation with an umbrella Methodist-based organization offers several advantages:

• a set of guidelines that hold member churches accountable to the mission of growing the church and making disciples for Jesus Christ,
• group rates for benefits such as health insurance and a pension program, as well as salary guidelines,
• a pool of vetted pastors if one is needed, and
• opportunities for fellowship and shared mission activities with member churches.

What are the disadvantages of affiliation? The disadvantage of any affiliation is that the church will incur some type of apportionment expense. Beyond that, the disadvantages depend on the organization a church desires to affiliate with. It’s important to look at the theology, mission, and leadership structure of the organization, the presence/absence of a trust clause (determines whether the church or the organization owns the church property), guiding principles, number of members, etc.

Why don’t we remain an independent church? Remaining independent is an option; however, the church Council feels that affiliating with an umbrella organization offers important benefits— especially accountability and joint fellowship/mission partnerships—that will make The Way stronger and better able to fulfill its mission.

What organizations did the church Council research? The church Council gathered information about the followingorganizations:

• Global Methodist Church – church leadership met in person with representatives
• Free Methodist church – church leadership met in person with representatives
• Wesleyan Church
• Congregational Methodist Church

Why is the church Council recommending affiliation with the Global Methodist Church? Of the affiliation opportunities available, the Global Methodist Church (GMC) most closely aligns with the values and vision of The Way Woodstock.

• The theology of the GMC and the guidelines provided by the GMC’s Book of Doctrines and Discipline are most closely aligned with The Way’s values and mission.
• The governing structure of the GMC is much simpler than what we experienced with the UMC, which had many layers of governance, making the GMC governance more efficient and cost effective.
• Unlike the UMC, in which bishops have lifetime appointments, the GMC appoints bishops for up to two, six-year terms, for a maximum of 12 years. The GMC has fewer bishops who preside over multiple conferences. Limited-term appointments ensure that no single individual accrues more power or wields more influence than is healthy for an organization.
• Many member churches of the GMC are former UMC members that disaffiliated, giving GMC member churches a shared history.
• Members of the Global Methodist Church retain ownership of their existing property; when The Way was affiliated with the UMC, the UMC held the church property in trust, preventing the local church from making decisions about its property without UMC approval.
• The annual apportionments, called Connectional Giving by the GMC, are much lower than those of the UMC and other affiliate organizations.
• The Global Methodist Church focuses on local churches, giving member churches greater control of their own operations while still providing accountability oversight and joint fellowship and mission opportunities.
• The Global Methodist Church has a collaborative clergy appointment process that allows the local church’s lay leaders to participate in clergy selection.

Is there a cost to join the Global Methodist Church?  All affiliation organizations the Council researched have some type of apportionments that member churches pay. The annual GMC apportionments, called Connectional Giving, are currently set at 2% of the church’s operating budget (1% to the GMC and 1% to the North Georgia Conference GMC), with a cap of 6.5%. The lower Connectional Giving cost encourages member churches to dedicate more of their funding to local missions. The UMC apportionments were 11-12% of the church’s operating budget; apportionments at the Free Methodist Church are 9-10%.

How many churches are members of the GMC? As of the beginning of 2024, the GMC had over 4,733 member congregations around the world, with roughly 80% located in the United States.¹

How many GMC Churches are in the north Georgia Conference? According to the GMC North Georgia Conference website, more than 135 churches are part of the north Georgia conference.

¹ The Dispatch, Christian Post, September 29, 2024. https://thedispatch.com/article/a-new-methodist-denomination-emerges/