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May 1, 2024
Dear Perry UMC Family,
As I write, the General Conference of The United Methodist Church is finally gathering after being delayed for four years. I have been watching some of the conference proceedings, and I hope like me you have been praying for our delegates who are working to shape the church as it moves into the future. I am thankful that after so much waiting, we are now coming close to determining our own future as a church here in Perry. Just as the delegates at GC are shaping the future of the denomination, the members of Perry UMC get to prayerfully discern God’s will for us here and take actions to live into that calling.
For United Methodist clergy and our families, this has been a difficult season. Due to the timing of the appointment process (those decisions are typically made in February and March) occurring prior to General Conference, Annual Conference, and our local church’s vote, we have had to decide whether to remain at our present appointment prior to knowing what would transpire on the denominational level or the local level. Rev. Tommy Perkins has shared that he will be moving from Perry UMC in June. Rather than taking an appointment to serve as a pastor of another church, Tommy has decided to go on Personal Leave status in the UMC. We are all sad to see Tommy go, and we already miss him dearly around here! Tommy is currently on sabbatical leave through Tue, May 28. He will be back for a few weeks, and then his last Sunday at PUMC will be June 9. We will have a reception for the Perkins family that day. Please keep his wife Caroline and their daughters Delia and Ronnie in your prayers. Please also pray for Tommy’s siblings, Nick, Mary, and Sarah, as they prepare to sell their mother’s home in Tennessee.
Since becoming a pastor in 2010, I have watched the United Methodist Church drift father away from being a church in which I feel at home. I want to be in a church that affirms the New Testament’s sexual ethic and lifts this up as the ideal that we all must strive for as Christians. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, and he came “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He reveals to us who God is. It is only in the Grace and Truth of Jesus Christ that we can be truly free. I want to be a church that offers 100% Grace to anyone and everyone who will receive it. And I want to be in a church that teaches 100% Truth. Truth without Grace leads to rejection and self-righteousness. Grace without Truth leads to a permissive, self-focused mindset, and ultimately leads to deep pain, not freedom.
I have always loved the Wesleyan/Methodist emphasis upon GRACE. I hope we never, ever lose that. My concern is that the UMC is moving away from a rootedness in Truth. The overwhelming vote at General Conference to recommend for adoption constitutional amendments which will change the overall structure of the denomination to a regionalized form of church governance concerns me. This decision paves the way for each region, and possibly even each jurisdiction, to set its own standards regarding ordination, marriage, and other important issues. I delayed publication of this newsletter so that I had time to absorb as much of GC as possible in order to send out a timely and accurate letter. Just yesterday, the GC voted to remove language from the Book of Discipline that prohibits self-avowed, practicing homosexuals from ordination.
I have shared with Bishop Graves my deep concerns over the future of the UMC and that I no longer see myself as a good fit in this denomination. I have informed him of my intention to remain at Perry UMC. I feel like God brought my family and me here, and that we are not finished with our work here yet. I support the decision of Perry UMC’s leadership to recommend departure from the UMC and to join the newly forming Global Methodist Church denomination. Even in the midst of this time of waiting and discerning, I hope you will continue to pray for the UMC, for our delegates at General Conference as they work hard to shape the future of the denomination we have called home.
I know you are probably tired of hearing about all this stuff. I am tired of talking about it, too. Here’s what I do know with all my heart. I love Tommy Perkins, and I’m going to miss him dearly. I already do. I also know that I don’t want anyone who calls Perry UMC home to be hurt by all of this bickering over church rules, denominational politics, or even over the sensitive topic of human sexuality. I know we do not all agree on all of this. But I know we all agree that we all need Jesus. Perhaps now more than ever. I’m so thankful to be on this journey with all of you.
Grace and Peace,
Tom
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