Tampa church goes down fighting

By John Meunier on

Here’s an interesting story about the demise of First United Methodist Church of Tampa.

There is some interesting stuff and some good “reading between the lines” statements. The story also contradicts something I thought was true. I had always thought that a conference could not force a local charge to disband.

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10 Responses

  1. Mike Hodge

    It is an intriguing case. In the Tennessee conference, I have seen some churches closed, but normally that is with a consultation process that helps them figure out that this is their best option — to be able to celebrate their years of ministry and the legacy that they leave.

    I did notice that the article did not mention any real description of the mission of that particular church — and that the question of mission and vision seemed important to the conference reps. Having that extra money coming in seems like a real asset to ministry, if they could have decided what that mission might have been.

    Of course, there could be lots of things behind the scenes that we don’t know about. Thanks for sharing the article!

  2. DrTony

    It would have been nice to know what the church was thinking. I was told a number of times that my conference would never force a church to close. Closure has come when it was obvious that there were no other options.

    What I don’t like is that the one church that might have survived couldn’t touch money that it had because it had been designated for a new parsonage by the conference. The only problem was that the amount set aside was about 10% of what it would cost for a new home in the area.

    When I read the article, I couldn’t help but think that the conference isn’t willing to try something in an area where there is a presence already. In addition, it would send a signal to the area that the conference was committed to the area and to the church. What they conference has done is say that we would rather go somewhere else and we will coat it in the guise of new program development.

  3. UMJeremy

    Fascinating. So essentially the church received an endowment that the district claimed rather than the local church? And then when the church couldn’t justify it, they kept it? Wild.

    I think this speaks to the tendency to pour money into new churches rather than revitialize old churches. I’m not saying it is wrong but it is a disturbing trend that reflects a culture obsessed with newness.

  4. Creed Pogue

    Paragraph 2548.2a of the Discipline provides for “discontinuence” or closing of a church should have a Para. 213 consultation, the bishop’s consent, the cabinet’s consent and the approval of the district board of location and building. However, subsection 2c says that the failure to perform all those steps would not invalidate the closure. So, there is no requirement for the church congregation’s approval or even consent. However, this does call into question whether 2c should be amended to provide that exception should only be available for churches that aren’t paying their Conference bills or apportionments.

    I hesitate to comment further because we don’t have the full story. However, the Discipline provides in 2532.5 and 2533 that the local church would handle a gift without any approval by anyone in the district. Maybe Florida has a separate procedure although I don’t know how that would be congruent with the Discipline. Obviously, we don’t know the full situation of the organization of the non-profit that owned Methodist Place either.

    Otherwise, this is a very worrisome situation.

  5. Creed Pogue

    Bishop Whitaker commented on his blog: http://floridaconferenceconnection.info/blogs/detail/210

    Interestingly, of the “proposed” discontinuances listed in the Pre-Conference Workbook only First Tampa hasn’t already happened.

    1. John Meunier

      Thanks for the link.

  6. What the Church expects of local churches « John Meunier

    [...] on the closing of churches, which I gather is a inspired by the closing of Tampa First UMC, which I blogged about recently. The main reason today to discontinue a congregation is that it can no longer fulfill the mission [...]

  7. Creed Pogue

    Adding some insult to injury, of the 23 churches in Tampa there are only NINE that paid their apportionments in full, but First is one of them.

    1. John Meunier

      So in what way, I wonder, did they refuse to be missional, which appears to be the issue Whitaker was raising.

      1. Creed Pogue

        Unfortunately, that is the question along with why First and not any of the 14 churches in Tampa that aren’t paying their apportionments???

        Like I said, the more I hear the worse it sounds!