Who will lead Oklahoma's United Methodist churches? State could share a bishop with Arkansas
The ripple effect of recent church exits may result in Oklahoma United Methodists being partnered with their counterparts in Arkansas under the leadership of one bishop.
Under a new realignment plan proposed by leaders with the United Methodist Church's South Central Jurisdiction, the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference and Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference would be placed under the leadership of the Rev. Laura Merrill, current bishop of the Arkansas United Methodist Conference.
Bishop Jimmy Nunn has been bishop of both Oklahoma conferences since 2016 and he is set to retire in August.
The South Central Jurisdiction episcopacy committee came up with the realignment plan and sent a letter outlining the proposal to delegates in mid-February.
"We intend to recommend to the SCJ (South Central Jurisdiction) Conference that there be no election of bishops in 2024," the committee said.
"This recommendation is informed by the high number of disaffiliations in our Jurisdiction, the changing landscape of the church, and the projected financial pressures on the episcopal fund."
More: What we know: Oklahoma churches seeking to cut ties with United Methodist denomination
In a statement, Nunn said the proposal to have one bishop over multiple conferences is not unusual. He noted that he is not only bishop of the Oklahoma conferences, but also the United Methodist Church's Northwest Texas Conference.
"Since 2022, I have been serving an additional conference, so this change is not as radical as it might seem," Nunn said.
The latest development is tied to an ongoing split over same-sex marriage and gay clergy ordination that has been playing out in the international United Methodist Church for decades. In Oklahoma, 127 churches left, and in Arkansas 169 congregations exited, all via a special provision, adopted by the denomination's General Conference in 2019. The provision, known as Paragraph 2553, allowed churches wishing to make a "graceful exit" to end their affiliation with the United Methodist Church and take their property with them if they had theological disagreements with the denomination, particularly about same-sex marriage and ordination of gay clergy. The deadline for exiting the denomination by way of Paragraph 2553 was Dec. 31, 2023.
Same-sex marriage and gay clergy ordination are prohibited according to the United Methodist Church's Book of Discipline, a policy guide. Mostly conservative-leaning congregations in Oklahoma and other parts of the United States have left the denomination out of concern that it soon will become more liberal and frustration that bishops have not effectively enforced violations of the same-sex marriage and gay clergy ordination ban.
More: Oklahoma Supreme Court rules against two churches in United Methodist exit cases
What to know about the United Methodist Church conferences, and how many churches disaffiliated in Oklahoma
The Oklahoma and Arkansas conferences are two of 12 conferences that make up the United Methodist's South Central Jurisdiction. The South Central Jurisdiction also includes conferences in Nebraska, Texas, Missouri, Louisiana and New Mexico.
United Methodist News, the United Methodist Church's official outlet, reported that 1,603 churches or 30.3% of the congregations in 2019, have left the South Central Jurisdiction conferences, mostly due to disaffiliation. The figures were based on a report by the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.
After disaffiliations, 401 congregations remain connected to the two Oklahoma United Methodist conferences, while 422 churches remain affiliated with the Arkansas conference.
The realignment proposal to place the Oklahoma conferences under Merrill's leadership will be up for a vote at the South Central Jurisdiction meeting set for July in Rogers, Arkansas. Also to be considered is a proposal for Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr., leader of the Central Texas and Texas conferences, to add the Northwest Texas and North Texas conferences under his jurisdiction.
In a United Methodist News story, the Rev. Amy Lippoldt, chairwoman of the committee that came up with the proposed realignment, said disaffiliations played a large part in the proposal.
"We were going to have to do some sort of reconciling ourselves to reality in terms of the budget anyway," she told the news outlet. "It’s a big change, to figure out across the jurisdiction the right deployment and what conferences could rightly share while we adjust to this different landscape with what conferences have suffered."
More: Numerous Oklahoma churches left the United Methodist Church. How did other regions fare?
In its letter to delegates, Lippoldt's committee said the realignment proposals could be affected by what happens at the denomination's General Conference gathering set for April 23 through May 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Nunn said leaders of the Oklahoma and Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conferences "have done outstanding work during a challenging time."
"I have complete confidence in the leaders in both conferences and know that they will work effectively with the next bishop as we make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world," Nunn said.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: United Methodists to vote on partnering Oklahoma, Arkansas conferences
