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Jan 19, 2024

Fayetteville Methodist church completes split over human sexuality issues

FAYETTEVILLE -- Patricia Clinton left Central United Methodist Church on Sunday

FAYETTEVILLE -- Patricia Clinton left Central United Methodist Church on Sunday with tears in her eyes.

Six hours later and a few blocks south, several members of Christ Church shed their tears while praying at the altar.

For members of both congregations, Sunday was the first day they did not worship together.

The split was complete. Central United will continue on as a Methodist church with about half of the 700 members are choosing to stay.

Another group left Central United to form Christ Church, a Wesleyan faith community. It will hold its first worship service June 8 at the Fayetteville Town Center.

A smaller group of members chose to become part of Genesis Church. A satellite community of Central United in south Fayetteville that started nine years ago but will move forward as an independent church, said Jody Farrell, the church pastor.

Christ Church's Sunday service was held at Genesis.

Arkansas United Methodists voted in May to allow an additional 67 congregations to disaffiliate from the denomination -- bringing the total number that have left in the past six months over "issues related to human sexuality" to more than 100.

Paragraph 2553 of the denomination's Book of Discipline, approved in 2019 at a special session of its General Conference in St. Louis, allowed local churches to disaffiliate if they were dissatisfied with the denomination's stand on issues such as same-sex marriage and the ordination of gay clergy.

Nationwide, 3,215 of the denomination's roughly 30,000 U.S. congregations have departed using the human sexuality provision over the past four years, according to a count by United Methodist News, the denomination's official news agency.

The Rev. Carness Vaughan, senior pastor of Christ Church, last week called the split of the Fayetteville church an "amicable separation."

The Rev. Michael Mattox, an interim minister assigned by the state's Methodist organization, on Sunday used words from the first book of Peter in the New Testament, words the apostle Peter used to refer to Christ's arrest, crucifixion and resurrection.

"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you," Peter wrote to support fledgling Christian churches.

The Sunday services of Central United Methodist and Christ Church were very different.

Central United's traditional service stayed with the order of the weekly services. Mattox led worship for the first time and introduced himself to the congregation. He noted the church on Dickson Street was "a special place, a holy place."

The pews were comfortably full.

Christ Church's gathering was not intended to be a worship service. Rather, Vaughan and his staff led a service of guided prayer, centered on "hope and healing," he said.

The 250-seat sanctuary of Genesis was full, with extra chairs pulled from a closet. As he began the service, Vaughan noted people were still circling the parking lot looking for spaces.

Clinton said the last verse of Central United's last hymn got her.

"Christ is alive and goes before us

to show and share what love can do.

This is a day of new beginnings;

our God is making all things new."

-- from the hymn "This Is a Day of New Beginnings."

"It's just about love," Clinton said. "The whole thing is love."

Members of Christ Church seemed more reluctant to share their feelings publicly.

But Daniel Rupp, the church's pastor of young adults, led the congregation to write on a provided note card thoughts they needed to leave behind related to the church split and life in general.

Later, the congregation would bring their cards to the front, with the opportunity to kneel and pray at the altar or with one of the pastors.

"Things you lost. Or things you are lamenting," Rupp said. "Thing you wish you had said, but you shrank back, or something you did say but said imperfectly. Grudges you hold against individuals, someone you need to forgive. If you are jaded, cynical, anxious. Concerned about being right or concerned about looking like you are right, but it doesn't feel just. That you feel you missed what Christ was trying to say to you."

Members of both congregations discussed how the split had affected their faith.

"I've had a strong faith in Christ for a long, long time," said Brian Swain, director of administration for Christ Church. "This tested it. I didn't get through this without my strong foundation of faith that helped me."

Swain noted several times the process of disconnecting would move forward in starts and stops. But finally, a chance meeting with an old friend of Vaughan's in another city connected the new church with its permanent location come December -- the location at the Northwest Arkansas Mall that once held the local Sears store.

"We know God is going before us, which strengthens our faith," he said.

Brenda Gullet, a member of Central United and worship leader on Sunday, admitted it was "shaky" during the yearlong transition.

"As a Christian, you are not called to organize religion, but rather to build a personal relationship with Christ," Gullet said.

"It has forced me to revive my personal relationship in order to survive."

Print Headline: Church's members splinter 3 ways

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