On Saturday, December 2, 2023, the Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church held its final Special Called Conference to fulfill the provisions of ¶2553 of The United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline. The still relatively new bishop, Tom Berlin, officiated the time online, during which they said goodbye to a final 74 local churches that had faithfully completed the disaffiliation process. After taking the final vote, the good bishop had a final address, during which he addressed a number of bad actors.

In this segment, I cover his address in light of his previous words on the public stage. It is hard to know the meaning of his words, or to have a charitable understanding of their intent. While conference publications might put a positive spin on it, it seems deliberately manipulative and disingenuous. For their part, the Florida Chapter of the Wesleyan Covenant Association was magnanimous in receiving the final decision of the conference. It remains to be seen what fallout there will be in the coming months and years after such discord.

Links:

Florida WCA post - https://www.facebook.com/WesleyanCovenantAssocFl/posts/pfbid0pZUXzzGa1LLZX5WADxNJyyAENKYmc8VGRmdRV1Yz6UXeFATSyaCbmhmBmbXujiTsl

Florida Conference Article - https://www.flumc.org/newsdetail/with-disaffiliation-complete-the-florida-conference-looks-to-a-united-future-18162480

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