The Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Hearing the stories, and reconciling with those harmed by Free Methodist leaders

By David Bicksler

March 27, 2007

 

 

Between 1996-2006, Free Methodists closed at least 348 churches.  Many of these churches had property that was seized and sold using the Trust Deed Clause.  Many of the churches closed within 1-3 years of when their pastor was punished by conferences in a way the church did not accept, and this caused the church to decline as people left a denomination they believed unfair.  The Judicial Reform paper shows how the Free Methodist Judicial System is far inferior to the secular U.S. court system in many ways.  The Closed Churches spreadsheet shows details on the 348 closed churches, including what happened to the pastor in as many cases as I could find.  Three harmful things that caused most of the damage are: 

 

·        Churches closed by conferences who abused the Trust Deed Clause

·        Judicial errors that expelled or punished pastors or others because of the sub-standard system of justice

·        No timely Appeals Process to correct the damage before it was too late

 

These 348 church closings (or discontinued, inactive, or withdrawal) affected at least 3191 members, 5755 attenders, and 1010 converts, including 101 churches with 10 or more members.   From this list about 141 pastors either were expelled, forced to switch to another conference, persuaded to leave the denomination “voluntarily,” or simply vanished without a trace in the Yearbook.

 

If so many people have been harmed in just the past 10 years, how many living people or their children still carry the painful memories of Free Methodist injustice over perhaps the past 40 years?  Is it hundreds, or thousands, or even more?

 

To correct these injustices, this paper proposes establishing a Free Methodist Truth and Reconciliation Commission (FMTRC) that is modeled after the South African Commission led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu to hear the abuses under Apartheid, weep with the victims, and try to reconcile people who were enemies.  The stories are here and here and here, and many more.  Even U.S. cities like Greensboro and countries like Liberia have established TRCs to deal with their dark pasts.  Tutu’s commission brought healing when they heard stories so terrible that they were seen weeping in public along with the one seeking Truth and Reconciliation.  Abusers were asked to come and admit the truth and receive forgiveness and reconciliation.

A Free Methodist TRC would help in the following ways:

 

·        Hear the sad stories, weep with those who weep, and establish a permanent historical public record that can help the denomination end this behavior once and for all time.

·        Reconcile those people harmed with the leaders who caused the harm, in Christian love, repentance, and forgiveness.

·        Serve as the Appeals Court for current conference decisions to hear appeals within 1-2 months after the first trial.  These Commissioners would represent the General Conference to keep conferences from bringing shame upon all Free Methodists through unjust decisions.

·        Overturn unjust decisions of conference and denominational leaders to restore pastors and closed churches – before the property is sold or the church is destroyed.

·        Overturn unjust policies that violate biblical values, asking in each case “what would Jesus do?”

·        Require restitution paid or given where it is appropriate.

·        Recommend changes in the Discipline and church structures when particular things seem to repeatedly create problems.

·        Publicize their findings in a series of public reports posted on a web site for all the world to see.

·        Review for accuracy every entry in the Yearbook involving judicial actions, people expelled, or churches closed or punished.  The published statistics should allow tracking problems with people obtaining justice by showing a table of all people and churches forced from the denomination with dates and reasons why.

 

To be effective, TRC Commissioners must be independent of those conference and denominational leaders who may have caused injustice in the cases they will hear.  This is common for Appeals Courts who do not permit judges to also be legislators, or to hold other government jobs.

 

This means they should have the following characteristics:

 

·        Independent people of good character who will not show favoritism to either side, but hear and decide each case on its merits.

·        Not have any other denominational or conference job such as bishop, superintendent, MEG, MAC, or BOA member.  This gives them time to hear cases within 1-2 months, and the independence to do what is right.

·        At least 1/3rd of the Commissioners should have a background in Law as judges or lawyers.

·        At least 1/3rd of the Commissioners should be first generation Free Methodists so they don’t excuse bad behavior just because it has gone on so long.

·        9 to 11 Commissioners should be selected so that any who have conflicts of interest in a case can recuse themselves, and still have 7-9 free to hear it.

 

 

After each conference trial, the defendant (person or church) should answer the following, with the results posted on the FMTRC web site:

 

1.     Did you have a fair trial to decide your case?

2.     Were witnesses allowed who could report to others all that happened?

3.     Do you agree with the outcome?

4.     Will you attempt to appeal, and do you believe there a fair process?  Why or why not?

5.     Was there misconduct by conference or denominational leaders in your case?   YES     NO     NOT SURE  (choose one)

6.     Describe improvements that could be made that would have helped your case.