Council Corner
May 2025
Litigation with the United Methodist Church –
Our National Center for Life & Liberty (NCLL) lawyer, Jonathan Bailie, held a conference call on April 15th, and I spoke with him briefly again on April 16th. Here is the information provided.
• As of mid-April, NCLL has filed paperwork for forty-three (43) South Carolina churches to separate from the United Methodist Church. Another ten (10) SC churches are going through the same process that St. John went through in order for the same paperwork to be filed for them.
• The SC UMC conference intends to sue each church separating and has already filed suit against eleven (11) SC churches. At least one of these churches completed the process after St. John, so we are not sure exactly what criteria the conference is utilizing when filing their lawsuits.
• The conference has petitioned the SC Supreme Court to consolidate all pre-trail litigation into a single class action lawsuit. NCLL is fighting this petition since each church involved has its own special circumstances and situation and is located in a unique community, town, or city.
• The Alabama (AL) UMC conference filed a similar class action consolidation case with the AL Supreme Court, and NCLL was successful in having it denied. So we are optimistic that the same will occur in the SC Supreme Court.
• There is no specific timetable for the lawsuit that we expect to be filed against St. John or for the court litigation that is expected to follow. We will just need to notify the lawyers as soon as the church office receives the legal documents and assist the lawyers as necessary to respond to whatever demands are made in the legal document.
• To date, NCLL has won each of the litigation cases in AL, so we are again optimistic that the same outcome will occur for St. John and all other SC churches.
Please continue to keep our church and this litigation process in your prayers.
Pastor Search –
Our PPRC and others are working diligently to ensure that we have a quality pastor for all of our services. As of now, we believe that we have each service covered until at least the end of July. Since we are not yet completely clear of the UMC (as discussed above), our current situation makes it difficult to interest a pastor in a long-term assignment, and we do not need to make any obligations that our potential litigation with the UMC makes it difficult to fulfill. Therefore, we are faced with using available pastors in our area, and we should expect to see new faces in our pulpit frequently. As soon as we understand the ultimate outcome with the UMC and its expected timing, we will pursue all available avenues to obtain a longer-term solution. Please continue to keep the PPRC and the others involved in the pastor search in your prayers.
Next Council Meeting –
Our next council meeting will be May 22 at 6PM. The agenda has not yet been finalized, but we will review the specific requirements identified in our new bylaws to begin the process to ensure that we have all necessary policies in place, that they reflect all necessary requirements, and that we are in compliance with them.
And finally, please continue to keep Pastor John Williams and his family and the Warrenville church in your prayers as they have been and will continue to be affected by our separation process. As always, if you have any questions about any of the information provided, please give me a call.
Peyton Northington
803-645-6396
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