Parting Words

By Keith Boyette

My tenure as Transitional Connectional Officer of the Global Methodist Church draws to a close at the adjournment of the convening General Conference on September 26. The past seven-and-one-half years, first as president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association and then as the leader of the GM Church, have been a daily revelation of the presence of God, His grace, and His providence. I have never felt adequate to the task. Although God has blessed me with gifts and abilities, I always knew I was not up to the task unless my gifts and abilities were accompanied by the work of the Holy Spirit. My desperate daily prayer has been for God to accomplish His purposes in me, through me, and even despite me. And God has answered that prayer every single day. He gets the glory for all that has occurred.

God has blessed me with partners in ministry through a small, but an exceptionally talented and very devoted staff. Their service has been sacrificial. From the beginning, the counsel and work of Walter Fenton and Teresa Marcus has been invaluable. For four-and-half years, the members of the Transitional Leadership Council have guarded the vision God gave us and stewarded the church until we could hold a convening General Conference.

God has raised up leaders globally who, often without compensation and while continuing to perform other responsibilities, have helped form and lead annual conferences. Stirred by our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly, countless clergy and laity navigated significant challenges, leading their churches to become congregations of the Global Methodist Church. Their path was uphill – with mounting financial costs and obstacles erected by others. However, their commitment to be part of a church that proclaims the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ as entrusted to us by the apostles and early church is resolute. We are a coalition of the willing. Each of us has chosen to be Global Methodists.

The GM Church continues to grow. Since beginning operations on May 1, 2022, more than 4,700 local congregations have become members. We now have thirty-six annual conferences serving churches in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The GM Church just completed the legal registration process in three more countries – Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Additional annual conferences are organizing in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America. Every annual conference is in the process of planting churches. Daily, God is adding to our numbers all for His glory. Christianity Today has declared that the GM Church is already the sixteenth largest Protestant church in the United States.

In the spring of 2017, I had a clear sense of call to leave the pastorate of a local church to become president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association. In the spring of 2022, I again sensed God’s call to continue the journey to provide leadership for a people who were being led out of a dysfunctional, uncertain, and spiritually oppressive environment, into a new spirit-filled, vibrant expression of the Christian faith. Now it is time for me to pass the mantle to others whom God has raised up.

I have been personally blessed by the leadership of Bishops Mark Webb, Scott Jones, and, more recently, Johnwesley Yohanna, and the encouragement of Bishop Emeriti Young Jin Cho, Robert Hayes, Mike Lowry, and Ed Williamson. They will continue to provide God-empowered episcopal leadership to the church. If the convening General Conference chooses to elect additional persons to the episcopacy, they will join these exceptional leaders. The spiritual vitality of our movement will be in good hands.

The Rev. Mike Schafer will provide overall leadership for the operations of the general church at the global level as our Connectional Operations Officer. Mike is wonderfully equipped to ensure that the general church exists to serve each local church, its members, and its mission field. I have never been more confident in passing the baton of leadership to another individual than I am in doing so with Mike.

Just as I have begun each day seeking the face of God and crying out to Him to do what only He can do, I assure you my prayers will be just as fervent in the days to come as I watch new leaders build on the foundation laid in Jesus Christ.

John Wesley reminds us, “You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent in this work.” After Wesley’s new birth at Aldersgate, he encouraged Methodists to be completely devoted to God (worship), to be perfected in love (sanctification), and to proclaim the Gospel boldly (witness) so others would come into a saving relationship with God. May the Global Methodist Church excel in the fulfillment of such a mission.

The Rev. Keith Boyette is the Global Methodist Church’s Transitional Connectional Officer – its chief executive and administrative officer – until September 26, 2024.