Question - Is there a conflict between the date of the vote and Rise Against Hunger?

- Originally there was a conflict between the two events.  However the date of our vote has now been moved back to October 5th.  Rise Against Hunger will happen on September 28th.

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Question - If the church remains independent, will criteria be developed to determine if a sitting pastor or future pastor is adhering to Biblical doctrine?

- In our church structure and By-Laws, the Staff Parish Relations Committee has the responsibility of supervising the Senior Pastor, in addition to any hiring or firing that may need to be done.  In the job description for the Senior Pastor, that person is required to adhere to the Statement of Faith and Practice of Bonaire Church.  

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Question - Will the church have any town hall style meetings before our vote or is the website going to be our only source of information?

 - The Administrative Council has decided not to have town hall meetings.  They have decided to use the website as the main source of disseminating information.  Of course, nothing is stopping anyone from doing their own research as well.

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Question - Is it possible to highlight the upcoming vote on the website and to have the pastor highlight the vote and direct the congregation to the website during the morning announcements?

- There is a plan in place to highlight the vote more as we get closer to the voting date,  which includes written letters to each full member and verbal announcements.  The church is also putting together written packets of information for our members who may not be comfortable navigating the information on our website.

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Question - If I am out of town, can I give a proxy vote?

- All voting will be in person. Due to our inability to verify identities on a proxy vote, proxy votes will not be used.

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Question - What about voting for our shut-ins who cannot come to the church to vote?

- Pastor Jason and Brittany, our Minister of Care, will be working with our shut-ins to ensure they are able to vote should they wish to do so.  Every care will be taken to ensure integrity throughout the process.

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Question - Who are the members of the Future Path Group?

- Members of the committee were selected by our Lay Leadership Committee.  While several more were asked, the individuals who agreed to serve were: Pastor Jason, Bryan Way, Butch Talton, Steve Hvizdzak, Holly West, and Rabb Wilkerson.

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Question (reworded and edited from original) - What is the role of the Future Path Group currently?

- The Future Path Group researched the different options available to us as a church and made a recommendation to the Administrative Council on what they felt were the advantages and disadvantage of the options and which ones they felt were the best options for our church.  After their report was made their work was finished and the Administrative Council has been making all the decisions since then.

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Question - Why is the vote only between remaining Independent or joining the GMC?

- The Future Path Group felt, after studying the options, that these were the two best options for our church and the Administrative Council agreed with their assessment.  Other options involved either long processes to enter including possibly having to subject ourselves to a trust clause again, like we had in the UMC, or they offered little to no actual benefit for our church.

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Question - What denomination will I be no matter which way the vote goes?

- If the vote is for the GMC our church members would all become members of the Global Methodist Church. If the vote is to remain Independent, our church members will remain non-denomination, but our church will maintain its Methodist/Wesleyan beliefs that are laid out in our Statement of Faith and Practice.

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Question - What are the fees/apportionment costs to join Global vs Independent?

- If we remain Independent there are no fees.  If we join the Global Methodist Church, they ask for each church to contribute 1% of their previous year's income to the denomination (roughly $7000 for us based on 2024 income and possibly $8000-$10000 for next year). According to their Book of Doctrines and Discipline the denomination could ask for up to 1.5% for the denomination and up to 5% for the Annual Conference. Currently the South Georgia Annual Conference is the only conference in the GMC to set their percentage at 0% and instead is asking churches to just give as generously as they can. The South Georgia conference has set their percentage at 0% for 2026 as well.

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Question - Is it true that the GMC is still using transitional documents?

- No. At their first General Conference held in San Jose, Costa Rica last year they removed the transitional language and are now operating out of their 2024 Book of Doctrines and Discipline which can be downloaded on their website.  There is still work that needs to be done on it, and for that reason among others, they have scheduled another General Conference for 2026 in Johannesburg, South Africa to address areas they did not have time to deal with in 2024.  There will be an updated Book of Doctrines and Discipline after that General Conference.

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Question - If the church decides to go Global Methodist, will Pastor Jason return to a leadership role within the South Georgia Annual Conference?

- If the church votes to join the GMC, Pastor Jason is planning on reapplying to join the GMC. At this time he has no plans of returning to any leadership roles.  The Conference would have to nominate him and approve him at Annual Conference, as they do for all their leaders.  Any nomination for a leadership role would have to be with his prayerful discernment and agreement. 

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Question - If the GMC Book of Discipline was not completed, are we voting prematurely to join since we do do not know what those changes will be and we may not agree with those changes?

- That is for each person to discern and decide.  The GMC has placed what they call a Restrictive Rule around their Doctrinal Formation part of the Book of Doctrines and Discipline. This means that the doctrinal standards of the GMC cannot be changed.   They have also indicated that the primary work of the 2026 General Conference will be around the election of new bishops and the codifying of the role of a bishop.  They will also be working on clarifying the ordination requirements and processes along with a few other areas of the Book of Doctrines and Discipline.

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Question - (edited and summarized) If we were to go to the GMC is it possible that connectional giving fees could increase each year, or is this unknown at the this time?

- As explained above the GMC as a denomination is requiring each church to contribute 1% of their yearly income to the denomination as a whole.  The South Georgia Annual Conference is asking 0% and are instead encouraging churches to be as generous as they can in supporting the work of the Annual Conference.  Theya are currently the only conference in the GMC to rely solely on generosity.  All other conferences are requiring their churches to pay a percentage of their income to the conference.  Paragraph 449 of the GMC Book of Doctrines and Discipline states that the amount required of churches can go up.  The denomination could decide in a future year to ask for up to 1.5% of our yearly income. And the South Georgia Annual Conference could meet in the summer and decide to require up to an additional 5% of our yearly income for their use.  We would have a say in that matter though because as a GMC church we would send our pastor and a lay delegate to vote at Annual Conference.

 

Question - How and when will the vote results be made public? Will this go only to members?

Our church will be working with an impartial third party to count our votes.  They will be tabulating the results on the morning of Oct. 6th and the results will be announced to the church via the church website, our weekly mailing list, and via announcement at church the following Sunday. 

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Question - Who is the "impartial third party"?

The impartial third party is a local bank representative, who is not a member of our congregation, nor related to anyone within our congregation.

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Question - How and when will the vote results be made public? Will this go only to members?

The vote will be tabulated Monday morning, October 6th and the results will be announced on our website and through our weekly mailing list.  Results will also be announced in church on the following Sunday. The focus will be on announcing the results to our members and regular attenders here at the church.

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Question - How many Global churches are in reasonable driving distance of Bonaire? How many independent churches with similar beliefs also withing reasonable driving distance?

There are four GMC churches in Houston County (Harvest, Andrew, Perry First Methodist, and Crossroads Church of Perry). Fort Valley Methodist Church is also GMC.  As far as independent church with a traditional Methodist theology like us, the closest church in our area may be Abbeville.

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Question - Why are we not receiving guidance and discussion from the pulpit on this important vote?

Pastor Jason believes that Sunday mornings are to be dedicated solely to providing an authentic experience of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. It is about worship and allowing the Holy Spirit to shape us into the people He has called us to be. However Pastor Jason has been preaching about the Holy Spirit and how discern the voice of God speaking to us extensively over the past few weeks, believing that God will use those messages and the practices talked about to guide us in our upcoming vote as well as in our personal faith journeys.  Pastor Jason also remains available to talk to anyone who would like about this subject.