Chronology of the Division within the Church in Nigeria
From 2004 through 2024, The United Methodist Church in Nigeria has had eight bishops. Two of them died while in office, one served 12 years, one was elected in November 2024, three served as interim bishops from 2006 to 2012 and one served as interim starting in August 2024. This amount of change in leadership has impacted the people, mission and ministry.
When a new bishop was elected in 2012, there were questions about the nomination process. The governor of Taraba State wrote to the Council of Bishops about the deep concerns regarding the nomination and election of the new bishop. Only half of the Nigeria delegates attended the West Africa Central Conference to elect the new bishop.
4-8 October 2012 – Bishop John Wesley Yohanna is elected as bishop of The United Methodist Church and assigned to Nigeria.
2013 – A group of more than 300,000 United Methodists separate from The United Methodist Church in the Nigeria Episcopal Area and begin to call themselves the Southern Conference of The United Methodist Church. They claim that the election of a new bishop was manipulated and the new bishop’s leadership did not always rise to the ethical standards required for such a role. The Southern Conference continues as United Methodists following The Book of Discipline and uses a presider pro tempore as outlined in The Book of Discipline, Paragraph 603.6.
2013-2020 – There are a series of conflicts within The United Methodist Church attributed to internal tribal and cultural conflicts in addition to the leadership of the bishop. During this period, The United Methodist Church in Nigeria, regardless of its other differences, has a united concern that the UMC will change its 50-year position opposing LGBTQ.
2019 – A Special Session of General Conference is held about how The UMC will address growing concerns within the Church about its position on LGBTQ issues. The General Conference votes to place additional penalties for those who are LGBTQ or conduct same-gender weddings. This creates significant backlash in the United States.
2020 – No regular session of the General Conference is held due to the international pandemic. There are growing concerns among more traditional United Methodists about the future of The United Methodist Church, and there is talk about an amicable schism within United Methodism. Also, under the newly approved Paragraph 2553, congregations in the United States may disaffiliate from The United Methodist Church with their property by following the guidelines of in that paragraph. Paragraph 572 is continued, allowing annual conferences outside the United States to leave The United Methodist Church by following the guidelines of Paragraph 572.
2020-2022 – There is conversation among traditionalists within The United Methodist Church to launch a new denomination for traditionalists. The Global Methodist Church is launched on May 1, 2022, for traditional congregations wanting to disaffiliate from The United Methodist Church. Approximately 7,600 churches disaffiliate from The United Methodist Church or about 25% of its member congregations and approximately 24% of its membership. Of the 7,600 churches that disaffiliate from The United Methodist Church, approximately 3,000 join the Global Methodist Church.
During this same time, concerns grow about the future of The United Methodist Church in Nigeria. Accusations arise about financial malfeasance, leaders not following The Book of Discipline and that Bishop Yohanna is installing leadership that is aligned with the Global Methodist Church. Large numbers of cabinet members and conference leaders are changed, resulting in accusations that these changes did not follow the Book of Discipline. There are allegations that clergy are not being ordained because they do not align with the Global Methodist Church. Complaints against the bishop are filed, some of which have hundreds of names attached petitioning the church to address the complaints.
There are also growing concerns that the bishop is organizing to remove UMC Nigeria from the denomination without following Paragraph 572. There is also a growing movement called Stay UMC in Nigeria.
The complaints are processed by the West Africa College of Bishops and a just resolution is achieved.
2023 – The Stay UMC group accuses the bishop of not living up to the just resolution and of making plans to take The United Methodist Church in Nigeria out of the denomination. From 2021 through 2023, the group continues to ask the Council of Bishops to review the matter.
January 2024 – The Council of Bishops assigns a team to work with the West Africa College of Bishops to review more than 700 pages of complaints against Bishop Yohanna. The team, in collaboration with the West Africa College of Bishops, finds that the issues in Nigeria are longstanding, in part due to a series of leadership changes, and that the issues have intensified under the current bishop. It also finds that most people in Nigeria want peace and unity and are seeking a path to resolve differences and to work together.
March 2024 – Working together, the West Africa College of Bishops, the bishop of Nigeria, additional leaders from Nigeria and Council of Bishops representatives meet over three days in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. They agree to a path forward for bringing healing and unity within Nigeria. It also includes a path for The United Methodist Church in Nigeria to leave the denomination, using Paragraph 572 of The Book of Discipline.
April 2024 – The General Conference removes the 50-year-old restrictions concerning LGBTQ people and leaves the matter to the regions outside the United States, which can adapt The Book of Discipline to their context, and to the annual conferences and congregations that may set policies for ordination and marriage.
Bishop Yohana shares that he cannot stay in a denomination that allows LGBTQ inclusion.
Bishops John Schol, Patrick Streiff and David Yemba are assigned by the Council of Bishops to ask Bishop Yohanna to continue through the end of the year, when he is scheduled to retire, and to assist with the Path Forward Covenant, including exploring the use of Paragraph 572 for The United Methodist Church in Nigeria to leave the denomination. Bishop Yohanna agrees to continue until his retirement in December 2024.
May and June 2024 – All complaints and court filings against Bishop Yohanna are set aside so that the Path Forward Covenant can be implemented.
July 2024 – Special sessions are scheduled for each of the four Nigeria annual conferences to consider two specific items: 1) electing new leadership for each conference for the new quadrennium, and 2) making a presentation about the path forward to create and grow unity and peace within Nigeria. Bishop Schol is to be present to assist Bishop Yohanna and explain and lead a workshop for each conference on the Path Forward Covenant and elect a Path Forward Team.
The cabinet protests Bishop Schol’s presence and the Path Forward Covenant. On arriving in Nigeria, Bishop Schol meets with the cabinet members to hear their concerns and seeks to address their concerns. Following the meeting with the cabinet, Bishop Schol is to meet with leaders from the Stay UMC group to also hear and address their concerns. Following the meeting with the cabinet, the superintendents do not allow Bishop Schol to meet with the other group. They prevent Bishop Schol from leaving the guest house where he is staying.
The next day, more than 700 people gather for the first annual conference session. There is a growing concern by those gathering that Bishop Schol has not been allowed to leave the guest house. The police are called and intervene in the matter. Bishop Schol is given the opportunity to meet with approximately 250 of those gathered, who are believed to be in favor of leaving the denomination. He shares that the Path Forward was developed to give the Nigerians the opportunity to unify. He states that Nigerian law forbids gay marriage, and that the Council of Bishops and The Book of Discipline call for Nigerians to follow the law. This news is warmly welcomed, and people begin to greet Bishop Schol, coming forward to embrace him and shake his hand.
The two annual conference sessions scheduled for that day are cancelled. The police, in an abundance of caution, escort Bishop Schol out of the area.
Because of the tension and misunderstanding, Bishops Yohanna and Schol with police officials decide that all of the special sessions should be postponed until there can be more conversation among smaller groups about the Path Forward Covenant.
27 July 2024 – Two days after the incident at the guest house, the UMC Nigeria cabinets resign from The United Methodist Church.
29 July 2024 – Bishop Yohanna resigns from The United Methodist Church.
August 2024
- An interim team of bishops, comprising Bishops Eben Nhiwatiwa, Schol and Streiff (with Yemba later added to the team), is assigned to oversee Nigeria, with Schol to be the lead bishop.
- Forty-one new district superintendents are appointed to Nigeria.
- Four special annual conference sessions are called to:
- Elect new conference leadership.
- Vote to affirm that United Methodists of Nigeria will follow the laws of Nigeria concerning LGBTQ matters.
- Vote to overturn decisions to leave The United Methodist Church that were made by allegedly special annual conference sessions called by Bishop Yohanna. All of the delegate members were not invited to the sessions called by Yohanna, and the gatherings did not conform to Paragraph 603.5 nor Paragraph 572 of The Book of Discipline. It was also reported that one of the gatherings was convened by Yohanna after he resigned from The United Methodist Church. It was not the will of the United Methodists that these matters were put to special sessions held at the end of August.
- Vote to receive the Path Forward Plan Covenant and work toward unity and reconciliation.
- Nominate individuals to be candidates for the West Africa Central Conference to be held in December 2024.
All four sessions are convened without incident. All lay and clergy members of the annual conference sessions are invited, and the sessions are overwhelmingly attended (an attendance list is kept for each conference session). Each of the pieces of legislation passes with not less than 97% approval and three candidates are approved as nominees for bishop.
September 2024 – Without notifying the leadership of The United Methodist Church, the Global Methodist Church applies to the government to change the name of The United Methodist Church to Global Methodist Church on the government’s certificate to operate. The name is changed. The United Methodist Church files in court to have the name changed backed because it takes the vote of the General Conference to change the name of The United Methodist Church (United Methodist Constitution Paragraph 1) and a vote of the Central Conference to change the name of an annual conference (United Methodist Constitution Paragraph 40). Also, the Global Methodist Church uses a copy of the signature of the secretary of the board of trustees for the episcopal area without his permission or knowledge to apply for the name change.
October 2024 – The Southern Conference of The United Methodist Church officially requests to realign with The United Methodist Church in the Nigeria Episcopal Area. The conference has now grown to more than 400,000 United Methodists.
5-8 December 2024 – West Africa Central Conference
- The conference approves the Southern Conference of The United Methodist Church as a fifth annual conference in Nigeria and for Cameroon and Senegal to be mission districts attached to Nigeria.
- The conference approves the following paragraph to be incorporated into The Book of Discipline for West Africa:
The West Africa Central Conference and its member Episcopal Areas and Annual Conferences shall adhere to the National, State and Local laws concerning LGBTQ+. The West Africa Central Conference further affirms that for West Africa Central Conference and its Annual Conferences that the teaching in the United Methodist Social Principles that marriage is between two consenting adults and marriage is between a man and a women is understood for The United Methodists in West Africa that marriage is between two consenting adults and is between a man and a woman. The Annual Conferences of the West Africa Central Conference may add to their own policies that further enhance and clarify this paragraph holding strictly to their National, State and Local Laws.
- The Rev. Ande Emmanuel is elected on the first ballot with more than 60% of the vote and assigned to the Nigeria Episcopal Area.
The Nigeria Episcopal Area, taking into consideration those who have left the denomination, has more than 700,000 United Methodists who are making new disciples and transforming the world.
The Path Forward Covenant referred to in this document can be found here and is being implemented across Nigeria
