Simpsonville ‘getting back on track’ despite lawsuit
By Jessica Brodie
SIMPSONVILLE—A group attempting to leave the denomination without its church going through the proper legal channels is slated to appear in Greenville County court late this month.
Meanwhile, a portion of the church wishing to remain United Methodist has been organizing afresh, with plans to resume weekly worship as soon as possible.
Simpsonville United Methodist Church, The Methodist Church of Simpsonville and former United Methodist elder the Rev. Michael Smith are being sued by the denomination for fraudulent deed filing and unlawful occupation of the church parsonage and property owned by the UMC, among other things.
The lawsuit was filed Nov. 5 in Greenville County Common Pleas Courts (see https://www2.greenvillecounty.org/SCJD/PublicIndex) seeking declaratory judgment and adjudication in the matter pursuant to The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church and the provisions adopted regarding church separation by the South Carolina Conference of the UMC.
According to the lawsuit, Simpsonville UMC has operated under the Discipline and its trust clause since its formation. Since 1797, the lawsuit notes, the Discipline has contained a denominational trust clause that provides that all property of a United Methodist church is held in trust. While the denomination gave opportunity for churches to leave the UMC, that process has now expired, and Simpsonville UMC took no actions attempting to comply with or undertake to follow this process.
Yet on June 4, 2024, the lawsuit alleges certain leaders of Simpsonville United Methodist Church announced the church had disaffiliated from the UMC. Further, without authority and in violation of the Book of Discipline, these leaders of Simpsonville UMC amended its corporate filings and changed the name of the church to The Methodist Church of Simpsonville. On June 6, a resolution was filed with the Greenville County Register of Deed’s Office, claiming the aforesaid deeds were fraudulent. The church’s appointed pastor, Smith, surrendered his credentials as a UMC pastor June 3, 2024. Yet Smith continues to occupy the parsonage, the lawsuit alleges, despite the fact that he has surrendered his credentials as a UMC pastor and the property on which the parsonage sits remains owned by Simpsonville UMC.
Defendants filed a motion to dismiss, and the case is on the docket for Greenville Courts Feb. 27.
Even as the lawsuit persists and the non-UMC group occupies the property, a group of United Methodists are pressing on to continue ministry as Simpsonville UMC.
On Jan. 22, the church released a message on its “Simpsonville United Methodist Church” Facebook page announcing the “great news” that it is “getting back on track.”
“It has been seven months since the illicit decree of independence by the former pastor and a few members of the church,” the page’s administrator posted. “Legal action by the South Carolina United Methodist Conference is underway to undo the wrong and restore Simpsonville United Methodist Church (SUMC) to its rightful place. Legal processes take time. While legal matters are being addressed, plans are being made to restart weekly worship.”
The post goes on to announce the Rev. John L. Warren Jr. has been appointed interim pastor of the church. Warren lives near Reidville where he and his wife, Marianne, retired three years ago. He has already begun work attending to pastoral needs in the congregation. The post asks for prayers as Warren begins his work among the displaced flock.
Warren said the congregation is still in the beginning stages of organizing, but encouragement is strong. He’s begun visiting church shut-ins, and they’re surveying meeting spaces while the legal issues evolve.
“The church ultimately is the people, and we in Simpsonville are still the church, and we’ll continue to band together and we’ll worship together, and hopefully the courts will return us back home,” Warren told the Advocate. “We’re just trying to be the church, and there are a good number of people who are still Simpsonville UMC folks, and we’re going to move forward.”
The South Carolina Conference released a statement on the matter, noting the following:
“On June 4, 2024, Simpsonville United Methodist Church leaders announced that they had disaffiliated from The United Methodist Church. As part of this attempted disaffiliation, the church’s leaders purported to amend its corporate status with the South Carolina Secretary of State and attempted to change the name of the church.
“These actions violated The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church—the collection of rules by which United Methodists have agreed to govern themselves since the 18th century.
“From the time of its inception, connectionalism has been an integral part of the foundation of The United Methodist Church and The Book of Discipline by which the church is governed. The Book of Discipline contains a denominational trust clause providing that all property and assets of a United Methodist church are held ‘in trust’ for the benefit of the entire denomination.
“The actions of the Simpsonville church leaders violate the letter and spirit of connectionalism and The Book of Discipline. Conference leaders have called this to the attention of those leaders and have tried for several months to persuade them to rescind their actions, to no avail.
“As a result, the South Carolina Conference has been forced to take the only option available to it—to ask the courts to restore to Simpsonville United Methodist Church the property and assets which have been wrongfully taken.”
Smith could not be reached for comment.