“The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

The Mission of The United Methodist Church

The transformation of the world does not mean the destruction of the world or the destruction of a livable cimate for all life on earth. The United Methodist Church should not be investing and profiting from the fossil fuel companies that have created and are perpetuating and worsening the climate crisis that is already creating suffering and death and will lead to the death of billions of humans and millions of other than human species if left unchecked.

The mission of The United Methodist Church of transforming the world and John Wesley’s vision of transforming the world in ways that do no harm and that actually achieve lasting and sustainable good should guide our money managers rather than allowing our money managers to invest United Methodist money in ways that contradict our mission and do harm and hinder the good.

The United Methodist Social Principles adopted by the General Conference of The United Methodist Church in 2024 make it clear that “the burning of fossil fuels… is the greatest single contributor to the buildup of greenhouse gases and the consequent warming of earth’s atmosphere. To reverse the current trajectory of global climate change, increased investments are needed in the research, development, and distribution of alternatives to fossil fuels, including, but not limited to, solar, wind, geothermal and hydrogen-based energy sources” (“The Community of All Creation: Dependence on Fossil Fuels”).

The United Methodist Social Principles adopted by the General Conference of the United Methodist Church in 2024 urge for us to “reduce our reliance on fossil fuels” and also support divesture as a means to promote positive social and environmental change: “We support peaceful and nonviolent efforts, including boycotts, letter-writing campaigns, appeals to stockholders and divestiture, as effective means of expressing collective dissatisfaction with companies that engage in unjust or harmful practices” (“The Economic Community: Responsible Consumerism”).

The United Methodist Social Principles adopted by the General Conference of the United Methodist Church in 2024 also call for socially responsible investing: “We commend socially responsible investment as an important mechanism to hold corporations accountable for promoting the common good. We, therefore, urge individuals, families, congregations, and other church bodies to educate themselves about the use of their investment funds and to leverage their economic clout by mandating the redirection of their funds from industries that negatively impact people or the environment” (“The Economic Community: Corporate Responsibility”).

Tragically, the opportunity for the General Conference of The United Methodist Church in 2024 to vote for divestment from fossil fuels was blocked at the end of the final day of General Conference by a motion to call for a vote to refer remaining agenda items back to the committees from which they came – a vote that passed in the last hour of the General Conference after lengthy debate – time that could have actually been used to debate the merits of divestment from fossil fuels. This meant the minority report for divestment coming out of the General Administration Committee was referred back to committee – which in effect referred the issue of divestment back to Wespath, the agency in The United Methodist Church that has been working for many years to block fossil fuel divestment efforts within the denomination; and it seems that the chances of Wespath changing their stance against fossil fuel divestment is about as small as the chances of Wespath being able to change the immoral and climate chaos creating behavior of fossil fuel companies thourgh investment and engagement.

In the end, if The United Methodist Church successfully divests from fossil fuel companies, it will be in spite of the efforts of Wespath to block these efforts. In the end, divestment will be made possible by The United Methodist Church living more fully into its mission to transform the world and not destroy it and to do no harm and do postitive good as John Wesley envisioned for the community of all creation. Divestment will be made possible by following our United Methodist mission, not our United Methodist money managers.

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