Mason Beasler

AFA Journal staff writer

May 2020 – Author and professor Michael Josephson once said, “Sometimes the dues we pay to maintain integrity are pretty high, but the ultimate cost of moral compromise is so much higher.”

For the United Methodist Church (UMC), this moral cost evaluation has materialized right in current culture. During recent years and months, the UMC has been stressed over the topic of LGBTQ leadership in the church. In May of 2020, the UMC will gather as a whole and discuss splitting into two separate groups: A traditional group that keeps to the biblical principle acknowledging homosexuality as a sin, while the remainder of the UMC begins allowing LGBTQ marriage and clergy.

Following the Word
In the face of these conflicts, one Methodist organization has been holding to biblical principles since 1969. That organization is the Association of Independent Methodists (AIM). Although some of its members have United Methodist backgrounds, AIM is a completely separate organization.

“The primary difference,” said Gary Briden, former executive director of AIM, “would be our stance on the Word of God and our conservative theology. We still embrace the faith in the virgin birth of Christ, the triune God, the gospel, and the Bible as the infallible, the inerrant, and the inspired Word of God. We are committed to the message of the gospel, which is salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus.”

Each church within AIM is independently owned, from the church building to the property it’s built on. Founded to form a bond between these independent, yet like-minded, congregations with Methodist backgrounds, AIM strives to accomplish tasks that might be daunting for single congregations.

“The purpose is to do together what we can’t do separately,” said Briden.

These opportunities presented through AIM include discipleship and leadership training for pastors, youth camps, men’s and women’s retreats, supplying biblical resources, and outreach to new potential members
of AIM.

Conducive to their plan to reach out to more churches or individuals needing connection, the AIM website (aim2020.com) includes a “Church Finder” feature. This tool can be used to locate AIM churches in several states around the country.

Additionally, AIM places a high priority on the health of its member churches. Each member church is asked to reevaluate their mission and vision every five to seven years. AIM then works with those churches to help improve overall health and effectiveness.

Finding the way forward
Currently, AIM exists mainly in the southeastern United States, but Briden said they have plans to continue reaching more people with the gospel.

“We are working on purpose to plant churches where [they are] needed,” he said. “We do have congregations that are independent and are looking for a connection, so we reach out to them.”

Briden also said the reach of AIM is not limited to the United States: “We have missionaries in various countries. Our missionary in Honduras is focused on planting some independent Methodist churches there. We [also] have one missionary in Mexico [who] is planting churches in connection with his ministry.”

AIM supports additional mission work in Africa and Asia.

Briden emphasized AIM’s overall mission as completely centered on Jesus: “We’re focused on the essentials of the faith, the essential Christian doctrine. We seek to promote and spread the gospel of Christ.”

Unlike AIM, entities that compromise on biblical principles will soon realize the veracity of Josephson’s statement: The cost of moral compromise is a far greater one than standing resolute in the truth.   

Learn more
For more information on the Association of Independent Methodists and its member churches, visit aim2020.com or call 601.362.1301.