[AppyPappy]

Who is left?
Liberal congregations
Small churches who can’t afford a pastor by themselves
Older, dying congregations
Churches with pastors near retirement

[Tell It Right]

Who is left? ... Churches with pastors near retirement

I've seen that first-hand with a UMC Methodist church that had IMHO a good pastor. Except that when this kind of issue was brought years ago, instead of siding with the members who wanted the church advocacy to go back to Wesley's holiness teachings, he sided with the loud and proud hedonists in the church who wanted the church advocacy to line up more and more with the Book of Democrats.

I believe the pastor made that choice because an old bitty threatened to create a scandal and mess up the pension he expected to soon start getting. I'm not justifying his choice. But I took it as a life lesson to not let myself be in a similar situation where all my eggs are in one basket that someone of worldly influence can disrupt with their intent to take down good people doing the Lord's work.

[RoosterRedux]

My local church split from the UMC. When the new pastor called me about attending, I asked him is he was going to preach about the sin of homosexuality (even delicately for homosexuals in the pews). His answer was basically "no."

He was afraid that if he told the truth, his remaining members would head for the doors.

[rdl6989]

My Mom told me the churches that left the UMC had to pay a fee.

[L,TOWM]

Not the case with the UMC church I go to in Texas, but sure...