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The United Methodist Church lost one-fourth of its U.S. churches in a recent schism, with conservatives departing over disputes on sexuality and theology. Now, with the approach of its first major legislative gathering in several years, the question is whether the church can avert a similar outcome elsewhere in the world, where about half its members live. The question is particularly acute in Africa, home to the vast majority of United Methodists outside the U.S. Most of its bishops favor staying, but other voices are calling for regional conferences to disaffiliate. At the upcoming General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina,...

Allendale United Methodist “Church” is already under fire for allowing minors to attend a drag queen show during its worship service, blatantly disregarding Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s legislation that prohibits exposing children to sexualized performances. One particularly egregious instance in 2022 involved Isaac Simmons, also known as drag queen “Ms. Pennycost,” who is now an ordained “pastor” or “priestess” or whatever in the UMC. Simmons openly challenges the authority of Scripture and adopts a heretical view of God, evident through his sacrilegious writings. Simmons was notably featured at this “church” delivering a “children’s sermon” that grossly misrepresented Romans 12:2, twisting...

The number of congregations that have left the United Methodist Church amid the schism over the denomination's stance on homosexuality has passed the 7,000 mark.Over the weekend, the number of churches that have disaffiliated from the UMC since 2019 reached 7,286, according to UM News, with over 5,200 leaving this year alone.This total includes 366 churches leaving the Kentucky Conference, 349 churches leaving the North Alabama Conference, 334 churches leaving the North Georgia Conference, 326 churches leaving the North Carolina Conference and 317 churches leaving the Indiana Annual Conference.Of the 334 congregations that have disaffiliated from the North Georgia Conference...

Allendale United Methodist “Church” is already under fire for allowing minors to attend a drag queen show during its worship service, blatantly disregarding Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s legislation that prohibits exposing children to sexualized performances. One particularly egregious instance in 2022 involved Isaac Simmons, also known as drag queen “Ms. Pennycost,” who is now an ordained “pastor” or “priestess” or whatever in the UMC. Simmons openly challenges the authority of Scripture and adopts a heretical view of God, evident through his sacrilegious writings. Simmons was notably featured at this “church” delivering a “children’s sermon” that grossly misrepresented Romans 12:2, twisting...

Nearly 100 congregations in Ohio have left the United Methodist Church amid the denomination's ongoing debate over homosexuality, joining thousands of other churches in the United States that have done the same.At a special session of the UMC West Ohio Conference held last weekend, 96 churches were granted their request to disaffiliate from the mainline Protestant denomination. The session was held at Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church in Tipp City, with around 800 clergy and laity in attendance. Bishop Gregory V. Palmer presided over the gathering. In addition to the 96 disaffiliations, the session also dealt with budgetary issues, recommending the...

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, wrote, " What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace." Wesley could have never imagined how much the church he founded would not just be tolerating but embracing in 2023. Thankfully, some members of the Methodist church have decided to take a stand. According to the Christian Post, Christ United Methodist Church of Jackson, one of the largest United Methodist Church bodies in Mississippi, voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to disaffiliate from the UMC Mississippi Conference. The congregation plans to change its name to "Christ United - Jackson" on Jan. 1, 2024....

In the latest wave of departures from the United Methodist Church, the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church voted last week to approve the disaffiliation of another 46 churches. It was the conference’s second such vote this year. The last vote, held in April, resulted in the disaffiliation of 55 churches, with a total of 30,000 congregants — 15% of the conference’s total membership. The conference estimates the value of assets held by the departing churches to be in the ballpark of $36 million. These two votes bring the total number of disaffiliations from the Florida Conference to 120...

In the last couple of months, thousands more houses of worship have left the United Methodist Church, having their disaffiliation votes approved by their UMC conferences. Updated totals show that as many as 6,000 churches have fled the UMC in the last couple of years — and the issue shows no signs of slowing down. "For the last several ... decades, the United Methodist Church has been in a big debate about whether to change its official stance on LGBT issues," Christian Post reporter Michael Gryboski explained on “The Inside Story” podcast. "At present, the UMC prohibits the blessing of...

More than 6,000 congregations have been given the approval to leave the United Methodist Church over the past four years amid a schism within the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States over whether to change its rules against homosexuality. According to numbers compiled by UM News, the number of UMC congregations granted disaffiliation passed the 6,000 mark earlier this week, with 6,182 as of Thursday morning. While the number includes all churches that have disaffiliated from the UMC since 2019, more than 1,800 came in 2022 and more than 4,000 in 2023. The UM News count derives from a...

A Cobb County judge recently ruled in favor of 186 Georgia churches suing to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church. In a crowded courtroom filled with more than 200 people, Superior Court Judge Steven Schuster ruled Tuesday that 186 United Methodist churches should be able to vote to disaffiliate from the UMC, according to a news release from the Wesleyan Covenant Association, an organization helping north Georgia churches disaffiliate. The Georgia churches listed in the lawsuit, filed on March 30, requested the North Georgia Annual Conference restore the processes that were already in place allowing churches to disaffiliate.

Protesters, drag performers and at least one adult in a so-called “furry” costume were on hand last weekend for a “family-friendly drag show” that was moved to a local church at the last minute.The “Pride Prom” event hosted by Grayson County Pride was originally scheduled for May 13 at Pecan Grove Park West in Sherman, located about 65 miles north of Dallas.Prior to the event, however, the location was reportedly changed to 118 W Pecan Street, which is the address of the Mosaic Campus of First United Methodist (FUM) Sherman, according to the church’s website.The location change was first reported...

More than 140 United Methodist Church congregations in the Susquehanna Conference, including 14 in the Harrisburg area, plan to end their affiliations with the denomination under agreements approved by the conference Wednesday night. Among those churches are 14 in the Harrisburg district and 43 in the York district. The seven-district Susquehanna Conference includes 870 churches, almost 150,000 members and close to 580 pastors. Nationally, simmering disagreements over the 6.4 million-member church’s position on ordaining and marrying members of the LGBTQ community, as well as other issues, have caused a rift fueling the “disaffiliations” by more moderate and conservative churches. Marriage...

More than 180 congregations in Georgia have filed a lawsuit after their regional body of the United Methodist Church refused to allow them to disaffiliate amid a denominational schism over homosexuality. Last week, 186 churches filed a lawsuit against the UMC North Georgia Conference in Superior Court in Cobb County over the conference's decision last December to prohibit any more congregations from leaving amid a denominational schism over homosexuality. The Wesleyan Covenant Association of North Georgia, an unofficial conservative advocacy group that helped conservative churches form the Global Methodist Church breakaway denomination, released a statement explaining that the decision to...

The decades-long battle for the soul of the United Methodist Church (UMC) is now lost. A liberal faction has secured an increasingly hostile takeover.Christians outside of the UMC, please share this article with any Bible-believing United Methodist friends, to show the urgency of quick action. Please also learn from our mistakes.Theologically conservative United Methodists, we have a soon-to-expire, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lead our congregations out of a rapidly radicalizing, declining denomination without losing our church buildings, which are technically “held in trust” for the denominationSadly, some denominational officials and even pastors of conservative-leaning congregations suppressed information or actively misled...

An Alabama megachurch has voted to leave the United Methodist Church due to concerns over the apparent theological directionof the mainline Protestant denomination. Covenant United Methodist Church of Dothan, which has approximately 2,600 members, voted last week to seek disaffiliation from the UMC, with 406 present members voting in favor of leaving, 64 voting against, and four abstaining. Covenant UMC Pastor Kyle Gatlin told The Christian Post that major factors for wanting to leave included “the direction we saw the denomination was headed,” theologically. This included how some bishops were refusing to enforce the UMC Book of Discipline’s rules prohibiting...

Attendees participate in a special called session of The United Methodist Church North Texas Conference on Saturday, March 4, 2023. | Courtesy of the North Texas Conference Another 41 congregations in Texas have officially left The United Methodist Church in response to the mainline Protestant denomination's ongoing debate over its stance on homosexuality. The UMC North Texas Annual Conference held a special called session on Saturday in which clergy and lay members voted to approve the disaffiliation votes of 41 congregations that formerly belonged to the regional body. According to a statement emailed to The Christian Post by a...

The largest United Methodist Church in South Carolina announced plans to leave the mainline denomination over an ongoing debate on homosexuality in the church. According to the Post and Courier, Mt. Horeb United Methodist Church of Lexington, which has a congregation exceeding 5,000 members, started a discernment process earlier this week about leaving the UMC. "We are thankful a plan, path and price has been provided for traditional churches to consider separation from the denomination," the Rev. Jeff Kersey, the senior pastor of Mt. Horeb, told The Post and Courier. The church is affiliated with the UMC South Carolina Conference,...

The theological fracture within the country's largest mainline Methodist denomination has grown more contentious as a church conference in Georgia has temporarily blocked churches from disaffiliating. The United Methodist Church North Georgia Conference last week cited "misinformation" for its decision to "pause" any further disaffiliation efforts from congregations attempting to leave the denomination, according to a Dec. 28 email sent to member churches. The email claimed "many local churches have been misled about the disaffiliation process and have been presented with information about the process" and about denominational leadership "that is factually incorrect and defamatory."

More than 400 congregations in Texas have voted to leave The United Methodist Church amid the mainline Protestant denomination's ongoing schism over LGBT issues. Over the weekend, UMC regional bodies in Texas voted to approve the disaffiliation votes of hundreds of churches, with most planning to join the recently created Global Methodist Church. The total number of departing congregations includes 294 of the 598 churches belonging to the Houston-based Central Texas Conference and 145 of the 201 churches belonging to the Lubbock-based Northwest Texas Conference, reported The Dallas Morning News.The departing congregations constitute nearly half of all UMC congregations in...

Nearly one-third of the congregations belonging to a regional body of The United Methodist Church have left the mainline Protestant denomination amid its ongoing debate over homosexuality. At a special called session of the UMC North Carolina Conference Saturday, delegates voted 957-165 to approve the disaffiliation votes of 249 congregations seeking to leave the denomination. According to a statement from the North Carolina Conference, the number of departing congregations represented 32% of the regional body's member churches and about 22% of its membership. "The future is bright, especially because God has something to do with it," said North Carolina Bishop...