The split is increasing:
So far this month, about 900 church congregations in Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church (UMC). This is just part of a major, slow-motion, increasingly global breakup of America’s second-largest Protestant denomination, in which thousands of congregations across America have already left the UMC or are in the process of doing so.
Another one is Iowa:
The bigots gonna bigot.
More recent thread on similar topic:
It is done. Those in favor of inclusiveness won the battle. Individual churches and ministers will be free to practice their consciences. Many churches controlled by those who cannot tolerate diverse opinions have left or will leave soon.
United Methodists remove same-sex wedding ban
United Methodist pastors no longer face potential penalties for being in a same-sex relationship or officiating at same-sex weddings, nor can they be compelled to officiate one.
During the afternoon session of General Conference’s final day, delegates approved four changes to church law that together end remaining bans related to homosexuality and protect the rights of pastors to choose which weddings to perform or not to perform.
They also approved a change to the requirements that clergy practice “celibacy” in singleness — an addition made in 1984 that targeted gay candidates for ministry.
Instead, the delegates supported adding after the requirement of integrity in all personal relationships, “social responsibility and faithful sexual intimacy expressed through fidelity, monogamy, commitment, mutual affection and respect, careful and honest communication, mutual consent, and growth in grace and in the knowledge and love of God.”
As a Methodist, I am so proud of my Church for acting like Christians.
The splitting mostly finished in 2023. There are more churches that will leave after the latest general conference decision on lgbtq.
I guess this was inevitable. We lost about 25% of our denomination last year, mostly from “traditionalist” churches leaving to go either Independent or to join the “Global Methodist Church”, which is a new more conservative Methodist denomination that was given birth in 2022 by the schism.
How long will that process take?
There are some conferences that lengthened the window to allow disaffiliation through 2024. I would imagine that there will be some additional churches leave during the 2nd half of 2024, although it won’t be nearly as many as last year.
I think the vast majority that were going to leave already left last year. But there will be more in a few areas.
One other comment to make: The General Conference approved a regionalization plan that allows for different areas of the world to have different rules on things like lgbtq. For instance, African UMC might have a different take on marriage than the US. This “regionalization” now goes to the various local conferences around the world for the next two years to approve or disapprove before it can take affect.
So, it’s possible that the UMC could still end up with some areas of the world allowing gay clergy, for instsance, while others do not (I think).
Yes, this is mine understanding. Unfortunate, but the United Methodist Church made the choice of a larger organization with regional differences rather than smaller and uniform. After all, those that left couldn’t tolerate any disagreements.
In other news, the UMC voted to join in full communion with the Episcopal Church. We’ll still need them to vote for it as well. I’m not sure what all the implications are once it takes effect. The UMC already recognizes all trinitarian baptizes and has an open communion table. Maybe we’ll recognize each other’s ordinations.
I think the main thing that might come from the Episcopal full communion is that we can share clergy. Their pastors and our pastors can preach to each other’s churches, I think. This is likely a good way for the two denominations to help each other to stay “staffed up”.
This disaffiliation thing has hit very close to home for me. My church, in Georgia, disaffiliated in 2023 and then joined the GMC six weeks later. We left that church, because of various reasons, but one reason was we didn’t want any part of the GMC. I personally wanted to stay in the UMC.
Since mid 2023, my family and I have been visiting/attending/serving at another local UMC church that has stayed in the denomination and not voted. The pastor at our current place of worship has been tight-lipped about what he will do if rules at the national level change. I think he was hoping this would never come up… I’m hoping he decides to stick with the UMC instead of forcing a vote, which will split the church just like the last place I was a member. If they stay in the UMC, we’ll likely join here. To me, the UMC is a great denomination, and I have no issue staying with it after the rule changes.
I’m an atheist but I was raised Methodist so I have a soft spot for the church. This is good to hear.
I went through an atheist phase (for me) during my 20’s. I know it’s not a “phase” for everyone, but it was for me. I gradually moved back toward Christianity and joined the UMC in my mid-30’s.
Exactly so. I’ve only been a member of a UMC congregation for about a decade, but we’ve been vocally in support of these changes.
Its been 33 years, so I don’t think it’s a phase. 
This video I think gives a decent overview of the recent actions in a neutral way (as is usual for the channel)–though the comments are clearly rather one-sided:
What’s the intra-Methodist argument for allowing gay Reverends and permitting Methodist churches to conduct same-sex wedding ceremonies? My take is that Christ came to Earth as a healer, and that marriage is about commitment and love. But that’s an extreme position given Old Testament denunciations of gay sex. Leviticus is commonly ignored by Christians, but it does call for the death penalty for male on male sex, while giving female/female sex a pass. Leviticus 20:13
Look, either the Bible is a fine-tuned set of marching orders about how to conduct your life across time and space, or it’s not. If it is, there is no need for detailed interpretation (like the Talmud) - just follow the instructions and stop wearing cloth made from more than one color thread. Leviticus 19:19-28. If it’s not, then there’s no end to interpretation or scope for thinking for oneself.
So much for my opinions. What was the argument for gay tolerance and Christian charity within the Methodist community?
To be more exact, a 25% section that is opposed to gay marriage and a 75% section that is tolerant of it.
Correct. The United Methodist Church uses the Wesleyan Quadrilateral*: scripture, tradition, reason, and experience.
The basis for being welcoming to all is the greatest commandment: love God and your neighbor. We all sin, and none of us have the authority to judge ourselves or others. But we do have the responsibility to love ourselves and each other.
If God has called one of us to minister to us in his name, who are we to reject that calling? If two of us want to commit to each other in love, who are we to deny that love? Love is love.
That’s a good question. You might want to watch some of Adam Hamilton’s videos on the topic. He talks about this in some of his “defense of the UMC” type videos.
Also, Walter Brueggemann has an article on this:
Not sure if that’s been the crux of arguments within the broader UMC, but some references for you, in case you want to research it some.
Which is why I’m a Methodist. Abortion may be murder. Buggery may get you an eternity in Hell. But that is between you and God; it is not my place to judge and punish. My job is to love you as a human being.