Departures from the United Methodist Church (UMC) are increasing, reaching over 6,000 congregations—a fifth of the U.S. total—that have now received permission to leave the denomination, the Associated Press reports (July 6). The departure of conservatives over theology and the role of LGBTQ people in the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination and the numbers leaving are higher than either conservatives or progressives expected. Those figures emerged after the close of regular meetings in June for the denomination’s regional bodies. Many of the departing congregations are joining the Global Methodist Church (GMC), a denomination created last year by conservatives breaking from the UMC, while others are going independent or joining different denominations. Some 6,182 congregations have received approval to disaffiliate since 2019, according to an unofficial tally by United Methodist News Service. That figure is 4,172 for this year alone, it reported. Many of the departing congregations are large, meaning that UMC officials are bracing for significant budget cuts in 2024.
Source: United Methodist Communications.
The departures have been most numerous in the South and Midwest, with states such as Texas, Alabama, Kentucky and Ohio each losing hundreds of churches. In some areas, United Methodists have set up “lighthouse” or similarly named congregations, designed to receive members from churches that are departing the denomination. The GMC, with about 3,000 congregations so far, has also begun planting new churches, including in areas where United Methodist congregations have remained in the denomination. The new body has sought to solidify its traditional identity by requiring churches to affirm the Nicene Creed, according to the Aquila Report (July 16). With these departures, progressives are expected to seek to revise church law at the next General Conference in 2024 to allow for same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ people. There will also be an attempt at the conference to provide overseas churches a legal way to disaffiliate, similar to the way U.S. congregations have done.
