The United Methodist Church (UMC) continues to suffer a breakdown of cohesion as thousands quit the church to form their own organization over a refusal by the church to stop member churches from allowing gays and transgenders to become officers and priests.
As of last week, the UMC lost 5,321members over the disagreements.
Per Fox News:
The data is based on reports “of U.S. annual conference reports, publicly available journals and reports of special annual conference sessions held in 2022 and this year,” according to the outlet, which notes their numbers are more up to date than the denomination’s finance agency, which has to wait on annual conferences to submit official reports.
The flood of disaffiliations comes after the General Conference in 2019 approved Paragraph 2553 of the Book of Discipline, a church law that allows UMC churches to leave with their church property if they obtain the approval of two-thirds of their congregation and their regional governing body.
Churches that want to leave are also required to pay their share of clergy pension liabilities and two years of “apportionments” for the larger denomination, under the church law that expires later this year.
So, why is this happening?
“In 2019, the General Conference voted 438-384 to uphold the church’s ban on ordaining LGBTQ clergy and officiating at or hosting same-sex weddings,” Fox added.
So, the church did pass a nominal rule that prevented churches from allowing gays to take official positions. But the church has also refused to stop the liberal churches from doing it anyway. And that is why the traditionalists are leaving the church.
Like always, liberals don’t care about rules, traditions, or laws. Liberals are lawless and they do what they want as long as no one moves to stop them.
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