United Methodist schism

Methodism Slowly Divides

Mark Tooley on May 19, 2022

United Methodism’s formal schism began on May 1 with the conservative traditionalists launching the Global Methodist Church. But the split of the global denomination and its 13 million members will unfold haphazardly over the next few years as congregations and jurisdictions deliberate, one by one. Meanwhile, new data indicates that, for the first time, most of the denomination’s membership resides in Africa, as U.S. numbers plunge.

This summer, United Methodism’s quadrennial governing General Conference, delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020, was expected to ratify a formal division of the denomination. But a church commission dominated by U.S. liberals postponed it until 2024, citing the pandemic and visa troubles for African delegates. Ironically, African commission members, anxious for the church to move forward and severely underrepresented given their continent’s majority status in the denomination, actually voted to meet this year. But they were outvoted.

(Keep reading here.)

  1. Comment by Anthony on May 19, 2022 at 2:23 pm

    You point out — “Meanwhile, although it appears that U.S. liberals will not make it easy for U.S. conservatives to keep their church property when they leave, those liberals, anxious to adopt the LGBTQIA+ agenda after nearly a half-century of trying, do not want to wait much longer. But even if all U.S. traditionalists leave or quit, the African majority could block full liberalization.”

    If “liberals, anxious to adopt the LGBTQIA+ agenda after nearly a half-century of trying” —- why aren’t they aggressively moving during this window of opportunity awaiting General Conference 2024 in assisting traditional congregations out of the UMC, even paying their exit fees out of reserves ($90+ million in North GA alone) ? Why aren’t the LGBTQIA+ people up in arms demanding the hierarchy move post haste on this awaiting General Conference 2024 in order to have a better chance of favorable legislation from either that General Conference or a special one soon thereafter after the exit of sufficient numbers of traditionalists?

  2. Comment by Steve on May 19, 2022 at 4:20 pm

    Anthony,
    Good question. I would assume that the progressives don’t want to lose the issue. It seems to be more about the fight than actually accomplishing anything. If LGBTQIA+ people want to marry, be pastors, or be bishops, then there are many Christian denominations they can choose from to meet their needs. But it’s apparently not about that.
    To flip the coin, why aren’t traditionalists passing legislation to remove those who violate the BOD? As time passes, the denomination becomes MORE traditional with the African church numbers rising. Traditionalists will have the votes to clean house. So why leave and give progressives what they want? This whole situation seems more political than anything else.

  3. Comment by Marta Shafer on May 20, 2022 at 9:17 am

    Our small Methodist church in Iowa has voted to leave the denomination and remain independent until we see what the Global Methodist Church expects for membership. We left over the Iowa Diocese not following the rules of the Discipline and not agreeing with the Bishop requiring same sex marriage to be performed. The long term members are tired of the payments to the diocese and not having say in the minister assigned to our church. The Bishop took a wonderful minister away and assigned a terrible minister who is proud of closing churches. It is not just about the homosexual issue. A minister who is taking a leave from the Methodist Church told us he was accused of being divisive for using the term Father for God. There is so much more.

  4. Comment by Lance on May 20, 2022 at 6:07 pm

    The left is anti-family and anti-children. If they really get what they want, they will disappear in one generation.

  5. Comment by Joan Sibbald.. on May 22, 2022 at 3:14 pm

    Sadly, Lance, Gallop’s latest poll states, by generation, those who say they’re LGBTQ+….

    Silent generation: 0.8
    Baby boomers: 2.6
    Generation X: 4.2
    Millennials: 10.5
    Generation Z: 20.8

    Evil is incremental!
    See: above

  6. Comment by td on May 31, 2022 at 1:04 pm

    Joan- those polling numbers are very telling. Because even by their “science” that says people are either born straight or lgbt, 20.8% being lgbt is a laughable number. If that is reality, then we need to have the NIH do some serious work to identify a causal disease: 20.8% is not a number that can perpetuate our species and we are headed towards extinction.

    No, this poll number for gen z represents mass confusion about sexuality, morals, and definitions.

  7. Comment by Steve on June 1, 2022 at 8:29 am

    It isn’t the species that is headed toward extinction (yet). I assume that 20% figure is (so far) limited to the orientation confused United States and cultural allies. Seems like the West has become where cultures and lineages go to die…excepting a small percentage of dynastic elite lucky sperm lottery winners. I figure if and when the population gets below what the elites consider an acceptable level they’ll switch back to traditional morality and those mentioned percentages will go back to historical levels. Probably not in my lifetime.

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