United Methodist exits are accelerating, as at least 260 of 779 churches in the North Carolina Conference, or one third, have voted to disaffiliate or plan to next year, according to The Carolina Journal. United Methodist churches, whose property is owned by the denomination through the local “conference,” can vote to exit the liberalizing denomination, with their property and a one-time payment, before the end of 2023.
Meanwhile, 118 churches, or 28 percent of the total, have notified the Peninsula-Delaware Conference that they plan to exit, the conference’s trustees announced. This number shocked conference officials, as the churches organized within only a few weeks when notified that Bishop Latrelle Easterling was going to impose a 50% real estate value surcharge on exit costs after the arbitrary deadline. The exiting churches contribute $1.4 million to the conference’s budget, which was $4.8 million in 2021. It’s believed another 75-100 churches would like to leave but failed to meet the deadline. Possibly some will litigate.
Additionally, Dallas-area St. Andrew United Methodist Church of Plano, with 6500 members, has voted to exit United Methodism. Its pastor is Arthur Jones, son of Houston Bishop Scott Jones, and nephew of former Duke Divinity School dean Greg Jones. “The historical Methodist theology and our focus on Jesus is what we aim to protect,” the church explained about its exit.
The church’s website notes that the church’s now deceased former longtime pastor had started considering disaffiliation years ago and asked church leaders to “monitor the inevitable fragmenting of the United Methodist Church.” That pastor died in July but had left a recording urging disaffiliation.
At least 500 UMC churches in the state of Texas, including four of the top six by membership, have exited or plan to, according to The Dallas Morning News. St. Andrew is the state’s seventh-largest United Methodist church.
“We can protect our finances, our property and our pastors by going in a new direction,” the church explained, now calling itself St. Andrew Methodist Church. It has not yet decided about affiliation with another denomination. Its statement said: “We will be looking to create affiliations with those who also desire greater accountability with more efficient systems and structures than we have had with the UMC,” they said. “We do not desire long-term independence. Instead, we want to take the time to fully explore the right affiliations to ensure our church can remain mission focused and step into the future.”
Many churches are voting this year to exit in time for confirmation by special annual conferences meeting this fall. Others are voting in time for annual conferences next year. One hundred eighty churches in North Carolina Conference voted to exit this year, while another 80 are preparing for exit next year. According to a Global Methodist Church (GMC) organizer, 150 of those 180 churches exiting this year plan to join the GMC.
The Carolina Journal noted that total likely exits for the Western North Carolina Conference are not known but 41 churches there exited in 2021 and 2022. With Florida’s Bishop Carter presiding over it, the process is perceived as more cumbersome, and 31 churches in Western North Carolina are litigating.
In the Virginia Conference, with 1175 churches, 13 church exits will be confirmed at a special annual conference in October, with reportedly another 125 so far preparing for exit next year.
It’s expected that 1500 and likely more churches will vote to exit this year, with perhaps a total of 3000-5000 churches exiting by the end of 2023. United Methodist Book of Discipline Paragraph 2553 allows congregations to exit with property by the end of 2023. But exits must be confirmed by votes of annual conferences, which typically meet in May or June.
Exiting churches must pay two years of apportionments and pension liabilities. In the Virginia Conference, the total equals about five or six times annual apportionments. Exiting churches there are paying from $24,000 for a 47 member church to over $600,000 for a 667 member church. But some very liberal bishops, like Bishop Easterling, who presides over Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware, along with Bishop John Schol of New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania are adding exorbitant surcharges, making exit very difficult and prompting likely litigation. Over 100 churches in the Florida Conference are suing Bishop Ken Carter and the conference over an exorbitant insurance charge he has added to exit costs.
After 2023, there is no clear path for United Methodist congregations to exit the denomination without losing their property. The 2024 General Conference could approve another exit pathway but it unlikely to do so. Paragraph 2553 was ratified by the 2019 Special General Conference by less than 52 percent, with traditionalists supporting and liberals opposing. Traditionalists are not expected to have a majority in 2024.
Comment by Reynolds on October 22, 2022 at 10:06 pm
Just imagine if you hadn’t wasted all this time believing in the Protocol. Not sure why any of you believed the other side was acting in good faith. I would like to have explanation to why you believed them
Comment by Jeffrey Allen on October 22, 2022 at 10:46 pm
The conservatives deluded themselves into believing that the liberals were Christian and would act like it. Of course they are not Christian so they actually are really big into arrogance, lying, and cruelty toward those who do not agree with them. The naivety of many evangelicals is mind boggling. The Southern Baptists had the guts to win back their denomination from the liberals. Apparently the Methodists did not.
Comment by Be careful Mr. Allen on October 23, 2022 at 11:32 am
I would remind you of Matthew 7:1:
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”
I am as angry at the church left as you are, even more than you because I didn’t make a lifetime commitment to a church that turned their back on their heritage, and left me behind.
However, our side is not perfect either, and to say that people on the left in the denomination are not Christian is a very damaging, hateful, and harmful thing to say. It affects our witness to non-Christians too.
Comment by Reynolds on October 23, 2022 at 1:03 pm
Jeffrey,
We both know that. What I want to know is that Mark and the rest of them knew these people for years so how did they not know this was coming. Either the WCA was gullible or stupid. So many of knew the Protocol was never going to happen. This has been many years of wasted time. I want an explanation why the believed the other side. Tom writes articles about is the Protocol dead. It was never alive. I just want one article why the thought this was ever going to happen. The liberals were just trying to run out the clock and for most churches midnight is coming to fast for them. The church I attend will leave probably next year.
Comment by George on October 23, 2022 at 6:03 pm
My church is out officially on January 1, 2023. Considering how some churches are taking it on the chin, we got a break here in the Texas Conference. To help those churches being taken to the cleaners by their liberal bishops, I would be in favor of helping with their legal fees . The money could come from our savings by not supporting those liberal colleges along with much lower apportionments. This is not war by any means but it’s not a time to play nice either. That time passed.
Comment by Kircher Leon on October 23, 2022 at 11:04 pm
This is criminal extortion by these liberal bishops!
Comment by Lance on October 24, 2022 at 6:07 am
The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. God comes to defend, protect and deliver!
I do not blame the folks that tried to negotiate a peaceful departure. That is what Christians are supposed to do.
2553 turns out to be a stroke of devine providence! While it was
written as a vehicle for left leaning churches to exit a traditional and orthodoxed denomination, it turns out, the traditional & orthodoxed Methodists needed that vehicle to leave the sinking UMC ship. Thanks be to God 2553 is available. We are out!
Comment by Hank Holcomb on October 24, 2022 at 7:51 am
My wife and I saw this coming and left the UMC 2 1/2 years ago. This is playing out exactly like the PC(USA). The liberals realize their feed bag is being emptied and will do anything to slow the process or grab all the money they can. Get out now! Every day you wait will cost you members and money.
Comment by John Smith on October 24, 2022 at 10:59 am
Remember the heady days when people were talking about Annual Conferences exiting the UMC and the need for a means to allow for dissenters in the AC to stay in the UMC? Ahh, memories. The Bishops sure killed that threat to their authority.
Comment by betsy on October 24, 2022 at 11:51 am
Beginning with GC2012 through GC2019, I spent a considerable amount of time cruising the internet listening to all the United Methodist voices I could find. I was appalled to learn what a mess the UMC was. Because of some questionable dealings at the level of the local church, I had already spent time with the writings of John Wesley so I already knew that the UMC had long drifted from what Methodism was under his guidance. But I was not prepared to learn that since 1968 I had been part of an experiment in theological plurality that had been inadvertently designed to fail and was doing so in a most spectacular fashion. I was never really on one side or the other, I just knew who I agreed with theologically. As I watched the UMC come unwound, it went from being water on the floor going in multiple directions at once, to being a gianormous raft with umpteen oars in the water each paddling the best it knew how, to cats with their tails tied together. Since I was monitoring all voices, I also developed a sense that the legislative tact conservatives were taking was not going to reel in a leadership who no longer felt accountable to General Conference. But I still hoped for the best. However, I was not surprised at the fallout after GC2019. The problem was, during the Way Forward Process, the different factions were not truly listening to each other. Although the traditionalist side made it abundantly clear that they were prepared to leave if leadership did not start obeying the will of General Conference, leadership and persons of influence continually pushed the One Church Plan while making it perfectly clear they had no respect for the traditionalist perspective. I also realized that there was never going to truly be a division of the United Methodist Church, it was simply going to be an exit of those that had the ability to leave. I live in a left leaning conference. The local church has been damaged by the dysfunction and brokenness of the denomination and started to fail when a series of pastors who could not have been more different in their perceptions started arriving. It is no longer the church I joined. And it took a further hit from covid. This fall they started a designated discernment process; something I thought they were incapable of doing. I do not know what any of them think about being put in this position, but I am severely disappointed that after all the years of effort to “fix the UMC”, this is where it all ended up and this is the best traditionalist faction could do: they lost the war for the UMC–probably because they were fighting the wrong battle–and now local churches like this one are left holding the bag. I know the local church has no future with the UMC but I question how much of a chance at a future it has with the GMC.
Comment by Eternity Matters on October 24, 2022 at 12:06 pm
We left the UMC 10 years ago and haven’t missed it. We were glad to hear that our former church voted to leave and join the GMC. The people whining about this are the “Christian” Leftists who beg the question and say it is unloving, but they can never explain how the Bible doesn’t condemn LGBTQX behavior as sinful. And since it is sinful, it is unloving to affirm it. The Leftists start by undermining scripture. They are doing Satan’s work. Shame on the conservatives for ever believing that those on the side of Satan could be trusted.
Comment by Paul E. Zesewitz on October 24, 2022 at 2:25 pm
I have to agree with BE CAREFUL MR ALLENs comment above. Judge not! Only God knows what or who is in a persons heart and if that person ever trusted in Christ as their Lord and Savior. All churches, whether liberal or conservative, will be judged by our Creator one day (see Revelation chapters 2 and 3 for details).
Comment by Daniel Weldon on October 24, 2022 at 4:22 pm
I am no longer a member of the United Methodist Church. I tired of the constant bickering and the lack of what I consider un Christian like motives.
Ronald Regan at one time was a staunch Democrat. After he moved to the Republican Party, he once said “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the Party left me”.
This is how I feel about the United Methodist Church. I grieve for the church, but I must follow my conscience and go to where the Gospel is taught from the pulpit unapologetically.
Comment by Christopher M. Owens on October 24, 2022 at 5:24 pm
Congratulations to all the church who are stepping up and out of the UMC. What will the group of Conservative Methodist called them selves now?
Comment by David on October 24, 2022 at 5:37 pm
The Methodist church was ruined by Satan-possessed liberals in 1924 when they got the General Conference to pass a resolution reported in the press as:
“The rigid law adopted fifty-two years ago, holding a member liable to expulsion for attending theatres, dances, horse races, circuses, etc. has been dropped.”
The godly orthodox Methodists declared:
“We know that theatres are immoral, that dances are indecent and that there is an immense amount of social immorality. Dancing has ceased to be esthetic and has become acrobatic and athletic. The threatres are vile and they breath the smell of sex.”
Apparently, the smell of elephants could set one on the road to perdition too.
Comment by Jeffrey Allen on October 24, 2022 at 5:44 pm
Look at the Iliff seminary website and the Claremont seminary website and tell me what you think. Ask these people about the deity of Christ and salvation only thru him. Ask them why they reject 2000 years of Christian morality and support abortion on demand.
Ask them why marriages need not be monogamist. Your definition of Christian means absolutely nothing. Ask Hilary Clinton how she can a Christian and support partial birth abortion.
Comment by Tom on October 24, 2022 at 5:44 pm
A bit off topic, but not really.
There is hope for the Presbyterian Church in America. Our homosexual pastor and his congregation are leaving the denomination. I would have preferred repentance on his and his elders’ part, but I will take this. Praise the Lord!
Comment by George on October 24, 2022 at 8:53 pm
Oh ! David, your back I see. For awhile I had thought you had beamed up to the planet Uranus.
Comment by Thanks for the reply Mr. Allen on October 25, 2022 at 12:29 pm
I appreciate your response sir. However, I don’t think you meant to write: “Your definition of Christian means absolutely nothing.” You do not know what my definition of Christianity is, but just so we are clear here is a hint: Read Acts 16:29-34. Or just read read the first chapter of John’s gospel, especially vs. 1-14.
I am under no illusions as to what some people at Iliff and Claremont seminary say. I can find a lot of other statements from other Christians that say the same thing, and it makes me boiling mad at them. They are tools of the secular left and I cannot understand how they come to their beliefs about these issues unless they are blinded by their Marxism or their reading of Foucault.
I also believe that the words of Mathew 7:20 apply here (“By their fruits you shall know them”). But are you really willing to say that when they bow their heads and ask God for forgiveness for their sins they will not be forgiven? If they say that Jesus is their Lord and Savior do you really have knowledge of their their souls to say they are lying?
The people who are trashing the faith will have much to answer for one day. You and I will have a lot to answer for as well.
Comment by David on October 25, 2022 at 1:01 pm
Actually, I prefer the planet Mongo.
Comment by Jeffrey Allen on October 25, 2022 at 7:45 pm
I need to make a clarification. These folks have put themselves out of the boundaries of authentic orthodox Christian by rejecting Christian belief and practice, but I am not judging whether or not they are saved. Only God who knows then completely can do that.
I will even leave my own judgement to God. I hope he is merciful to me and everyone else.
But we can say that some “Christians” have put themselves out of the boundaries of Christian faith. That’s why the early creeds were formulated. I know several very kind and godly Mormons, but again their beliefs are out of bounds. But I believe Jesus died for them also and that the God who desires the salvation of all men will work out the details.
And you say great “just what the world needs: more amateur theologians”
David, I have stuck up for you when others want you to leave. Thanks for bringing us down to earth.
Comment by We agree Mr. Allen on October 26, 2022 at 8:58 am
Thank you for the clarification! I whole heartedly agree with you, there are many people who claim to be Christian but they reside on a different planet than David and us on moral issues.
Personally, I think David really lives on Andoria and commutes in weekly.
Comment by Cassia Oaks on October 27, 2022 at 6:02 pm
How do the bishops just get to decide on extra charges? Is there no one steering the ship anymore?
Comment by Rev. Dr. Lee D Cary (ret. UM clergy) on October 28, 2022 at 7:52 am
Cassia Oaks: In the last several decades, the ship has been steered by a liberal, anthological agenda. Theology was abandoned. We’re witnessing the consequences.
Comment by E C on October 28, 2022 at 12:57 pm
Tom, are you really in that extremists’ camp? The PCA pastor you are referring to identifies as LGBTQ but is also celibate and nonaffirming of gay sex. He has not performed a same sex wedding and never will. I certainly hope the GMC does not go down a similar rabbit hole as the Calvinist PCA.
Comment by George on October 28, 2022 at 3:09 pm
Why is Tom the extremist? You say that an openly homosexual pastor is “celibate and non affirming of gay sex”. It would be easier to hit the trifecta than to find a someone who fits this narrative. If he has no interest in sex, how does he know he is a homosexual? Something does not add up here.
Comment by E C on October 28, 2022 at 4:08 pm
George, I hate to say that you are uninformed, but you are. The pastor referred to probably has as strong a sexual drive as most of us, but he abstains from following those desires due to his desire to be obedient to Christ. (Sure sounds like the example of sacrifice I would want to see in my pastor!) He is a member of the Side B community, a subset of the LGBTQ community who follow Christ through celibacy and are all non-affirming of gay marriage and same sex sexual activity. Perhaps it is not a large community, but definitely easier to find than hitting the lottery.
As far as characterizing Tom (or the PCA, for that matter) as extremist, it is really beyond me why certain evangelicals cannot see their own mean spiritedness in dealing with certain folks who essentially believe as evangelicals believe, but have a limp handshake or purple hair that seem to keep them from being accepted into Christian community. Most of them do not belong in the UMC because they do not believe the progressive theology–at the same time, they are not heterosexuals, despite the fact that many (if not most) have tried to “pray the gay away”. Does this kind of response to them seem even remotely rational?
Comment by George on October 28, 2022 at 8:49 pm
No. Not really.
Comment by George on October 28, 2022 at 10:19 pm
E C, you certainly do know lots about homosexuality. I wasn’t aware that they have weak handshakes and blue hair. The ability to pray away their sex drive is really informative.
I will look forward to meeting those blue hairs and shaking their hands. Then I can be as well informed as you are.on the subject.