Amid the decline of nearly all U.S. Protestant denominations, both liberal and conservative, the new Global Methodist Church (GMC) has emerged and last week convened its first governing general conference in Costa Rica. Although about 80 percent of its 4,733 congregations are in the U.S., the approximately 350 delegates met outside the U.S. to stress the new church’s international identity and to facilitate visas by African delegates.
The GMC’s creation in 2022 resulted from the schism of what was once America’s third largest religious body, the United Methodist Church. More than 7,900congregations, with their property, have exited the denomination so far under a temporary process that officially ended in 2023, although several local regions allowed more exits this year (7,658 left by 2023, and 274 exited this year).
Of these exited U.S. United Methodist churches, roughly 3,700 so far have joined the new GMC. Why not more? Many churches, exhausted after the exit process, postponed any decisions about joining a new denomination. Another 1,000-2,000 U.S. churches ultimately will join the GMC. But hundreds of former United Methodist churches will stay independent or form informal networks.
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