IRD’s Top Stories 2024

Articles related to United Methodist disaffiliation, local church closures, General Conference, and the new Global Methodist Church were among readers’ favorites as Juicy Ecumenism closed out another year as the Institute on Religion & Democracy blog of church and culture news and opinion.

Below are the most widely read articles, in ascending order.

10. What’s United Methodist General Conference Impact? 

IRD President Mark Tooley’s preview of the Charlotte General Conference anticipated that delegates would liberalize the church’s teachings on the very topics that led to its schism. But while it will continue to lose members, the decline of the United Methodist Church isn’t just indicative of trends in American liberal Protestantism. Rather, Tooley writes, it’s a telling sign of a wider institutional demise of denominationalism across the nation, where nondenominational Christianity has become the fastest-growing large religious category.

9. The Difference between the Global Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church: General Conference Decisions

In his final pieces as UMAction Director, John Lomperis foresaw that the mass exodus of theological traditionalists from the UMC—especially after the expected departures of a great many United Methodists in the Global South—would shift the politics of General Conferences for those left in the UMC dramatically.

Liberal activists could look forward to new majorities supporting parts of their agenda that were blocked in the previously unified denomination, Lomperis wrote. Global Methodists similarly could have a denomination committed to their theologically traditionalist values and reforms that faced fierce resistance in the unified denomination.

“The more United Methodists are given the right to freely choose which way to go, the more each denomination will get what it wants,” Lomperis assessed.

8. Staying with United Methodism: A Personal Testimony

Retired Indiana United Methodist clergyman Riley Case authored a retrospective explaining his decision to retain his clergy credentials with the United Methodist Church, even as many friends and longtime allies departed.

“I want to speak of what things might be done to move the church in a positive direction. I cannot do this as an outsider,” Case wrote. “I have many friends still United Methodist who are feeling abandoned by fellow evangelicals. That is why I am staying, at least for the moment, with the United Methodist Church.”

7. Callously Breaking Covenant: Reflections on UMC General Conference

Sarah Stewart’s widely shared reflection on the completed Charlotte General Conference lamented not only changes to the denomination’s Discipline, but also a loss of fellowship.

“To lose one’s church is a kind of death,” Stewart wrote. “It is not because of the physical building but the community of faith that exists within it and who hold it as a central part of their lives.”

Stewart sought to not leave readers in a place of despair: “But we should not lose hope. God does not promise us a denomination, but He does promise to preserve His Church.”

In that, the Wesleyan witness will continue: “We can take heart from the final words of Wesley himself, ‘The best of all is, God is with us!’”

6. Presbyterian Church (USA) Considers Forcing LGBTQ Affirmation

Guest writer and former IRD intern Josiah Hasbrouck’s coverage of an increasingly revisionist Presbyterian Church (USA) was broadly read. Ahead of the Salt Lake City General Assembly, Hasbrouck wrote about overtures that would bar ordination of candidates who are not LGBTQ-affirming. A split overture did pass and awaits ratification by a majority of presbyteries.

“Most Presbyterians committed to God’s design for human sexuality as revealed in Scripture and nature have already jumped ship from the PCUSA. Should OVT-001 be approved, however, any dissenters who have not yet sought other passage may be told to walk the plank,” Hasbrouck noted.

5. United Methodist General Conference: What Happened?

Mark Tooley authored an overview of what transpired at the Charlotte General Conference for Firebrand, the magazine promoting theological reflection in the broad Wesleyan tradition.

“The nearly 7,700 [now nearly 8,000] churches that exited United Methodism can feel vindicated that the recently concluded General Conference acted as anticipated, effectively divorcing sex from marriage in church teaching and policy,” Tooley wrote.

4. United Methodism’s Last Meaningful General Conference

Writing amidst the first days of the Charlotte General Conference, Mark Tooley predicted that it would likely be the last important governing convention for United Methodism as the denomination, with the rest of American denominationalism, “recedes into almost irrelevance.”

“I expect that United Methodism will functionally not exist in ten years (although church agencies with large endowments will independently survive),” Tooley forecast. Later in November, Tooley wrote about the UMC’s loss of 1.2 million members in 2023 alone, “the most that any denomination has ever lost in one year in American religious history.”

3. United Methodist Rift with the Gideons

Guest writer and former IRD intern Wyatt Flicker’s account of the longstanding relationship between The Gideons International and the United Methodist Church reaching a breaking point following General Conference was widely shared across social media.

The organization of Christian businessmen responsible for distributing more than 70 million Bibles annually to prisons, military installations, and hotels ceased cooperation with United Methodist congregations who endorse same-sex marriage. It was to be one of the historic partners now finding themselves at odds with a UMC shifting its stance on doctrinal issues.

2. Reflections on My Closing United Methodist Church

IRD’s Sarah Stewart returned to her longtime United Methodist church for its final service, a retrospective that was widely read and shared, including by many who saw their local UMC congregations choose to shutter rather than to disaffiliate or to remain.

“Facing shrinking numbers and sweeping changes made at this year’s General Conference, the decision was made for the church to close after more than 100 years of serving as a witness to the gospel on the corner of Seventh and Bryant streets in Parkersburg, West Virginia,” Stewart wrote in her account.

“I want to express gratitude and love for my church one final time. It is important to allow people the opportunity to grieve for their closing churches.”

1. One Million United Methodists Exit in One Day

IRD’s most read article in 2024 was a report by Mark Tooley about United Methodism’s largest overseas jurisdiction voting to quit the denomination in response to the church’s divorcing sex from marriage at its governing General Conference.

The United Methodist Church in the Ivory Coast voted on May 28 to exit the denomination. The conference reportedly had over 1.2 million members, meaning that more than one-tenth of United Methodism in one day left the denomination. The United Methodist News Service reported the vote very briefly in an emailed news digest but had no article on its website until June, bringing many readers to Juicy Ecumenism who were seeking news of the vote.