Over 1,800 conservative congregations are planning to disaffilate from the United Methodist Church due to their pushing of LGBT propaganda.
Some have speculated that this “schism” would destabilize the second largest Protestant denomination in the United States.
With a historic number of churches leaving, why 2022 was so dramatic for United Methodists #SmartNews
The gay and lesbian clergy issue has cause the schism in the wonderful United Methodist Church
The are less than 4% of the population – Absurd https://t.co/0XqjyY8ggV
— David A Sirbasku (@ASirbasku) December 23, 2022
Just today a video surfaced of a Methodist pastor in full drag giving a sermon.
Drag queen pastor delivers a sermon at a Methodist church. What in the world?
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) February 6, 2023
The cross dressing pastor from Florida who goes by the name of “Penny Cost” had previously come under fire for telling children to become drag queens.
Pastors, ask me again why I think it’s necessary to use every rhetorical device to separate Christ’s name from this heresy. pic.twitter.com/Pz6eI96FF7
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) October 10, 2022
The church’s Pro-Gay stance has caused tensions world wide.
Some clergy from the Methodist Church in Kenya have said they will not take sides in the ongoing wrangleshttps://t.co/4iyb6x3xz7
— TheStarKenya (@TheStarKenya) February 3, 2023
According to a statement from the United Methodist Church, The number of churches leaving is roughly 32% of the conference’s member churches, and they are taking with them about 22% of its overall membership.
In 2019, the UMC voted 438-384 to uphold and strengthen the church’s ban on ordaining LGBTQ clergy and officiating at or hosting same-sex marriages.
In recent months, Methodist churches in several states have announced their departure from the UMC due to its debate on same-sex marriage and gay clergy.
14,000-Member Texas Megachurch Votes to Disaffiliate from UMC amid Same-Sex Debate https://t.co/ZfYxE1cTsH pic.twitter.com/4ZaVUNJW2M
— StridentConservative (@StridentConserv) August 12, 2022
Despite that vote many liberal leaders in the UMC continue to defy the rules by commissioning openly gay clergy and officiating same-sex weddings.
Fox News reported that according to Thomas Lambrecht, the vice president of the traditionalist Good News caucus, the liberals in the UMC choose to brake the rules instead of leaving themselves and have become “essentially ungovernable.”
Great coverage from @AlexDriggars – For the first time, hundreds of clergy and laypeople from dozens of churches in West Texas gathered Friday and Saturday as Global Methodists, ushering in a new era for Methodism in the region after leaving the United Methodist Church last year. https://t.co/UPjqyn4XiK
— Adam Young (@AYoungReporter) January 29, 2023
Many congregations that departed joined the conservative Global Methodist Church, which launched on May 1 of last year as a conservative alternative for Methodist churches around the world.
"…the Global Methodist Church, announced Thursday, was organized by conservatives who were fed up with liberal churches’ continued defiance of the United Methodist Church’s bans on same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly gay clergy."https://t.co/tkJAUGOfRY
— thurane (@thurane) October 12, 2022
Despite the conservative congregations trying to leave peacefully the UMC has made is expensive and difficult to do so.
The UMC is bankrupting churches by making them pay large apportionments and pension liabilities.
While some congregations have trouble affording to leave the church, a liberal congregation in a Dallas suburb is refusing to pay their dues.
$1,500 was with held by St. Stephen United Methodist Church in protest for the suspension of Gregory S. Neal, a former pastor, who married his much younger fiancé, Kade Rogers, in defiance of official church rules.
The liberal congregation has been staunchly on the left side of the debate,even painting “United” on their own church’s doors.
In 2019 the New York Times tried to claim the victory for strengthening the ban on gay clergy and marriage was due to “improper voting”.
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