As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“The liberal Methodists of North America have now virtually guaranteed their denomination’s extinction. Conservative Methodists around the world were and still are the lifeblood of the tradition….In this, they represent the larger trend in Mainline Protestant churches.” - Breakpoint
“This General Conference will liberalize United Methodism’s teachings on marriage and sex….over 7660 traditionalist churches, including up to 1.5 million members, exited the denomination under a temporary policy allowing departure with property.” - Juicy Ecumenism
“approximately 7,400 congregations have left the denomination since 2019 under the provisions of Paragraph 2553, including 192 churches in the Florida Conference.” - CPost
“The group, which includes some of the biggest churches in the conference, will formally exit the denomination at a special session of the conference, or regional geographic body, on Nov. 4.” - RNS
“There will be yet another explosion next May, when United Methodism’s governing General Conference meets for the first time since 2019. With so many traditionalists gone, the convention will likely delete its current bans on same-sex rites and sex outside of male-female marriage.” - World
“while most of those churches have followed the disaffiliation plan outlined by the United Methodist Church’s General Conference, other congregations and annual conferences have tried different ways to leave” - RNS
“It didn’t work, he said, because some church leaders and regional conferences have taken action to oppose the denomination’s official stance barring LGBT members from ordination and marriage.” - CToday
“An analysis of departing churches suggests the country’s second-largest Protestant denomination will be weakened, but it is unlikely to break.” - RNS
“For the past several years the church has been active in the Wesleyan Covenant Association, the group that birthed the rival Global Methodist Church last year.” - RNS
Discussion