70 Georgia Churches To Leave United Methodist Church

GEORGIA — Seventy Georgia churches have been given the green light to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church over its stance on LGBTQ inclusivity — pitting conservative churches against more progressive ones.

Leaders of the 2022 North Georgia Annual Conference in Athens ratified the disaffiliation agreements Thursday. This means that on June 30, 2022, those churches will no longer be associated with the United Methodist Church.

The 70 churches represent 9 percent of the congregations in the North Georgia Conference and 3 percent of the membership, church officials associated with the conference said.

Following the two-thirds majority vote to leave the United Methodist Church, Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson and the members of the annual conference prayed for the departing churches, according to a news release.

"Bless these congregations as they depart. I pray that we will be partners in ministry and you will do your mighty work of healing division and overcoming rifts," Haupert-Johnson said.

In 2019, the United Methodist Church adopted a disaffiliation agreement allowing United Methodist churches to leave the denomination through the end of 2023 "for reasons of conscience regarding a change in the requirements and provisions of the Book of Discipline related to the practice of homosexuality or the ordination or marriage of self-avowed practicing homosexuals."

Differences over same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy have been a hot topic of debate within the United Methodist Church for decades.

According to the United Methodist Church's website, it “implores families and churches not to reject or condemn lesbian and gay members and friends.”

Homosexuality was first openly debated at the UMC's general conference in 1972, four years after the formation of the United Methodist Church. Since that time, the church said it has maintained the position that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching" however, there has been a growing push by some to reconsider this stance.

In an article posted to the UMC's website, tensions reached a breaking point with the 2019 special general conference following a 438-384 vote that strengthened bans on same-sex weddings and “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy. According to UMC officials, the slim vote did not settle the debate, but instead prompted widespread resistance and sparked serious discussions of a denominational divorce — which is now underway.

The Associated Press reported that conservative leaders within the United Methodist Church last year unveiled plans to form a new denomination, the Global Methodist Church. It officially launched May 1, 2022.

“The Global Methodist Church will warmly welcome people eager to join others in fulfilling its mission,” Rev. Keith Boyette, Chairman of the Transitional Leadership Council and President of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, said in a news release. “We have heard the truth of Jesus Christ, experienced the forgiveness of his grace and love, and so bear witness to his transforming power. We long to take our place alongside brothers and sisters in the church universal who seek to live out their faith everyday so that others might come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.”

With more than 12 million members globally, for now, the UMC is the largest mainline Protestant church in the United States — only second to the Southern Baptist Convention.