A Tennessee teen has pleaded guilty in the slaying of a prominent United Methodist Church leader
Memphis, Tennessee, US AP A 16-year-old boy pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of second-degree murder and carjacking in the death of a prominent United Methodist Church leader in Tennessee. After he entered the plea in a Memphis court, Miguel Andrade was sentenced to prison terms of 20 years for the second-degree murder charge and another […]
In the US, the United Methodist Church has lost a quarter of its churches – most in the South
United States RNS Americans looking to understand the ways political polarization has defined US voting patterns need look no further than the divisions in the United Methodist Church. Five years after allowing churches to leave with their properties if they disagreed with the direction the denomination was heading on human sexuality, the results of the […]
United Methodist Church: One fourth of churches in US have left in schism over LGBTQ ban. What happens now?
PETER SMITH, of Associated Press, reports on the growing number of congregations leaving the denomination…
In the US, Methodist Church approves split of 261 Georgia congregations after LGBTQ+ divide
United StatesAP The North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church voted to allow 261 congregations to break from the denomination amid a schism over theological differences and the role of LGBTQ+ people in the church. The conference ratified the disaffiliation requests from the congregations during a special session Saturday, allowing the churches to leave the denomination, […]
Californian bishop acquitted in first United Methodist court trial of its kind in nearly a century
United StatesAP A United Methodist Church court acquitted a California bishop Friday of all charges in the first trial of one of the church’s bishops in nearly a century. Bishop Minerva Carcaño, the first Latina bishop in the denomination and a prominent voice on behalf of immigrants, faced four charges of violating church law. They […]
Left behind by disaffiliations, Texas town’s United Methodists charter a new church
Amarillo, Texas, USRNS Earlier this year, the seven United Methodist churches in this city in the Texas Panhandle voted to leave the country’s second-largest Protestant denomination over theological questions about homosexuality and gender identity. Since 2019, in a process dragged out by the COVID-19 pandemic and denominational infighting, hundreds of churches across Texas – and […]
The Long Read: Four ways to leave your denomination – How churches are disaffiliating from the UMC
To date, 5,550 of the United Methodist Church’s approximately 30,000 US churches have disaffiliated from the country’s second-largest Protestant denomination since 2019. EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER and BELYNN HOLLERS, of Religion News Service, report…
In the US, judge clears way for disaffiliations from United Methodist Church in north Georgia
United StatesRNS The North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church can’t just press “pause” on disaffiliations from the denomination by churches in its area, according to a ruling on Tuesday by a Georgia judge. Cobb County Superior Court Judge J Stephen Schuster ruled from the bench that the North Georgia Conference “has an affirmative […]
In the US, breakaway Texas UMC megachurch reveals plans for new Methodist denomination
Southlake, Texas, USRNS Last year, White’s Chapel, a large congregation in a wealthy suburb outside of Dallas, overwhelmingly voted to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church. Today, the church, which draws more than 2,000 people on a Sunday, belongs to a denomination of one, a network it is calling the Methodist Collegiate Church. White’s Chapel Methodist […]
United Methodist bishops meet, look to pivot after 2,400+ churches disaffiliate
Chicago, USRNS About 100 active and retired United Methodist bishops from across the globe are meeting this week in Chicago for the first time in person since the COVID-19 pandemic and since the launch one year ago of the Global Methodist Church, a conservative denomination formed for United Methodist churches looking to disaffiliate over LGBTQ […]