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…
“Not a real schism”: Four years later, UMC exodus less a gush, more a trickle
YONAT SHIMRON and EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service, report that an analysis of departing churches suggests the country’s second-largest Protestant denomination will be weakened, but it is unlikely to break…
In the US, South Carolina’s largest UMC church set to leave denomination
United StatesRNS South Carolina’s largest United Methodist church is gearing up to break from the denomination with a formal vote expected next month. Mt Horeb United Methodist, located in Lexington, South Carolina, about 27 kilometres from Columbia, the state capital, has for some time been inching toward a disaffiliation vote. For the past several years […]
United Methodists: Texas megachurch White’s Chapel departs UMC to anchor new Methodist ‘college’
BELYNN HOLLARS and EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service report on White’s Chapel United Methodist Church’s bid to become what co-pastor Rev John McKellar calls “a healing agent between all of Methodism”…
UMC bishops in Africa break with Africa Initiative, Wesleyan Covenant Association
United StatesRNS A group of United Methodist bishops in Africa announced last week that it will no longer work with the Africa Initiative or the Wesleyan Covenant Association, accusing the groups of spreading misinformation. In a statement issued at the conclusion of last week’s meeting of the Africa Colleges of Bishops at Africa University in Zimbabwe […]
US Bishop slams “negative rhetoric” as conservative Methodists declare end to moratorium
United StatesRNS In his first official address as president of the United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops, Bishop Thomas Bickerton of the New York annual conference called out conservative groups that are encouraging United Methodist churches to join a splinter denomination, citing divisive rhetoric and “accusations and statements that are just not true”. Bickerton accused […]
In the US, WCA calls on conservative churches to withhold apportionments from United Methodist Church
United StatesRNS “Let our people go!” reads a statement shared over the weekend by the Wesleyan Covenant Association, a network of theologically conservative United Methodists. While the phrase might be borrowed from Moses in the Book of Exodus, the WCA is not exactly calling for a series of escalating plagues. Nevertheless, the outcry is not […]
New denomination urges United Methodists to walk out of the wilderness
Garner, North Carolina, USRNS Fourteen United Methodists gathered in a sanctuary of a church on Saturday to watch a daylong broadcast of inspirational sermons from a group of Christians promising to lead them out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land. The 6th annual gathering of the Wesleyan Covenant Association was broadcast live from […]
In the US, Florida churches among first to begin exit from UMC to new, conservative denomination
United StatesRNS A statement posted on Facebook on Tuesday by the Wesleyan Covenant Association’s Florida chapter caught the attention of the Florida bishop for the United Methodist Church: “107 Florida Methodist Churches Depart United Methodist Church”, it began. The Facebook post came just a few days after the launch of the Global Methodist Church, a […]
Church schism: United Methodists would’ve met this week to consider a split. What are they doing instead?
EMILY MACFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service, reports…