When I read this news report about Methodist churches in the Tuscarawas Valley area of Ohio leaving the United Methodist Church I thought to myself, “They really wanted out!” It sounds like it was both annoying and costly to get out, and in some places there were additional ordeals. I heard (reliably) of one case in a church business meeting when conference leaders urged non-attending members to attend and vote against leaving the United Methodist denomination.
“The United Methodist Church owns all church buildings in trust for its congregations, so churches that wanted to leave had to transfer title to their building. They had to get a two-thirds vote of approval from their members and then approval at their conference’s annual meeting. And they had to make a payment to the denomination to leave, and sometimes that amount was substantial.”
“Churches leaving were required to pay in full two years of that congregation’s apportionment commitment; pay in full the congregation’s pro-rata share of the conference’s pension liability, based on a formula approved by the annual conference; and pay any health care or pension arrearages a congregation may have accrued over the years.”
2 comments:
I read on their website that the group named Global Methodist Church approves of women pastors. I rejoice that some are leaving the unbiblical UMC, but it is probably only a matter of time before the GMC goes the way of the UMC, since it's obvious that the GMC does not honor the Bible's teaching about each bishop/elder/pastor being the husband of one wife. I have heard that there are some Free Methodists that may be closer to The Book. I hope so.
Thank you for keeping these things before us and giving good insight.
E. T. Chapman
I agree. It is good that they have rejected the LGBTQ agenda. But without dealing with other underlying issues, they will be back at this crisis again at some point in the future.
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