Across the country, United Methodist churches are voting to leave the denomination by following an exit plan approved by its leaders more than three years ago. But in Florida and North Carolina, some churches have decided to sue United Methodist regional bodies. The denomination is
Perhaps the third time will be the charm for United Methodists awaiting a vote to officially split the denomination. The United Methodist Church has announced the dates for the next meeting of its global decision-making body after postponing its 2020 General Conference meeting three times
The Native American International Caucus, which advocates for Native Americans both inside and outside of the UMC, is calling on lawmakers to get rid of Columbus Day. To replace the federal holiday, which this year falls on Oct. 10, the caucus is asking Congress to
A group of United Methodist bishops in Africa announced Thursday that it will no longer work with the Africa Initiative or the Wesleyan Covenant Association, accusing the groups of spreading misinformation. The bishops claim the Africa Initiative, which was formed in 2008 to give African
In his first presidential address as president of the United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops, Bishop Thomas Bickerton called on conservative groups encouraging churches to leave the denomination to stop the negative rhetoric. He accused the Global Methodist Church and the Wesleyan Covenant Association of
The Wesleyan Covenant Association is calling for churches to stop paying dues to regional annual conferences it believes are making disaffiliation for churches difficult to impossible amid the United Methodist Church’s slow-moving schism, largely over the ordination and marriage of LGBTQ members. Those apportionments fund
While the plan to split the mainline Protestant denomination over its disagreement about the ordination and marriage of LGBTQ United Methodists will likely still be considered at the next General Conference meeting, wavering support for the protocol leaves the church either imagining a new way
The departure of any church or clergy from the denomination is not instantaneous, but must first go through its annual conferences. Florida’s annual conference will meet June 9-11 in Lakeland — the first time it’s gathered in person since the COVID-19 pandemic began two years
Senior Editor Beau Underwood interviews Donna Claycomb Sokol, pastor of Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., for the latest installment of our “Behind the Pulpit” series intended to pull back the curtain on the minister’s life.
The largest United Methodist church in the Atlanta metropolitan region announced it is leaving the denomination over the reassignment of its lead pastor. Rather than leave the church, where he has served since 2016, the pastor announced he was surrendering his credentials as an ordained