[C19fan]

Not surprised another Mainline Church will now start performing gay marriages.

[Resolute Conservative]

Not SBC churches.

[crazyhorse691]

The liberal activists within the UMC are going to be responsible for the demise of a mainline protestant church that will splinter into several smaller units. Ain't civil wars grand.

[HiTech RedNeck]

This is sad.

But I wish to posit that this did not happen in a vacuum, but rather in an environment where sexual virtue in general has gotten short shrift.

Adultery is adultery no matter how it’s carried out, and the saying about beams and splinters in eyes, applies. The more sexually virtuous a church, the better leg it has to stand on to admonish and guide homosexual sinners. It is not being hypocrites about the way that God wants it to “possess its vessel.”

[El Cid]

...largest mainline Christian denomination in the world...

The United Methodists were the largest 'mainline Christian denomination'? I thought, given their liberal tendencies, that they were akin to the Episcopalians. Basically, a once large Christian denomination, taken over by wolves in sheep clothing, that was now fading away into obscurity. What's left? The SBC, and a few splintered off Presbyterian groups (Free Pres, PCA, OPC, etc) that still keep the Faith?

I guess people still seek to honor man rather than God.

[clintonh8r]

Most churches are just community activity centers now....

[thackney]

This is another battle in the UMC. The war for it isn’t over. The official Methodist doctrine still forbids it. This guy only oversees CT and NY region.

[steve86]

"largest mainline Christian denomination in the world"

Really? I've barely heard of "United Methodist". Had to look up if there is a church in my town -- turns out there is but they sure are invisible.

[FourtySeven]

Wow, the entire world is going nuts.

[RichInOC]

So guess what happened this morning instead of the trial of Thomas Ogletree? The UMC bishop overseeing the trial dropped all charges against the pastor. And he didn’t just drop them, either. He turned them into a huge brass bell he used to ring what will likely be remembered as the death knell of the anti-gay policy of the largest mainline Christian denomination in the world.

“Send not to ask for whom the dong swings...it swings for the UMC.”

[Rapscallion]

This may be okay government-to-government, but politicians and popes and clergy BETTER ask the people or there will be eternal resistance. They cannot assume our support and they cannot do it in our name without approval.

[jeffc]

Soon real Christians will have to turn away from the abominations being created by “mainline” denominational churches going rogue and leaving Jesus’ Christianity behind.

[fwdude]

The UMC will fully embrace the entire homosexual agenda within 4 years.

Leave while you can escape the ensuing rot and stench.

[Wpin]

During the end days it has been prophesized that things like this will occur. Consider the immense damage to peoples faith these “ministers” are doing. I hope and pray to never steer people away from God like those men.

[Hostage]

When certain Episcopalian sects started rainbow weddings for homosexuals, many if not most of their members showed up at Catholic and Orthodox churches as new members.

[Cyber Liberty]

I find this news shocking. I’m shocked the UMC *ever had* a prohibition against homo weddings. UMC is about as lost as a church can get.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

All the UMC in all of obamas 57 states can OK this God still holds the final vote and he has said its an abomination. So good luck to the Bishops et al. who have swallowed the LGBT line hook line and sinker.
there is a reason that narrow is the gate into heaven.
Freegards
LEX

[ZULU]

Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, are all POST-CHRISTIAN Churches.

[MacNaughton]

A Fundamentalist cartoon portraying Modernism as the descent from Christianity to atheism, first published in 1922 and then used in "Seven Questions in Dispute" by William Jennings Bryan.

Basically, the "mainstream protestant" churches are ...
1. Lutheran (all flavors)
2 Presbyterian (all flavors)
3. Episcopal (all flavors)
4. United Church of Christ

The UMC and Baptist (many, many different flavors with the SBC by far being the largest) generally are not considered as part of the old mainstream protestant denominations.

Top 25 U.S. churches reported in the 2012 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches

DENOMINATION 2010 % of top 25
Members
Catholic 68,202,492 46.2
Southern Baptist 16,136,044 10.9
United Methodist 7,679,850 5.2
Mormon-LDS 6,157,238 4.2
Church of God in Christ 5,499,875 3.7
National Baptist - U.S.A. 5,197,512 3.5
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 4,274,855 2.9
National Baptist – America 3,500,000 2.4
Assemblies of God 3,030,944 2.1
Presbyterian (U.S.A.) 2,675,873 1.8
African-Methodist-Episcopal) 2,500,000 1.7
National Missionary Baptist 2,500,000 1.7
Lutheran - Missouri Synod 2,278,586 1.5
Episcopal 1,951,907 1.3
Pentecostal Assemblies 1,800,000 1.2
Churches of Christ 1,639,495 1.1
Greek Orthodox - America 1,500,000 1.0
United Church of Christ 1,058,423 0.7

Growth From 1960 to 2011
DENOMINATION %
RCC +62%
SBC +66%
UMC -29%
ELCA -19%
AoG +498%
PCUSA -35%
TEC -43%
UCC -48%

As other Freepers have pointed out, the UMC will go through a schism over the issue of homosexuality. But the denomination will continue with a majority of conservative parishes. Those parishes advocating "social justice" and which have female pastors will most likely leave the UMC when the schism arrives. The African churches are growing and vote conservative in the quadrennial General Conference.

The SBC is continuing to fragment. Many excellent observations by Freepers. The national committees of the SBC have been working for several years to find a new name for the denomination so they can drop "Southern" from the title because of its percieved negative connotation. For those who don't know the history, the Baptist churches in the pre-Civil War South were ostracized by the Baptist Sunday School Board in the North over the issue of slavery. So the "Southern" Baptists schismed and formed the SBC. The latest SBC schism occurred in 1991 when the CBF, Co-operative Baptist Fellowship, split off over the issue of women's ordination - they approved of it. POTUS #39 JEC's church left the SBC to join the CBF.

The SBC is engaged in several social/cultural war issues at the moment. Their national committees recommend non-binding resolutions on ...

1. racism - advocating more outreach to black communities
2. illegal immigration - supports amnesty
3. homosexuality - opposed to ordination and marriage
4. abortion - still opposed to it

More and more SBC churches are leaving the "SBC" affilation off their front yard signs. I attend a Baptist church which voted to affiliate with the SBC and CBF. Not sure what the future holds there.

10/06/1968 – Troy Perry, a former pastor in the denomination of the Church of God of Prophecy, founded the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) in Los Angeles, CA. He had been married but his wife left him when she discovered his copy of the book, The Homosexual in America by Donald Webster Cory. The MCC is an international Protestant Christian denomination with 222 member congregations in 37 countries. MCC sees its mission being social as well as spiritual by standing up for the rights of minorities, particularly those of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people (LGBT). MCC has been a leading force in the development of Queer theology.

[SECURE AMERICA]

Their punishment will come later. Those that mock the Word of God will reap what they sow.

[GreyFriar]

Perhaps a reason for a conservative Methodist to give serious thought to join only Christian group that still opposes this — the Catholic Church.