Thank you for your insights and kind words. The congregation’s “disaffiliate” vote was 95%. The result didn’t surprise me, but the margin did; I expected a tighter outcome.
The Methodist/UMC drift into “friendship with the world” is not a recent thing; it began over a hundred years ago, and accelerated exponentially with the merger that formed the UMC in 1968(? I think that was the year, if not it’s close).
Riley Case is a retired UMC elder who has written a fascinating (IMO) series of posts on this drift in “Juicy Ecumenism”:
https://juicyecumenism.com/2023/02/28/methodist-gaps/
https://juicyecumenism.com/2023/02/09/methodism-mediating-elite-part-i/
https://juicyecumenism.com/2023/03/08/methodism-mediating-elite-part-ii/
https://juicyecumenism.com/2023/02/02/methodist-division/
Blessings, brother!
Please do me a favor. Please make this moment be your "never again!" moment for you, your family, and your local church. If you read church history you know that the Lord uses people so often after someone slides away but comes back to Him. This moment could be the beginning of another Great Awakening that our country needs.
I don't hold bitterness towards the local Methodist church. If anything, my sinful feelings towards them are that I'm a bit jealous of what God can do with them now that they've basically re-affirmed their vows to God. If I wasn't already committed in volunteer areas in another church I'd gladly go back to the Methodist church and help fan their new flame for the Lord.