Posted on 12/21/2023 7:34:39 PM PST by Morgana
The United Methodist Church in the United States has lost one-fourth of its churches in the last four years over their acceptance of same-sex marriage, in what has become the most significant denominational divide in the country in the last 150 years.
According to United Methodist News, 7660 congregations have disaffiliated from the demented denomination, including 5642 this year alone.
The UMC has over 30.000 churches in the United States and is the second biggest denomination behind the Southern Baptist Convention. In many cases, however, the UMC did not let them leave on peaceful terms but rather requested huge fees to keep their church buildings- sometimes up to half the cost of the property. Some state conventions have refused to offer buyout options, insisting that those choosing to leave must leave their church behind- real estate that is often worth millions- resulting in lawsuits and other legal action.
With the latest exodus, the faithful are by and large all gone, with the remaining churches populated by goatlings with Christian ideations that can’t agree on how badly they hate the bible or on the best way to molest it into affirming the doctrine of demons.
While the main reason for splitting is the long-fought war within the UMC over homosexuality and the UMC’s acceptance of it, it’s of note that the conservatives within the UMC aren’t particularly conservative either. For years the UMC has supported a woman’s right to choose abortion as an option to be considered. In fact, for over 40 years, their Book of Resolutions affirmed the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.
They support strict gun control and even guns being banned altogether. They allow women leadership into the highest level of leadership, condemn capital punishment, and condemn creationism.
Out of the 7660 churches leaving, only a fraction would even be worth attending.
***IMAGE OF STATS ON LINK***
For shame. It should have been 90%.
Except, of course, that the UMC’s own Deep State manipulated the bishops, the convention resolutions, who got to speak at the conventions, the harassment of conservative pastors. and the appointment of leftist pastors to vulnerable congregations—then sent the conservative congregations a huge bill for what it would cost them to leave the apostate church. When it should certainly have been the ellgeebeeteebies’ call to leave the faithful alone and go start their own denomination, for which the faithful would have contributed funds.
As it is, the buildings their forefathers built and maintained are being held for ransom by the heretics.
The "United" word was added in 1968 due to a merger between the traditional Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Evangelical United Brethren Church.
Now they are. But that was not at all what its founder, John Wesley, intended.
The original Methodist Church was founded in England during the Reformation as an offshoot of the Anglican Church. Methodist evangelists came to America in the 1600s, long before the American Revolution. During colonial days and until well after the Civil War, the American Episcopalian Church was the largest U.S. denomination, and Methodist was second.
Even as late as the 1970s, the Methodists had many institutions all across the country—hospitals, retirement and nursing homes, seminaries and universities. You could be in Methodist company virtually most of the time, similarly to Catholicism or Judaism, if you grew up in the mid-to-late 20th century.
In the late 60s the seminaries went leftist or merged with "progressive" denominations, and over the next few decades, they have pushed the congregations ever more to the left. As a result, UMC has lost millions of members and all their non-theological institutional holdings.
I left after five generations of family. Many stayed because their parents or spouses were buried next to "their" local Methodist church. Others, as in every institution, aren't paying attention and were never fully convicted of the gospel.
Ping to post 24.
Except that they are going to continue having women pastors. Death knell.
That was James Carville, defending Clinton by trying to disdain either Clinton's rape accuser Paula White or his mistress Gennifer Flowers.
I grew up in the UMC in southern Illinois and have been away from both for 35 years. I checked the conference website and noted that some of the larger congregations there have disaffiliated. The church my parents attended went independent. I think some of the smaller and rural congregations probably couldn’t afford to leave. I know the people down there and they are not theological liberals. I noticed that there was an unusually high number of clergy retirements this year as well.
The church is obviously in steep decline outside of disaffiliations. The UMC in my town in northern Indiana goes back 100 years. I have become acquainted with the pastor there and he tells me the average attendance is 10 people, mostly elderly. He is also the pastor of a church in a neighboring town, which is in a similar situation. My town is largely Catholic, but at one time the Methodists were able to draw people and put up a beautiful building and do something vital. If they are not proclaiming the gospel of life, then it should be no surprise that they are dying off.
Amen to that!
Yes, some of my acquaintances in small churches are being billed extortionate amounts to keep their buildings, when they have only 25 in attendance. So it has to die. The left killed it, with the cooperation of the apostate pastors and Biblically illiterate congregants.
The pattern continues: accept female pastors and acceptance of homosexuality is just a matter of time.
100%. Finally found a church were the women are honored and very active, but the men are in charge. The preaching is biblically sound, all the elders and ushers and communion assistants are men, the property is kept up, the bills are paid—it reminds me of my childhood in the 50s. I am a retired businesswoman and a head of household; but this chuch does not offend me in the least because it is rightly ordered.
I agree!
It may be 25% of the churches but I guarantee it’s much more than 25% of the actual Methodists who actually attend church and participate in the church.
Good.
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