Posted on 10/15/2025 11:03:25 AM PDT by Morgana
The Global Methodist Church, a conservative alternative to the thoroughly embattled and progressively captured United Methodist Church, announced last week that more than 6,000 member churches have joined their denomination, reaching a milestone that few thought possible just a few years ago.
The Global Methodist Church was formed as a direct result of the UMC’s acceptance of homosexuality and gay marriage, which conservative churches found untenable. Launched in 2022 with only two dozen churches, thousands of churches followed and sought union.
It wasn’t without its difficulties, however. Many churches were forced to jump through hoops to leave the UMC with their property, assets, and church buildings. Some faced million-dollar exit fees, others were told they would have to surrender their buildings to depart, and some did not receive clear exit terms and deadlines, making it impossible to split amicably.
The new denomination shared on Facebook: (image on link)
While we’re glad the Global Methodist Church has parted ways with the UMC over legitimate theological differences, it’s worth noting that the GMC is not without its progressive streak, allowing women to be fully ordained to the highest levels of leadership.
Excellent.
It’s better to lose your building and land, as much as that hurts, than to lose your integrity. The liberal churches may profit off of the sale of the property, but they only profit once.
I agree. Like I’ve said a million times here, this modern UMC is NOT my Granny’s Methodist church.
The new denomination is also in court on behalf of it’s congregations to keep their local church properties, which in most cases were deeded to the local church “in trust” to the denomination. The UMC is claiming the disassociation of congregations from the UMC to the Global Methodist Church breaks that trust agreement.
The counter argument of the Global Methodist congregations that disassociated from the UMC has to be that the theological changes of the UMC broke the trust of its member churches, making the UMC not the church they formed or built or believed in. The changes at the UMC are a separation from the Methodist faith that founded it. The UMC broke the trust and is not entitled to the properties of congregations that disassociate from it. They are the congregations fighting to keep the faith that once was the UMC and is no longer.
Agreed. I couldn’t be prouder of the Methodists who took a huge loss to rejoin Methodists that are more into holiness (Wesleyan) than what the United Methodists have become.
Agreed. I couldn’t be prouder of the Methodists who took a huge loss to rejoin Methodists that are more into holiness (Wesleyan) than what the United Methodists have become.
It got so bad in the PCUSA that unless the property was highly desirable they were letting the property go rather than have to try to market it; even on the desirable properties, they were settling for pennies on the dollar. Many of the churches that wanted to leave deferred maintenance until after the property was released, further lowering the value and increasing the costs to market and sell.
As far as the Methodists go, none of the local churches pulled out of the UMC. It might be a good church planting opportunity for the new denomination.
And here I thought a small town founded in the days of lead mining back in Wisconsin, which supported THREE Methodist congregations, was an example of a schism that could not be healed in several generations.
Now here they are, jumping ship by leaps and bounds, to get back to the old Wesleyan doctrines and dropping the EUB associations like shedding a dirty shirt.
I disagree with their theology, but here’s a link for those of that persuasion
https://www.globalmethodist.org/find-a-church
“I want you to round up every vicious criminal and gunslinger in the West. Take this down. I want rustlers, cutthroats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, sh!t-kickers, and Methodists!”
— Hedley Lamarr
I’m glad he didn’t want Babtists.
I have some relatives that attend a mainline UMC church in the Midwest. They livestream their services, and I sometimes look in to see them in the congregation. The pews are never more than half full, and sometimes one-third full. And most of the worshippers are grey-haired.
If anyone runs across stories posted on FR dealing with litigation or settlements involving church property, I’d appreciate it if they would put a churchproperty keyword tag on it. I used it on a bunch of PCUSA and ECUSA litigation and settlements back in the day.
I told my spouse’s UMC group this was a once in a century opportunity to shed their ponderous overhead. But they just stared at me.
The 2030s will be an extinction level event for the UMC. Churches will evaporate when the current group of seniors dies out.
The non-denominational church’s are what’s growing in leaps and bounds. People going want to be entertained
Attendance at my LCMS church is up 10% since last year, which was up 10% over 2023.
It was that way when the Orthodox Presbyterian Church split from the increasingly latitudinarian northern Presbyterian Church. A lot of them had to walk away from real estate. (Do not know how much of that the PCA faced from the PCUS.)
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