Posted on 07/26/2015 6:09:01 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A congregation in Pennsylvania has voted overwhelmingly to leave the United Methodist Church over the growing debate that the mainline denomination is having regarding its position on homosexuality.
Wesley Church, a congregation in Quarryville that has an average weekly worship attendance of about 650, voted to leave the UMC after months of discernment.
Chris Lenhart, associate pastor at Wesley Church, told The Christian Post that leadership for the congregation saw a "considerable chasm forming between what Wesley believed and affirmed about the nature of God's word and what the denomination believed and affirmed about the nature of God's Word.
"The primary issue for us leaving revolved around biblical authority. Wesley Church believes and affirms that God's Word is fully inspired and inerrant and fully authoritative on all matters pertaining to our lives," said Lenhart.
"We were indeed disappointed by the, 'peripheral' decisions coming from the denomination, but saw them as symptoms of a greater issue."
In contrast to other mainline Protestant denominations, the UMC officially considers homosexuality "incompatible with Christian teaching" and forbids clergy from performing gay weddings.
The UMC also prohibits the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals and defines marriage as being between one man and one woman.
Despite the official rules, there is a movement within the UMC to change the rules as well as the language within the Book of Discipline.
Advocacy groups like Reconciling Ministries Network, Methodist Federation for Social Action, and Methodists in New Directions have lobbied for the changes, with measures being voted on at past General Conferences.
Some, especially those on the conservative side of the sexual ethics debate, have argued for a schism within the UMC, given the vast difference in opinion on sexual ethics.
Others, including most notably the Rev. Adam Hamilton, senior pastor of the megachurch United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, have lobbied for individual congregations to determine whether or not to follow the Book of Discipline's position on homosexuality.
Regarding Wesley Church's process to leave the UMC and become non-denominational, Lenhart sees it "as a grass roots effort within our congregation.
"We began the process with a straw-poll just to get an idea of the congregation's heart regarding the matter. The vote came back overwhelming in favor, by more than 95 percent, of our leadership investigating a possible withdrawal from the denomination," said Lenhart.
"After five months of prayer and regular meetings with leadership within our church and the United Methodist denomination, a settlement was reached."
In return for being allowed to keep their church property, Lenhart noted, Wesley Church agreed to pay the UMC $100,000.
With the conditions noted, the congregation then voted 97 percent in favor of leaving the UMC. As of June 5, Wesley Church ceased belonging to the UMC.
Lenhart told CP that since leaving attendance at Wesley Church has increased and that the congregation is now considered a non-denominational church.
"Our hope is that the United Methodist churches whom feel strongly about the inspiration of Scripture, biblical inerrancy and biblical authority would prayerfully consider what God's will is for their particular church," said Lenhart.
"We understand that God's will for some of those churches may be to stay and fight from within, but it was clear for us, in our particular situation, that it was time to move on."
Good for them. This is why I don’t believe in denominations - if the head honchos made an Unbiblical decision - it affects all the churches under it’s umbrella. Then, they have to pay to get out from under that umbrella. I guess I missed that in the Scriptures. Can someone please point that out to me?
Praise the Lord. May MANY more follow...
The most likely got away clean because they are mortgaged to the hilt and the Conference stood to gain very little by taking their property. So, they let them leave since they had very little in assets.
There’s a good strategy in that for other congregations looking to escape that pit of vipers that the UMC has become.
This is not what the Progs who run the UMC wanted to see. The conservative congregations tend to pay full apportionments (the money paid to the Conference each year). Those apportionments plus the guaranteed employment and salary minimums are important to keep those leftist pastors in the pulpit twisting the gospel until they sound like the works of Marx.
The UMC, a corporate entity under a constitution, is chartered (probably by whatever state it is in), and owns the properties. To become a member of the UMC you must agree to abide by the constitution. The decision is not by canon law but by civil law. They don't have to sell the property to the congregants. IIRC.
To stay in God’s Word is what Jesus tells all Christians to do. As he said in the account of Mary and Martha of Bethany when Mary devoted her time to listening to his words, “Mary has chosen wisely, and it will not be taken from her.” That commendation and promise from our Savior is priceless.
At least one Methodist church fleeing the wrath to come.
You didn’t point to the Scriptures on this. You merely posted a man-made charter.
I grew up here in south central PA in the EUB Church. When I came out of the Army in ‘61 they’d gone UM. I left at that point and regard an Independent Fundamental Bible Church as my home. A number of Lutheran churches in this area have left their governing body and gone Indy/Fundy lately and have grown exponentially.
Even the local big-box Church that’s nontraditional and nondenominational declared they will not be performing same-sex weddings.
Maybe, together, when we stand one by one, we will be be able to make a difference.
There is no need to discern "the nature of God's Word" when it is in flat-out, black and white, clearly stated in repeated scriptures. Homosexual sex is absolutely sin.
Institutions are often led by those who have an institutional mindset where individual preferences are secondary to what supposedly benefits the institution.
Churches want more members and thus their leadership will sometimes support policies like illegal immigration or gay marriage that will bring more members into the fold.
Political Parties operate the same way.
My church denomination, Evangelical Free (EFCA), released a statement that regardless what the courts or culture say, we stand on Gods word.
In September our pastor will have a series of sermons on what Gods word clearly says about homosexuality, premarital sex,..... The pastor stands ready to obey God over man.
Mr Gryboski ....gee Polish...duh wonder?
They always write like this in north country like all Protestants are on board with gay crap
Not in the south they are not
The few down here that are lib anyhow
Lutheran reformed
Disciples of Christ goblet flag
PCUSA
that about it
Southern Baptist even with out pc chosen bossman is not we’re largest prod denom
Southern Methodist
Mizzou Synod
PCA
Harding Lipscomb Church of Christ...big in Texas and Tennessee
Assemblies of God and nearly all charismatics
I keep wondering how anyone who calls themselves a Christian, can think abortion, practicing homosexually,....is okay with God. Or knowing an innocent baby suffers and then is murdered or seeing two men or two women together isn’t revolting... Especially when the bible explicitly talks about these issues directly. I guess that’s what is meant by “God Gave them over to a depraved mind....” I remind them of the scriptures...then they talk about the nice gay person they know and they can’t help it and it’s not fair.....I just want to slap them or shake them so they wake up.
Adam Hamilton should know better. This won't work. The UMC has an itinerant ministry system. Pastors are assigned to churches and can be transferred within a district. They don't get to pick and choose where they go and though congregations have some input in the process, they have to take what they get.
The UMC church in Africa and some Asian countries is growing while in the U.S. it is shrinking. The African and Asian UMC churches are much more conservative than those in the U.S. At the last General Conference (in which all the global UMC churches have a say), the ordination of homosexuals was voted down by 61%. The issue will reemerge in 2016 and will again be voted down. It should be the liberal UMC churches that split off, not the conservative ones who are in the majority.
I’m trying to understand this, can anyone help me? I thought Methodists, particularly Wesleyans, were among the more traditional of protestant denominations in moral issues, both in USA and their home country of England?
Aren’t Wesleyans closely allied with “Evangelicals”? Don’t Methodists, the Wesley branch especially, strongly rely on the Bible and the “Holy Spirit” too, for all spiritual foundations? Is this the same as “Pentecostal”?
Can you tell I’m Catholic!?! I truly want to know about these various belief systems, because Catholics and Bible-based Christians are going to have to start sticking together in this country.
Methodists and Wesleyans are two different denominations.
>> Good for them.
Indeed.
Not that familiar with UMC, but a sketchy description it’s been given.
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