This is exactly why the United Methodist Church is about to be ripped apart into several factions....they've been arguging about whether to "reconcile with" or reject the demands of the militant alphabet crowd for several years now.
There is no about to be it already has. Conservatives won the vote a couple of years ago not to have Gay weddings and Woke clergy but it was ignored by the "leadership". Instead the Woke Mob controlled the Denomination from the top. Those that didn't agree had no choice but to leave. In order to leave you had to buy back your facilities and pay two years of the money that you would normally have given to the parent organization plus pay your share of any retirement of previous preachers. In the 60's when the "older churches" joined the greater denomination they sold their property to the individual conferences one dollar. After that if you built another building you had to receive permission to build it from the conference and they owned it having put zero dollars into it. The largest UMC church in Georgia got out but had to paid 13.1 MILLION Dollars to get out.
Well, there it is. I'd read about this split a couple of years ago, but hadn't kept up on the details. How absolutely disgusting. Since the African continent contains so many more conservative UM churches...I'm surprised they haven't flexed their power and/or influence in this mess.
Primary reason I'm in the dark? I was raised UM, attended and volunteered at many UM churches as an adult....but my wife and I left the denomination (and really, organized religion in general) five years ago, given the obviously woke direction the UMC was taking. We don't regret that move at all...but I desperately miss being part of a faith community.
I refuse to support the UMC ever again in my lifetime.
The African Churched helped win that vote from about two years ago. It did not do any good. Many of the churches are going to the new Global Methodist and I think the African ones are too. But the Global Methodist also want control over property and my small rural church does not want to go down that road again after having to write a check much much larger than the dollar bill they were given for their property in the 60's.
I cannot blame you -- and I'm so sorry you and your church are victims of this unnecessary schism. I didn't mention it earlier, but I was "recruited" by several clergy members in a UMC church where I volunteered throughout the 1990s to attend a UM seminary to be ordained as a pastor. I visited seminary several times and THIS CLOSE to attending. In retrospect...and I'm really sad to admit this out loud...I'm grateful that I did not go through that process. This split is heartbreaking, on so many levels, to so many people. Having said that, I KNOW there are Godly and effective UMC pastors that are still out there...
Why is this allowed? It is clear the $1 was a token, it seems a court would rule that only a token was required to leave. Double their money and send them $2. 😅Plus, who paid for any repairs or renovations? Local or organization? Who changed the doctrine, so who actually left? A good legal team should be able to punch a lot of holes in this money grab.
This is exactly why the United Methodist Church is about to be ripped apart into several factions....they've been arguging about whether to "reconcile with" or reject the demands of the militant alphabet crowd for several years now.
There is no about to be it already has. Conservatives won the vote a couple of years ago not to have Gay weddings and Woke clergy but it was ignored by the "leadership". Instead the Woke Mob controlled the Denomination from the top. Those that didn't agree had no choice but to leave. In order to leave you had to buy back your facilities and pay two years of the money that you would normally have given to the parent organization plus pay your share of any retirement of previous preachers. In the 60's when the "older churches" joined the greater denomination they sold their property to the individual conferences one dollar. After that if you built another building you had to receive permission to build it from the conference and they owned it having put zero dollars into it. The largest UMC church in Georgia got out but had to paid 13.1 MILLION Dollars to get out.
Well, there it is. I'd read about this split a couple of years ago, but hadn't kept up on the details. How absolutely disgusting. Since the African continent contains so many more conservative UM churches...I'm surprised they haven't flexed their power and/or influence in this mess.
Primary reason I'm in the dark? I was raised UM, attended and volunteered at many UM churches as an adult....but my wife and I left the denomination (and really, organized religion in general) five years ago, given the obviously woke direction the UMC was taking. We don't regret that move at all...but I desperately miss being part of a faith community.
I refuse to support the UMC ever again in my lifetime.
The African Churched helped win that vote from about two years ago. It did not do any good. Many of the churches are going to the new Global Methodist and I think the African ones are too. But the Global Methodist also want control over property and my small rural church does not want to go down that road again after having to write a check much much larger than the dollar bill they were given for their property in the 60's.
I cannot blame you -- and I'm so sorry you and your church are victims of this unnecessary schism. I didn't mention it earlier, but I was "recruited" by several clergy members in a UMC church where I volunteered throughout the 1990s to attend a UM seminary to be ordained as a pastor. I visited seminary several times and THIS CLOSE to attending. In retrospect...and I'm really sad to admit this out loud...I'm grateful that I did not go through that process. This split is heartbreaking, on so many levels, to so many people. Having said that, I KNOW there are Godly and effective UMC pastors that are still out there...
Why is this allowed? It is clear the $1 was a token, it seems a court would rule that only a token was required to leave. Double their money and send them $2. 😅Plus, who paid for any repairs or renovations? Local or organization? Who changed the doctrine, so who actually left? A good legal team should be able to punch a lot of holes in this money grab.
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Atlanta Journal-Constitution article on Mt. Bethel UMC church leaving.
Babylon the Great in Revelation 17 is the "Mother of harlots." A mother has offspring.