Sociologists Nancy Malcom and A.J. Ramirez, both United Methodists, hoped they might get at least 50 responses when they first started to research why LGBTQ church members and their allies stayed in a denomination that officially condemns “homosexual practice” as…
UMC agency asks to monitor bishop’s case as suspicion rises
A churchwide agency charged with monitoring the participation of women in the United Methodist Church has asked to observe the judicial process investigating complaints against Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño, who has been suspended from active ministry for a year without…
Why it’s so hard to leave The United Methodist Church
Observers both inside and outside The United Methodist Church these days puzzle over a question: Why is it so hard for local churches to take their property with them if they leave the 12-million-member worldwide denomination? A March 4 special…
Most congregations exiting the UMC are white and located in the South
The shape of the current and future United Methodist Church took on clearer lines after events in the past month, topped by results from an analysis of the characteristics of departing churches. Disaffiliation developments included nine decisions and a memorandum…
What happens when a UMC exit vote fails in a congregation?
“Disaffiliation” — the act of formally leaving The United Methodist Church — tops concerns for many clergy and laity these days as about 1,800 congregations out of 30,000 U.S. churches have left since 2019. However, not all the votes for…
Eight months later, there’s renewed interest in Adam Hamilton’s video on why he’ll remain a United Methodist
United Methodists do not face a “binary choice,” the pastor of the denomination’s largest church in America told his congregation last spring, foreshadowing the schism that has since become full-blown. A video of Adam Hamilton, pastor of Church of the…
United Methodists on alert for dissidents ‘poaching’ members and pastors
Tales of Robin Hood, the English hero who robbed the rich to give to the poor, often start with an episode in which the hero saves a peasant from being killed by unscrupulous nobles for “poaching the king’s deer.” In…
Suburban Dallas UMC congregation withholds funds in protest of former pastor’s ‘scapegoating’ by the local bishop
A congregation in suburban Dallas is withholding about $15,000 in dues to the United Methodist Church’s North Texas Annual Conference to protest the “scapegoating” of a former pastor there who is gay. As if the schism in the UMC weren’t…
‘Everybody’s doing it’: United Methodists ignoring their own rules as break-up continues
I am utterly spent and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart. — Psalm 38:8 Church politics, like all politics, creates noble achievements and underhanded dealings. As the year draws to a close, United Methodists find themselves…