More Florida churches are separating from the United Methodist Church conference because of disagreements over ordination of openly gay clergy and other LGBTQ issues.
Rev. Alex Shanks is assistant to the bishop of the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. He said this division in the church has been around for decades.
“Yeah, the United Methodist Church has been in discernment around matters related to human sexuality and the future of the church since 1972. So yes, this is a 50-year conversation,” he said.
But until recently, there hasn't been an exit path for churches that wish to move forward while sticking to their traditional values.
"The only way that a church can disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church at this point, as approved by our General Conference is through paragraph 2553, which limits that conversation to disaffiliation around matters of conscience related to human sexuality," he said.
But Shanks said he's certain churches have many reasons for breaking away that they've prayed about and considered.
Shanks said the conference bears no ill will to those disaffiliating churches.
“There are faithful people who disagree on these matters. And we recognize that people have a variety of perspectives.” he said.
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But the UMC, he said, is a denomination that wants to welcome everyone.
“We seek to be a church that welcomes all persons, that includes all persons in the love of God, and where all persons are welcome to take a journey towards sanctification, where we become more and more like God created us to be the gospel, the good news, the message of hope, the message of love that God has called us to share through the grace of Jesus Christ remains strong and relevant and vibrant, and faithful Christians who disagree can still belong to a church in which they reach out with love and care to all persons,” he said.
Lake Magdalene United Methodist Church in Tampa is among the churches that are leaving. It will join the Global Methodist Church and posted this opt-out for members of the congregation who wish to remain with the UMC.
St. John’s and Old Miakka in Sarasota are disaffiliating, as is Ruskin UMC.
The churches which are leaving the conference must meet all financial obligations before separating.
“If a church meets their financial obligation, they are released from the trust clause, which means they retain all of their assets, both property and financial assets, other than the financial obligations they have of unpaid apportionments for an additional year, and their fair share of the pension obligation. So, they retained their property and their buildings,” he said.
Forty-six more churches were approved for disaffiliation by the conference last weekend. And another 50 or so more are expected to make the move in early December.
