A contingent of conservative members of the United Methodists Church announced they will form a new worldwide denomination on May 1, 2022. To do so requires a formal “divorce agreement” which has been stalled for the past two years because of the pandemic.
Called the Global Methodist Church, this new denomination does not subscribe to the United Methodist Church’s reversing bans against same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly gay clergy.
Organizers originally expected to launch the denomination after the next General Conference of the UMC, the only legislative body that can approve the tentative agreement arrived at before the pandemic. This step is needed for the churches and regional groups separating from the UMC to keep their property.
However, the General Conference, originally scheduled for 2020 and already delayed for two years because of COVID is now scheduled for 2024. The United Methodist Church announced this delay because of visa delays, which they say must be resolved first because more than half the denomination’s members live outside the United States.
“Theologically conservative local churches and annual conferences want to be free of divisive and destructive debates, and to have the freedom to move forward together,” said the Rev. Keith Boyette, chairman of the Transitional Leadership Council, which is organizing the Global Methodist Church.
“We are confident many existing congregations will join the new Global Methodist Church in waves over the next few years, and new church plants will sprout up.”
Under United Methodist law, church properties are held in trust for the larger denomination. However, Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, president of the UMC’s Council of Bishops, says “there have always been avenues for churches to separate from the denomination.”
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