Last week, seventy churches in Georgia gained independence from the United Methodist Church (UMC), mostly over LGBTQ issues, signalling the latest in a deepening schism inside the country’s third-largest Protestant organisation.

On Thursday, the North Georgia Conference agreed to allow the churches, the majority of which were in rural areas, to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church. According to the North Georgia United Methodist Church Conference website, the 2019 General Conference of The United Methodist Church spelt out the process for disaffiliation through 2023.

In 2021, the Board of Trustees established a procedure and, with the help of District Superintendents, travelled to churches seeking to disaffiliate. The Annual Conference was established as the final phase in the process of the conference.

The United Methodist Church adopted a disaffiliation agreement in 2019 during a special session, allowing churches to leave the denomination until the end of 2023 “for reasons of conscience regarding a change in the requirements and provisions of the Book of Discipline related to the practice of homosexuality or the ordination or marriage of self-avowed practising homosexuals as resolved and adopted by the 2019 General Conference, or the actions or inactions of its annual conference related to these issues which follow.”

According to the denomination, the 70 churches that elected to disaffiliate constitute 9% of the Conference’s congregations and 3% of its membership. The disaffiliation will take place on June 30, 2022.

Following the voting, Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson and the Annual Conference members prayed for the departing congregations, some of which will stay autonomous while others will dissolve.

Following the voting, Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson and the Annual Conference members prayed for the departing congregations, some of which will stay autonomous while others will dissolve.

Haupert-Johnson knelt and prayed, “Bless these congregations as they depart. I pray that we will be partners in ministry and you will do your mighty work of healing division and overcoming rifts.”

According to local WSB-TV, Conference communications director Sybil Davidson said, “Our denomination has a defined process for disaffiliation, and we are going alongside the congregations who desire to take this path. While we don’t want any church to disaffiliate, we do want a transparent and healthy process. Our hearts go out to those who want their congregation to stay in the denomination, as well as those who want to leave.”

“When there is a split in the church, it is painful. Above all, we hope that the ministry of all churches would be productive and effective in serving God. In a divided world, the United Methodist Church will continue to work to be agents of reconciliation “Davidson continued.

DISCLAIMER: The author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article. The author carries the responsibility for citing and/or licensing of images utilized within the text.