In 2022, the first wave of churches left the United Methodist denomination. Most of those churches had been concerned about the denomination for a long time. One church I worked with had wanted to leave since about 1968. The first wave wanted to leave and needed to know where they were leaving to.
The second wave of churches in the disaffiliation process are different. A higher percentage of these churches have not been paying attention to the denomination. They are just catching up because their main experience with the denomination was when they saw their District Superintendent once a year. The second wave of churches need a good reason to leave…besides the costs and property issues. If your church is traditional in their view of scripture and marriage, here are some reasons to consider leaving:
#1 – The UMC’s influence on Your Pastor
If you currently have a pastor that holds to a traditional view of marriage and scripture, the United Methodist denomination is likely a discouragement and distraction for your pastor. Most of these pastors that I know are just trying to keep their heads down so as to go unnoticed by the higher ups. They are likely doing a lot to protect your church from focusing on the dysfunction of the denomination.
The likelihood of your future United Methodist pastor holding traditional beliefs will be less and less. During the last election of bishops, 13 bishops support same-sex marriage. Zero support maintaining the traditional stance on marriage. How likely will it be for a person with traditional beliefs to be attracted to the United Methodist denomination if there are eventually no bishops that share these beliefs?
#2 – Changing your stance on homosexuality speeds up decline
About a decade ago, I remember discussing with some fellow conference treasurers what the financial impact of changing the United Methodists’ traditional view of marriage and sexuality. They were convinced that this would help turn around the denomination’s decline because “they knew a lot of people that would come to church” if the denomination wasn’t opposed to same-sex marriages. No data. Just anecdotes. I was the sole one expressing that there would be a large decline based on what I saw in the Lutheran and Presbyterian denominations. Changing the stance on homosexuality has never reversed the decline of a denomination.
“Even if the numbers are down, surely the number of Youth will increase.” I tested this by checking the Youth statistics. For the top 6 churches with the largest number of youth in the Dakotas, all of them have a history of supporting the traditional view of marriage and sexuality.
#3 – Cut costs and gain full control of your property
I’m an accountant. This is a big reason for me. If more of the money you give to your church can stay with your church, that sounds great! You could pay down debt, build up savings, pay employees better, launch new ministries, care for deferred maintenance, etc. I also like the idea that the people who bought and cared for the church property are the ones with the authority to make decisions concerning the property.
#4 – A Fresh Start
I had not expected this, but many churches that just left the United Methodist denomination are experiencing a season of new life. I saw this start when churches had to decide what their new name would be because they can no longer be First UMC. First GMC didn’t seem to have the same ring. I saw names like Aldersgate, Prairie’s Edge, Saving Grace, and many others.
Our name has an impact on our view of ourselves as well as how others view us. In the Bible, name changes are most likely to happen at pivotal points in a person’s life…Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Paul to Saul, Jacob to Israel, Cephas to Peter. For those churches leaving the United Methodist denomination, this could be an opportunity to claim a new identity the LORD has for them and begin a fresh start.
Disclaimer
Like I said at the start, this list was for those that hold to a traditional view of scripture, including marriage. For those churches that don’t hold to that view, the new bishops and the changes within the denomination are likely an encouragement to you. That’s a good thing…for you, but others will see it very differently.
Useful Links
- Overview of UMC Split (Ready to Harvest): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjydUH-lfDo
- My Comparison of the GMC vs UMC: http://jctaccounting.com/2023/01/20/comparing-the-umc-to-the-gmc-a-presentation-for-your-church/
- Rob Renfroe Videos (excellent!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g48onYSqg0&list=PL0tdBSkYKNUka0KiJ28rSUM1H1hdc3MUs
- ELCA Tornado Story: https://newscut.mprnews.org/2009/08/the_god-weather_controversy/
- UMC/GMC Comparison Chart: https://peopleneedjesus.net/2023/01/19/two-methodisms-a-comparison-chart/
The UMC has a hierarchy which prohibits teaching about creation vs. Darwinism. The UMC official position is evolution is true.
The UMC doesn’t teach it’s members about cults, primarily the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons.
Nor about Catholicism and how it compares to Scripture. Never to the end of this age, would it teach something like “Errors of the Roman Catholic Church” which is a document on the Internet.
The UMC had a cozy relationship with Masons, and probably still does.
What have Master Masons wives, of the Eastern Star, been doing laying out pentacles on church sanctuary floors for generations?
Why have UMC churches allowed Masons to meet in their buildings for over a century.
Too many UMC church buildings sport Masonic architectural patterns or symbols.
I know a couple that sport anti-Christ symbols.
The UMC seems to not believe the Bible about Hell, Satan, and demons.
The UMC is a men pleaser church and doesn’t want to offend anyone even when they are in untruth and danger.
Face it, most United Methodists remain un-immersed (unbaptized). It never corrected Catholicism’s change of what the Bible says.
The UMC doesn’t teach about bad Bible versions, even ones with omissions that make Jesus out to be a liar.
The UMC never systematically teaches new believers. It leaves them to sit in the pews for 30 or 40 years to imbibe important teachings and facts over the years.
The UMC never uses Gospel tracts and most members would consider tracts straightly presenting the Gospel to be outrageous and offensive.
According to the Bible, a pastor cannot be a woman, no matter how much it is twisted around.
When a UMC does an overseas mission work, it seems typically it is in a country communists have recently taken over, like Mozambique or Nicaragua.
The UMC is a member of the NCC and under it and the WCC, and some say, also still considered by the UN and UN law to be under the authority of the Pope. NCC and WCC reportedly are Marxist influenced if not controlled.
UMC Sunday school literature encourages Bible doubt.
It seems many UMC pastors doubt the Bible in many places.
Probably the state of UMC seminaries is abysmally Bible doubting.
Communist agents probably infiltrated the UMC seminaries from 1917 to the 1950s.
They are probably mostly responsible for the hard left turns ideologically, and leanings politically, and began the homosexual infiltration.
The Gospel is not outrightly and clearly taught in the UMC. It has to be teased out of at all from the sermons, Sunday school literature, songs sung.
Now, UMC leadership and LGTBQ(and P) ‘new’ membership, are making the UMC and society, abominable to God.
A visitor to a UMC once asked a member of the church congregation was a ‘nightclub’ church or not. She wanted to make sure it was not.
One elderly long-time pastor, in a program on a Christian radio station, said in a sermon that in his experience whenever a church gets an infection of liberalism, you might as well leave. He said it always goes downhill.
Maybe God is working in many people’s lives, and the mistake of the enemy to push abomination, has been the jolt which has caused a call to abandon ship.