Since the beginning of 2023, more than 5,200 churches have disaffiliated themselves from the United Methodist Church (UMC).
Since 2019, more than 7,000 churches have left the UMC.
The departures come as the UMC has debated same-sex marriages and other LGBTQ issues.
Several churches were not granted approval for disaffiliation.
According to Advance Local, 45 congregations in Alabama and the Florida panhandle have filed a lawsuit against a Methodist bishop because they were unable to disaffiliate from the denomination.
The disaffiliation agreement, as reported by KTVO, says that congregations voted to disaffiliate “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 practicing homosexuals as resolved and adopted by the 2019 General Conference.”
Last year, a Methodist drag queen addressed children during a worship service.
The drag queen, Isaac Simmons, used “they/them” pronouns.”
Simmons told the congregation, “Doctrine without care only inflicts bloody wounds, and yet, we especially those of us with the privilege of Whiteness, of Cis-ness, and the privilege of the access to power must be willing to get uncomfortable,” adding, “The face of capitalism is poverty, it means death. It refers to the destruction of an individual person, people, culture, and tradition. That is, the goal of a theology of capitalism is the destruction of personhood, the prolongment of pain, and the dehumanization of worth.”
