The exodus continues from the United Methodist Church (UMC) amid a schism over theological differences and the role of LGBTQ+ people in the church.
The UMC has been accelerating its moves to become more accepting of LGBTQ lifestyles, despite biblical prohibitions, leading to deeper divisions and more departures from the denomination.
The North Georgia Conference of the denomination ratified the disaffiliation requests during a special session on Saturday to allow 261 congregations to leave the denomination. The departing churches total more than one-third of the 700 churches in the conference.
The churches’ exit from the UMC marked a “solemn day,” the North Georgia Conference said in a news release. The congregations will have an additional 30 days to fulfill the terms of the agreement between the UMC and the churches, including financial and other obligations.
The conference also said the disaffiliation requests of four other churches to disaffiliate were not approved but didn’t say when those requests would be reconsidered.
A total of 186 congregations had sued the conference for the right to have their disaffiliation requests heard, CBN News reported in April. A Cobb County judge agreed “a church-level vote” must take place before the deadline, according to CNN.
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