Florida Churches among First to Begin Exit from UMC to New, Conservative Denomination

A statement posted on Facebook Tuesday (May 3) by the Wesleyan Covenant Association’s Florida chapter caught the attention of the Florida bishop for the United Methodist Church: “107 Florida Methodist Churches Depart United Methodist Church,” it began.

The Facebook post came just a few days after the launch of the Global Methodist Church, a new conservative Methodist denomination formed, in part, by the Wesleyan Covenant Association, a coalition of self-described “orthodox, evangelical” United Methodists.

“We are not leaving The United Methodist Church. The United Methodist Church has left us,” Jay Therrell, president of the WCA-Florida, said in a written statement, blaming a “decades-long rise of theological liberalism, the selective enforcement of our denominational laws, and a strong surge in the promotion of partisan politics.”

But the bishop of the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church took to Facebook the next day to remind Florida United Methodists that leaving is not that simple. The departure of any church or clergy from the denomination is not instantaneous, he said, but must first go through its annual conferences.

“No significant changes occur in our relationship apart from the actions of these authorized bodies,” Bishop Ken Carter said in a letter posted on the Florida conference’s Facebook page.

Florida’s annual conference will meet June 9-11 in Lakeland, Florida — the first time it’s gathered in person since the COVID-19 pandemic began two years ago. Read More

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