Decisions such as ending the ban on performing same-sex marriages, or the ordination of LGTBQI+ people, could lead more people to abandon the Methodist churches, which suffered a schism in 2019.
Main façade of Epworth United Methodist Church in Chicago, built in 1890. / [link]Paul R. Burley [/link], Wikimedia Commons.
The United Methodist Church (UMC) has joined the group of historic Protestant denominations around the world that allow the ordination of people who identify as LGTBIQ+.
The vote, which was held without debate last May, ended with 93% of delegates present in favour of removing the 1984 ban on the issue.
It is one of the latest decisions taken by the denomination that is expected to amplify the fragmentation in which it has been immersed since the schism that the UMC went through in 2019.
Since then, the denomination has lost around a quarter of its churches (over 7,600), most of them unhappy at what they saw as an increasing doctrinal opening to LGTBIQ+ issues.
In addition to the ordination of LGTBIQ+ persons, the UMC also approved in spring 2024 the termination of the ban preventing its clergy from performing same-sex marriages.
Many national Methodist churches have seen themselves forced to open a reflection process about their place in the denomination from now on.
One of the churches that left the denomination in the 2019 schism was the Methodist Church of Bulgaria, which submitted its withdrawal on 1 April 2022.
Daniel Topalski, pastor and elder of the church for 20 years and now serving as presiding elder of the departing church of the split since May 2022, analysed for Spanish news website Protestant Digital the latest moves within the UMC.
According to Topalski, “a new church was born after the last General Conference. It is not the same [Methodist] Church anymore”.
“When the majority vote can define the truth above the Scriptures, we are talking about a different kind of organisation, not so much concerned about Scriptural holiness, but social justice and submission to the ideologies that rule in modern society”, says Topalski.
For the Bulgarian Methodist minister, “this is not an evangelisation of culture, but the culture is 'evangelising' the Church, which has largely accepted the 'Good News'”.
Several national churches in African countries, where there are 4.6 million Methodist Church members, have used similar arguments to express their disappointment with the latest decisions taken y their denomination, and are already talking about “leaving” the UMC.
That is the case of Jerry Kulah, one of the Liberian delegates to the Charlotte (US) General Conference, who attended the conference with the aim of “articulating our position and letting the world know why it has become very necessary to leave the United Methodist Church, because we cannot preach different gospels”.
In December 2023, eleven African Methodist bishops signed a declaration stating: “Notwithstanding the differences in our UMC regarding the issue of human sexuality especially with our stance of traditional and biblical view of marriage, we categorically state that we do not plan to leave The United Methodist Church and will continue to be shepherds of God’s flock in this worldwide denomination”.
One of them was John Wesley Yohanna of the United Methodist Church in Nigeria, one of the heavyweights of the African Methodist scene, whose moves are expected to influence the rest of the continent.
So far, his future remains uncertain, after the decisions taken at the General Conference that could lead to a change in Yohanna's stance.
Last January, the bishop pointed out that “same-sex marriage is unbiblical and is also incompatible with Christian teaching according to our Book of Discipline", reported the Associated Press.
The situation has worsened after the Nigerian Immigration Services reported the arrest and deportation of Eben Nhiwatiwa, bishop of the United Methodist Church of Zimbabwe, accused of entering the country with an invalid documentation, a “visit” rather than a “religious” visa, Sahara Reporters informed.
According to the authorities, Nhiwatiwa had travelled to Nigeria to destabilise the UMC of Nigeria electoral process, with the aim of maintaining control and promoting an alleged pro-marriage and pro-LGBTBIQ+ ordination faction.
“The bishop was arrested because he was found doing religious business with a visit visa. We arrested him following an information that he was supervising the election of a new bishop”, explained comptroller Mohammed.
In Zimbabwe, the members of the UMC in protested against the decisions taken in May after the conclusions of the Charlotte General Conference, stating, among other things, that “homosexuality is a threat to our culture”.
In the same month, the Methodist Church of Côte d'Ivoire voted to break with the denomination and leave the UMC with its 1.2 million members.
“Some conservatives behave like everything is just the same, hoping that the regionalisation of the Church will help them to keep their beliefs and practices intact. Their hopes will not be fulfilled. Many have left the UMC and joined the Global Methodist Church (GMC) or other Methodist bodies. Others are considering what to do next and how to do it”, underlines Topalski.
Since May 2022, the Bulgarian Methodist Church has been part of the conservative GMC, which holds a historial biblical view of marriage and the ordination of ministers and elders.
For Topalski, “there are not enough conservative voices within the UMC to prevent the further erosion of this denomination. The conservative voices are not welcome anymore”.
In July, the United Methodist Church approved the election of its third gay and married bishop. Kristin Stoneking has replaced Karen Oliveto, the first to serve in the role, as Religion News Service reports.
Some in the United States have already taken action in response to the latest moves of the denomination.
According to the website Ministry Watch, the pastor of the UMC's Highland Park megachurch in Dallas, Paul Rasmussen, has announced in a video that he will not allow his facilities to be used for same-sex marriages.
At the General Conference in Charlotte, the UMC not only presented its conclusions on the issue of LGTBIQ+ marriage and ordination, but also approved a petition in favour of abortion rights as part of the process of revising its social principles.
It justified the decision in order to show “solidarity with those who seek reproductive health care”, and “upholds a person's right to an abortion after informed consideration with their family, physicians, pastor and other relevant counsel”.
Lisa Jones, a Milwaukee delegate to the conference, criticised that “the politicised environment of the United States has the water on how we talk about reproductive justice”, reports Sojourners.
A decision that was another step in widening the fragmentation and distance between sectors within the denomination, although nothing new, as Topalski recalls, who already experienced the schism of 2019.
“Unity was already seriously affected precisely because of the lack of fidelity to Scripture. For many, it has become nothing more than a collection of quotations that can be used to defend any position, even one that contradicts Scripture itself”, concludes Topalski.
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