The Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church approved conditional disaffiliation for 55 churches last week during a virtual session.
The press release issued by the conference says, “Those churches met the requirements in Paragraph 2553 of the Book of Discipline regarding separation from the denomination over the issue of human sexuality.”
The churches could depart the conference effective June 1 if they fulfill all financial requirements. Disaffiliated churches will still have to produce a certificate of insurance to cover potential civil liabilities before their disaffiliation. Payment of all apportionments for 2023 and an additional year is also required. The disaffiliated churches would be able to retain buildings and real estate, which otherwise revert to the conference. As is the case with other Christian denominations, especially within the Bible Belt, the Methodist Church has been dealing with disagreements over doctrine and practices regarding LGBTQ+ issues since the 1970s.
In 2019, Methodist leaders proposed a plan for congregations to leave this year during a global meeting of its denominations. Previous conference Bishop Ken Carter, Berlin’s predecessor, took the lead on coming up with the framework. The 55 churches that decided to separate from the conference were required to host votes of their congregation and gain a two-thirds majority as part of the disaffiliation process. #select