For the second time this year, the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church will convene Saturday to consider requests for separation from dozens of congregations.
The conference, based in Lakeland, will hold a virtual special session Saturday starting at 9:30 a.m., the second of three scheduled for this year. Conference members, including clergy and lay representatives, will vote on bids for disaffiliation from 46 congregations.
The denomination includes more than 500 churches. If the departures are approved, that would mean the loss of nearly 20% of congregations in the past two years.
The background
Leaders of the worldwide United Methodist Church have been grappling for decades with doctrinal disputes, largely focused on LGBTQ issues, including the ordination of ministers and the hosting of same-sex weddings. While the denomination retains its official doctrine from 1972 declaring homosexuality to be “incompatible with Christian teaching,” there have been reports of some churches conducting same-sex weddings or hiring LGBTQ ministers.
Some more conservative congregations, expecting revisions of the official doctrine, have decided they wanted to leave the church. Many have sought to join an alternate denomination, the Global Methodist Church.
At the global meeting of the United Methodist Church in 2019, leaders established a process for congregations to exit by the end of this year. Those churches must hold votes of their congregations and gain approval from two-thirds to begin the disaffiliation process.
The Florida Conference owns the buildings and grounds of member churches through a “trust clause” in its policies. Under the framework adopted in 2019, churches must pay off certain financial obligations determined by the conference in order to take over those assets.
The assembly has set an “exit obligation” amount for each of the congregations seeking to depart.
Lawsuit dismissed
More than 100 United Methodist churches joined a lawsuit filed last year challenging the rules for disaffiliation. Circuit Judge George M. Wright dismissed the suit in April, saying that he lacked the authority to intervene in a dispute between churches and a denomination.
Some of the churches involved in the lawsuit have appealed the judge’s ruling.
Which congregations?
Members of the Florida Conference approved the departures of 17 churches in 2021 and 2022. During a special session in April, members approved the disaffiliations of another 55 churches. Those included two churches in Polk County, Dundee United Methodist Church and Alturas United Methodist Church.
Of the 46 congregations whose disaffiliations will be considered at Saturday’s session, two are in Polk County — First United Methodist Church of Fort Meade and First United Methodist Church of Frostproof. The effective date would be Sept. 1.