The number of congregations departing the United Methodist Church (UMC) exceeded 5,000 last week as the second-largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. continues to fracture over theological disagreements, mostly pertaining to human sexuality.
The number of churches that have been given the green light by their annual conferences to disaffiliate increased from approximately 4,600 early last week to 5,321 as of Friday, according to UM News.
The number of churches leaving the UMC has surged in recent years, with approximately 2,000 congregations being approved to disaffiliate in 2022 and more than 3,000 this year.
The data is based on reports "of U.S. annual conference reports, publicly available journals and reports of special annual conference sessions held in 2022 and this year," according to the outlet, which notes their numbers are more up to date than the denomination's finance agency, which has to wait on annual conferences to submit official reports.
The flood of disaffiliations comes after the General Conference in 2019 approved Paragraph 2553 of the Book of Discipline, a church law that allows UMC churches to leave with their church property if they obtain the approval of two-thirds of their congregation and their regional governing body.
Churches that want to leave are also required to pay their share of clergy pension liabilities and two years of "apportionments" for the larger denomination, under the church law that expires later this year.
In 2019, the General Conference voted 438-384 to uphold the church’s ban on ordaining LGBTQ clergy and officiating at or hosting same-sex weddings.
Several traditionalist members of the Methodist clergy told Fox News Digital in 2022 that conservative churches are leaving in response to liberal leaders within the UMC choosing to disregard the 2019 vote by commissioning gay clergy and officiating same-sex weddings anyway.
Many of the departing churches are joining the newly formed Global Methodist Church or remaining non-denominational.
Hundreds of the churches attempting to disaffiliate have faced legal or financial hurdles as the UMC has demanded large sums to maintain their property, which has led to legal battles in some states, according to the Christian Post.
