Over 40 congregations in North Texas are separating from the United Methodist Church.
Across the United States, some congregations have sought to separate from the United Methodist denomination over the issues of same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ clergy.
Both LGBTQ+ clergy and same-sex marriage are officially prohibited within the denomination, but more traditional congregations have become discontent with a lack of enforcement of these prohibitions and are consequently seeking to separate from the United Methodist Church (UMC).
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, over 400 churches throughout Texas disaffiliated from the UMC in December.
On Saturday, members of the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church, including both clergy and lay people, gathered in Plano and “voted overwhelmingly to release 41 churches disaffiliating,” according to a statement sent to The Dallas Express by Pam Hughes, the conference’s director of communications.
“The conference releases these churches with its full blessing,” the statement continued. “Following the day’s vote, more than 230 churches in the North Texas Conference remain committed to the mission and values of the United Methodist Church.”
North Texas Conference Bishop Ruben Saenz said, “Some disaffiliating churches will become independent and others will unite with other denominations,” as reported by The Dallas Morning News.
Thirty-nine of the churches will disaffiliate on March 31. Tyler Street UMC in Dallas will disaffiliate at the end of April, and Korean North Central Fellowship UMC in The Colony will officially separate at the end of December.
The bishop said the vote follows many years of discussion regarding LGBTQ+ inclusion within the church. The UMC has been wrought with conflict for years, according to Reverend Chris Yost, chair of the North Texas Board of Trustees.
“This violence visited upon our communion is an affront to our collective witness,” said Rev. Yost to The Dallas Morning News.
Bishop Saenz delivered a homily before the vote in which he said, “Disagreements and strife have always been a part of the human story. … Despite groans and strife, the church has found a way to move its mission forward undeterred,” per The Dallas Morning News.
Bishop Saenz said the church must be “welcoming and affirming” in order to reach “the young millennial and Z generation.”
“Significant percentages of these new generations will give up on the church,” he explained. “And many will give up on God.”
While the bishop said he felt grief over the separation, he emphasized that “the church will survive our missteps.”