261 Georgia congregations leave the United Methodist Church because it’s not anti-LGBTQ+ enough

First Street United Methodist Church, New Orleans
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Tension over LGBTQ+ issues came to a head this weekend for the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church (NGUMC), which approved the disaffiliation requests of 261 congregations that feel the religion is becoming too progressive.

While the religion officially bans same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ clergy, many churches have reportedly been skirting the rules as of late, which has caused ire among the more conservative congregations.

In 2019, the  General Conference of The United Methodist Church announced that churches could leave the denomination through the end of 2023 “for reasons of conscience regarding a change in the requirements and provisions of the Book of Discipline related to the practice of homosexuality or the ordination or marriage of self-avowed practicing homosexuals as resolved and adopted by the 2019 General Conference, or the actions or inactions of its annual conference related to these issues which follow.”

The vote to allow the 261 Georgia churches to disaffiliate occurred on Saturday (four requests were also rejected). A press release from the NGUMC called it a…

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