58 US churches vote to disaffiliate from United Methodist Church over LGBTQ stance
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – As the US United Methodist Church continues to lose congregations over its acceptance of same-sex marriage and ordination of noncelibate homosexuals, 58 churches in Louisiana officially disaffiliated from the denomination at the weekend, the Christian Post (CP) reports.
During a special session on Saturday, the UMC Louisiana Conference approved the votes of 58 churches which had decided by a majority of at least two-thirds to leave the UMC, CP reports. Among these congregations is the St. Timothy megachurch of 6,000 members in Mandeville.
In a statement to the Christian Post on Monday, Rev. Todd Rossnagel, director of communication strategies at the Louisiana Conference, said the 58 churches had followed nine other congregations which voted to disaffiliate in June.
Also in June, the UMC North Georgia Conference confirmed that 70 of its congregations had left the denomination, CP reports.
Among others leaving the denomination is the Texas megachurch White’s Chapel, which voted to leave by a massive majority last week. “Today, we are experiencing the UMC as a broken institution. As well, the alternatives we have been given don’t seem to align with our context or our theology. These are reasons we are exploring a ‘realignment,'” White’s Chapel said in a statement.