New denomination as UMC splits over LGBTQ rights

The Global Methodist Church, a new, more conservative Methodist denomination, announced Thursday it will launch in May, the biggest step so far in the highly anticipated split of the United Methodist Church over LGBTQ rights.

The new denomination announced its launch at the same time the UMC announced it will postpone its General Conference for two years.

At the General Conference, originally scheduled from Aug. 29 to Sept. 6, delegates were expected to vote on proposals regarding the creation of a new denomination.

"Theologically conservative local churches and annual conferences want to be free of divisive and destructive debates, and to have the freedom to move forward together," the Rev. Keith Boyette, chairman of the Global Methodist Church's transitional leadership council, said in a news release. "We are confident many existing congregations will join the new Global Methodist Church in waves over the next few years."

The Global Methodist Church's official launch was part of a widely agreed upon plan — called the "Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation," or the Protocol — that the UMC General Conference delegates were expected to vote on at the General Conference.

But with the conference's postponement, the Global Methodist Church said it could wait no longer. A key stipulation in the Protocol is for the UMC to pay the new denomination $25 million to get started.

Another provision of the Protocol is that churches that disaffiliate from the UMC and decide to join the Global Methodist Church can do so "with clear title to all of their property and assets in perpetuity," the Global Methodist Church news release said.

UMC delegates have not voted on the Protocol, meaning conditions of the plan have not received approval. "The Protocol is a piece of proposed legislation that will be considered when the General Conference is able to meet," UMC spokesperson Diane Degnan said in a statement.

A commission for the UMC General Conference decided to postpone the General Conference due to travel constraints that delegates in other countries have been facing, a news release said on Thursday.

"The visa issue is a reality that is simply outside our control as we seek to achieve a reasonable threshold of delegate presence and participation," Kim Simpson, chairperson of the commission for the General Conference, said in the news release. "Ultimately our decision reflects the hope that 2024 will afford greater opportunity for global travel and a higher degree of protection for the health and safety of delegates and attendees."

The General Conference was originally set for 2020 and had already been postponed twice.

The UMC, with more than 6.2 million members in the U.S., according to 2020 data, is the largest mainline Protestant denomination in the nation. As of 2018, the denomination had more than 12 million members worldwide.

KAHTLEEN BARRY/UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE Mark Thompson from the Lansing Central United Methodist Church in the Michigan Conference joins other supporters of the Simple Plan by holding banners and singing before the afternoon session at the 2019 Special Session of the United Methodist General Conference. The demonstration was held inside the Dome of America’s Center in St. Louis on Feb. 24.