Florida Methodist Conference votes to let 55 churches leave over fears of gay marriage, clergy
The Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church approved a conditional disaffiliation for 55 churches on Saturday during a virtual session.
“Those churches met the requirements in Paragraph 2553 of the Book of Discipline regarding separation from the denomination over the issue of human sexuality,” a conference press release said.
“Those included meetings with their district superintendent to understand the ramifications, prayerful consideration for discernment, and open meetings with professing members in their respective congregations,” it said.
The churches could depart the conference effective June 1 if they fulfill all financial requirements, among others.
Disaffiliated churches will still have to produce a certificate of insurance to cover potential civil liabilities since before their disaffiliation, the release said. Payment of all apportionments for 2023 and an additional year is also required The disaffiliated churches would be able to retain buildings and real estate, which otherwise reverts to the conference, the release said.
As is the case with other Christian denominations, especially within the Bible Belt, the Methodist Church has been dealing with disagreements over doctrine and practices regarding LGBTQ+ issues since the 1970s.
“The churches that are leaving are concerned that a gay person would be married in the Methodist Church or they are concerned that a gay person might be ordained as a clergy person,” said Tom Berlin, bishop of the Florida Conference in Lakeland by phone on Monday.
“The churches that are staying include traditional people who have those traditional views but it also includes people that are more in the direction of people who long for a more inclusive church,” he said.
“The people that are leaving tend to be, and fully the churches that left on Saturday, are churches that do not want the (Methodist) Church to move in that direction,” Berlin said.
In 2019, Methodist leaders proposed a plan for congregations to leave this year during a global meeting of its denominations. Previous conference Bishop Ken Carter, Berlin’s predecessor, took the lead on coming up with the framework.
The 55 churches that decided Saturday to separate from the conference were required to host votes of their congregation and gain a two-thirds majority as part of the disaffiliation process.
In the past 24 months, the Florida Conference has severed ties with 17 congregations, the conference said.
"Any church that does not fulfill all those requirements would not disaffiliate by June 1," Berlin said in the news release. "They would still be in process, so they would need to fulfill those requirements before the disaffiliation would occur.”
Those churches that agreed to separate from the conference also have two more special sessions this year to finalize the requirements in paragraph 2553. That directive expires at the end of this year, so churches that have not met all requirements by then might forfeit their land and property.
According to the conference website, the vote on Saturday was 1,020 (93%) in favor and 71 (7%) voting against it. The vote on the 55 churches were a single item on the ballot.
"If you’re like me and have been a lifelong United Methodist, it’s just not possible to see this day as a day of joy and happiness. ... The path of anger and hostility is not the Christian way,” Berlin said.
In the virtual session posted to the conference website, speakers were allowed to make arguments for or against the measure.
Barbara Jennings, a voting delegate from Riverdale UMC in St. Augustine, said lay leadership at her church took too strong of an opinion on severing ties with the conference and she voted to leave.
The Rev. Augie Allen of Riviera UMC in St. Petersburg urged other in the special online session to adopt the separation.
“At this point, I believe it is in the best interest to allow those churches who wish to disaffiliate to continue to do so,” Allen said in the press release.
As of Dec. 31, there were 29,257 congregants at the 55 churches. They amount to 15% of the 191,902 people belonging to the Florida Conference, it said. Members who want to stay in the United Methodist church can join another congregation if their church leaders decided to leave the conference.
The conference said the assets of the departing churches were $35.8 million, not including their real estate, which is valued at $306.4 million. As long as those churches conform to the terms of the separation, the assets will stay with them. The departing churches had paid $13.6 million in apportionments within the last five years, representing 16% of the total conference apportionments.
Additional special sessions to address disaffiliation are scheduled for Aug. 5 and Dec. 2.
The vote came less than a week after a judge declined to intervene in the dispute.
Circuit Judge George M. Wright on April 17 dismissed a lawsuit filed by 106 churches seeking to leave the Florida association, The Ledger previously reported. Wright, with the Eighth Judicial Circuit in Starke, ruled he lacked the authority to settle a dispute between churches and a denomination, citing the First Amendment and court precedent .
Saturday’s session had been planned months ago and has no relation to the court ruling, Berlin said.
The list of churches seeking disaffiliation in Saturday’s session was about half the 106 churches that filed to join the lawsuit in July. Berlin said those churches could decide to depart later this year but he was not certain of their intentions.
Three churches from Polk County joined the lawsuit: First United Methodist of Fort Meade, First United Methodist of Frostproof and Lake Gibson United Methodist Church in Lakeland. None appeared on Saturday’s list, which included two from Polk County, Alturas UMC and Dundee UMC.
The traditional breakaway denominations are expected to join the Global Methodist Church, which formed in 2022. The Florida chapter of the Wesleyan Covenant Association said last year that many of the churches wishing to separate would be joining them.
For clergy who wish to leave, they must submit a requests to Berlin in writing.
Churches that are part of Saturday's vote
The churches seeking disaffiliation as part of the vote Saturday include:
Canal Point, on the eastern shore of Lake Okeechobee
Community in Belle Glade
Community of Hope in Loxahatchee
Georgianna in Merritt Island
Roseland, on the east coast north of Sebastian
Community in DeBary
DeLeon Springs, north of DeLand
Dundee, in Polk County
First UMC in Clermont
First UMC in DeLand
First UMC in Tavares
Pine Castle in Orlando
Alturas, in Polk County between Bartow and Lake Wales
Bay Hope in Lutz
First UMC in Lutz
New Hope in Brandon
Palma Ceia in Tampa
Sylvan Abbey in Clearwater
Tampa Korean in Tampa
Crystal River on the west coast in Citrus County
Grace at Fort Clarke in Gainesville
Little Chapel Santos in Ocala
New Hope in Citra, north of Ocala
Spring Life in Spring Hill, Hernando County
Faith in Jacksonville
First UMC in Callahan, just north of Jacksonville
Lakewood in Jacksonville
Middleburg, just southwest of Jacksonville
Pierson, about 20 miles west of Ormond Beach near Lake George
Riverdale in St. Augustine
St. James in Palatka
Welaka, on the St. Johns River near the northern edge of Ocala National Forest.
First UMC in Alachua
Deer Lake in Tallahassee
First UMC in Lake City
Killearn in Tallahassee
Salem in Havana, northwest of Tallahassee
Waukeenah in Monticello, about 15 miles east of Tallahassee
Community in Marathon, in the Florida Keys
Korean American of S. Fla. in Tamarac, just northwest of Fort Lauderdale
North Hialeah Hispanic in Hialeah
Alva, just northeast of Fort Myers
Christ in Lehigh Acres, east of Fort Myers
Christ in Venice
Edgewater in Port Charlotte
Englewood in Englewood, on the west coast between the Gulf and Charlotte Harbor.
Estero, between Naples and Fort Myers
First UMC in Moore Haven, just west of Lake Okeechobee
First UMC in Sebring
First UMC in Clewiston, on the southwest shore of Lake Okeechobee
Grace in Cape Coral, west of Fort Myers near the Gulf.
Oneco in Bradenton
Port Charlotte, between Fort Myers and Sarasota
St. James/New Beginnings in Sarasota
St. John in Sebring
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Departure of 55 churches in Florida Methodist Conference is approved
