Frederick County churches disaffiliate from United Methodists; others sue regional conference

Jul. 7—Two United Methodist congregations in Frederick County are among over 6,000 across the country to be given permission to leave from the denomination amid divide over LGBTQ-related issues, while others in the region have taken the issue to court.

Salem United Methodist Church in Myersville and Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Ijamsville are two of 23 churches that the Baltimore-Washington Conference — which includes hundreds of churches across Maryland, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia — approved for disaffiliation at its annual conference in June.

In 2019, the church addressed its stance on LGBTQ issues and maintained the ban on same-sex marriages and LGBTQ ordinations. The church also implores members not to reject or condemn LGBTQ community members.

Beginning in 2019, the church established a temporary window, which concludes at the end of this year, in which congregations in the U.S. had the opportunity to separate from the church over issues of human sexuality.

The Salem church is in the process of becoming an independent church after an extensive process that began in August 2022, when the Salem Church Council voted to begin the discernment process, a spiritual decision-making process, according to the church's website that has an up-to-date timeline of its disaffiliation process.

The Salem and Ebenezer churches could not be reached for comment on Friday.

As Salem underwent the discernment process, the church held webinars, Bible studies and open forums with the members to discuss the issue.

The church also established a committee to explore becoming an independent church. In March, the committee presented to members its findings and what disaffiliating would look like. Later that month, church members voted, with 79 percent in favor of disaffiliation.

"Going forward, Salem intends to operate as an independent church and continue its mission to serve the greater Wolfsville area by proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, helping each other grow in faith, and serving those in need in our congregation, community and the world," the church wrote in a public statement after the vote.

The church is transitioning to becoming independent by finding a new pastor, establishing a constitution and changing its logo and name to the Salem Community Church, which will occur after the disaffiliation agreement and payment is delivered to the conference at the end of August.

Certain guidelines were set by the overarching church for disaffiliation, but each conference was able to add other requirements. Among other disaffiliation fees set by the church, the Baltimore-Washington Conference also required that congregations looking to exit must pay 50 percent of the value of their church's property.

Salem's departure from the denomination cost them $412,104, of which $346,283 was to fulfill the conference's additional property value cost.

While two churches were given permission to leave, dozens of other congregations in the region are currently in a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Maryland for Anne Arundel County against the conference seeking more reasonable exit requirements.

The churches argue that the conference is forcing them to stay affiliated and violating their religious beliefs by "holding their church buildings and property hostage," according to court records.

Among those in the lawsuit are three in Frederick County: Flint Hill United Methodist Church, Ijamsville United Methodist Church Inc. and Libertytown United Methodist Church.

After the lawsuit was filed, Bishop LaTrelle Easterling, the episcopal leader of the Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware Conferences, released a public statement, writing that the conference is "deeply grieved" by the lawsuit.

Easterling added that despite the conference's willingness to work with churches that want to disaffiliate, these churches have "refused to follow The Book of Discipline" by choosing to sue the conference.

"What these churches that are suing the conference seek is vastly different from our open and transparent process, which occurs in church conferences and at our annual conference session," Easterling wrote. "It is an attempt to undermine the core of the connectional commitments all churches and conferences in our denomination have to one another. And it is outside the bounds of established church law, doctrine and theology."

Pastor Rod Fry, of Flint Hill and Ijamsville, said that the two churches want to disaffiliate but can't afford to do so. He added that the churches want a more fair and equitable way to leave the church.

The Baltimore-Washington Conference has not provided financial help to the churches with expenses or repairs, according to Fry.

Fry echoed the sentiment that the churches feel that they are being held hostage with their property.

Both Flint Hill and Ijamsville churches are currently valued at over $150,000, according to property records.

As the four-year window set in 2019 comes to an end, the Baltimore-Washington Conference stated on its website that by suing the conference, these congregations have "surrendered" the possibility of disaffiliation.

If the court rules in favor of the conference, then the churches will likely be unable to disaffiliate because the annual conference, where a vote was required, has already passed.

In the complaint filed in court by the churches, it stated that intervention from the court is necessary "to enable the free exercise of Plaintiff Churches' constitutional religious and property rights."

At the end of June, the conference filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, arguing that the court lacks jurisdiction to reconsider religious decisions made by a hierarchical church body.

The pretrial and settlement conference is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2024.