Nearly half of Kentucky United Methodist congregations split from church

More than 250 Kentucky congregations of the United Methodist Church have split from their parent denomination, effectively shrinking the sect's size to just over half of what it was in the state.

A source confirmed to The Courier Journal on Monday that voting members of the UMC’s Kentucky Annual Conference passed the measure on its opening Sunday night in Owensboro, garnering 89% of the vote in favor of the split.

The schism is part of a large-scale movement over the past several years that has divided the country's second-largest Protestant denomination. to more wholly reflect political differences.

Key divisions include stances on homosexuality, social issues, the life of Jesus Christ and chief authority sources of religious understanding.

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Conservative Methodists have been "painfully pushed out of their own denomination" because of their opposition to a more liberal shift in church leadership, said John Lomperis, who helps congregations exit the UMC smoothly through his job at The Institute on Religion and Democracy, an advocacy group for traditional Christian perspectives.

Although LGBTQ+ treatment has led the mainstream conversation, Lomperis stressed that the broader internal tensions in the UMC date back before any action concerning LGBTQ+ issues was taken in religious life.

"If you look at the history, our divides really go back decades before even people were saying much of anything about homosexuality," Lomperis said.

The disaffiliation movements started largely because of a January 2020 proposal to split the UMC over "fundamental differences" concerning homosexuality.

Congregations are able to disaffiliate under a church law named Paragraph 2553, enacted by the UMC's general conference in 2019.

Traditionally, a different UMC church law states that the property of any one congregation, even pastors' homes, belongs to the larger church and not the congregation under what is colloquially known as the "trust clause." This measure effectively blocked congregations from disaffiliating for decades.

Paragraph 2553 allows congregations to disaffiliate and keep their property, but the law is explicitly set to expire near the end of the year. Congregations have been disaffiliating by vote in individual episcopal area conferences, and more than 4,000 congregations have already disaffiliated under the law, including 71 previously in Kentucky.

In other areas, church bishops have called special sessions to approve additional disaffiliations after an area's annual conference. The question remains if Kentucky Annual Conference Bishop Leonard Fairley will allow congregations in the state to do so after Sunday's ratification.

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During the negotiations that resulted in Paragraph 2553's adoption, a main concession made by conservatives was the UMC name and historic church doctrine.

Disaffiliating denominations have joined the Global Methodist Church, formed in May 2022 by more traditional-leaning Methodists.

To start the exit process, local congregations must hold a church conference where at least two-thirds of members present must vote "yes" to disaffiliation. Additionally, any current apportionments and fees owed to the UMC and a year's worth of additional apportionments must be paid, according to a board of trustees report.

The Rev. Chris Howlett, pastor at Summit Heights Methodist Church, leads one of the three Louisville congregations that disaffiliated. He said his group is already working with a lawyer to be reincorporated to reflect the church's impending membership in the GMC.

The pastor does not believe Fairley will call another special session considering the large number of congregations already on their way out. He said his congregation's decision to disaffiliate was made with a desire to be a part of a movement "grounded in the scripture and historic Christian faith."

"We're a church where everyone's welcomed and loved," Howlett said of his church, located on the Outer Loop in Highview. "We believe the Global Methodist Church is the best place for us to serve God's kingdom."

Howlett withdrew his membership with the Kentucky Annual Conference on Monday, and he'll take on a new role as an elder in the GMC.

Reach reporter Caleb Wiegandt at cwiegandt@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @CalebWiegandt.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: United Methodist Church: Why half of Kentucky's congregations split