Methodist Conference will vote on departures for another 74 churches in Florida

Gary White, Lakeland Ledger
Updated ·4 min read
1
Conference attendees listen to speakers during the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church annual meeting at Florida Southern CollegeÕs Branscomb Auditorium Friday. June 10, 2022.
Conference attendees listen to speakers during the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church annual meeting at Florida Southern CollegeÕs Branscomb Auditorium Friday. June 10, 2022.

The Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church will vote Saturday on the final round of congregations seeking to leave the denomination, a slate of 74 churches.

The conference, based in Lakeland, will hold a virtual special session starting Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Conference members, including clergy and lay representatives, will vote on approving the departures.

The session allows for speeches for and against the proposed departures before the vote, which requires a simple majority.

Saturday’s session will be livestreamed on the website of the Florida Conference of the UMC: www.flumc.org.

The background

The worldwide United Methodist Church has faced tensions for decades over various doctrinal disputes, including LGBTQ issues — specifically, the ordination of ministers and the hosting of same-sex weddings. The denomination adopted an official doctrine in 1972 declaring homosexuality to be “incompatible with Christian teaching,” but in recent years some churches have reportedly conducted same-sex weddings or hired LGBTQ ministers.

The global denomination delayed its General Conference during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the meeting now scheduled to take place next year. Some more conservative congregations, anticipating revisions of the official doctrine, have sought to leave the denomination. Many have joined an alternate denomination, the Global Methodist Church, while some have become independent.

At the global meeting of the United Methodist Church in 2019, leaders established a process for “disaffiliation,” or the departure of churches. The procedure requires churches to hold votes of their congregations and meet a two-thirds threshold before beginning the disaffiliation process.

The denomination is allowing the departures through the end of this year. Saturday’s meeting will be the final vote on churches seeking to leave the Florida Conference.

Which churches?

The list of congregations asking for disaffiliation covers much of the state, from Miami to Tallahassee. The North West district has the most potential departures: 23.

The slate includes one Polk County congregation, Lake Gibson United Methodist Church in Lakeland, one of two in the Gulf Central District.

As of Dec. 31, 2022, the 74 churches seeking disaffiliation had 15,319 members, or 12% of the total membership of the Florida Conference, the denomination reported.

The disaffiliations would take effect Dec. 15.

The departures would leave the conference with about 370 member churches and missions.

“Most of the churches in The Florida Conference chose not to vote because they knew it would divide their congregation, limit their mission, and focus the church on conflict rather than unity in Christ,” Florida Conference Bishop Tom Berlin said in an article published on the group's website.

Previous departures

Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church includes more than 500 churches. A total of 175 congregations, or about 33%, have already been granted departures from the conference at previous meetings.

Members of conference approved disaffiliation for 46 churches at a special session in August. Voters had previously ratified the departures of 17 churches in 2021 and 2022 and 55 more at a session in April.

The previous disaffiliations include at least four churches in Polk County: Dundee United Methodist Church, Alturas United Methodist Church, First United Methodist Church of Fort Meade and First United Methodist Church of Frostproof.

Financial obligations

The process involves a calculation of money the departing congregations must pay to the Conference, which owns the buildings and grounds of member churches through a “trust clause” in its policies. The 2019 agreement requires churches to pay off certain financial obligations determined by the conference before taking over those assets.

The conference has published the “exit obligation” for each of the 74 churches seeking disaffiliation. The amounts range from $7,325 for Hendry Memorial Methodist Church in Shady Grove to $734,462 for Beach Church in Jacksonville Beach.

Lake Gibson United Methodist Church faces an exit payment of $75,182.

The exit obligations are funds already committed for specific purposes, the conference said in a statement. Those include pension payments, general funding and legal fees.

Here is the full list of churches seeking disaffiliation:

  • Faith, Boynton Beach

  • First, Boynton Beach

  • First, Okeechobee

  • First Hispanic, West Palm Beach

  • Indian River City, Titusville

  • Lakewood Park, Fort Pierce

  • Mims, Mims

  • Rockledge, Rockledge

  • Conway, Orlando

  • First, Geneva

  • First, Oviedo

  • Montverde, Montverde

  • University Carillon, Oviedo

  • Harvester, Land O’Lakes

  • Lake Gibson, Lakeland

  • Community, San Antonio

  • Faith, Hudson

  • First, Brooksville

  • First, Bushnell

  • First, Citra

  • First, Zephyrhills

  • Floral City, Floral City

  • Freedom, Waldo

  • New Hope-Floral City, Istachatta

  • New Hope, Hawthorne

  • Ocklawaha, Ocklawaha

  • Oxford, Oxford

  • Ridge Manor Community, Ridge Manor

  • Shady Hills, Spring Hill

  • St. John's, Cotton Plant

  • Beach, Jacksonville Beach

  • Calvary, Orange Park

  • Ebenezer, Jacksonville

  • First, Baldwin

  • First, Interlachen

  • Garden City, Jacksonville

  • Grace, Lawtey

  • Keystone, Keystone Heights

  • Trinity, Palatka

  • Trinity, Seville

  • Yulee, Yulee

  • Bethel, Lake City

  • Bethlehem, Fort White

  • Boyd New Life, Perry

  • Branford, Branford

  • Bristol, Bristol

  • Calvary, Tallahassee

  • Chaires, Tallahassee

  • First, Apalachicola

  • First, Madison

  • Fort White, Fort White

  • Hendry Memorial, Shady Grove

  • Hickory Grove, Pinetta

  • Lake Bird, Perry

  • Lee, Lee

  • Miccosukee, Tallahassee

  • Pinetta, Pinetta

  • Pisgah, Tallahassee

  • Siloam, Lake City

  • Spring Hill, Alachua

  • Trenton, Trenton

  • Tustenuggee, Fort White

  • Wellborn, Wellborn

  • Wesley Memorial, Lake City

  • Bethesda House of Blessings, Tamarac

  • Coral Way, Miami

  • Harris Chapel, Fort Lauderdale

  • Peace, Miami

  • Tamiami, Miami

  • Wesley Hispanic, Miami

  • First, Wauchula

  • Fort Ogden, Fort Ogden

  • Myakka City, Myakka City

  • Trinity, Charlotte Harbor

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Methodist Conference considers departures of 74 more Florida churches