More than 180 Georgia Methodist churches sue to disaffiliate

More than 180 Georgia churches this week banded together to sue the United Methodist Church to force a disaffiliation with the North Georgia Conference.

The churches on Thursday filed a lawsuit in Cobb County Superior Court. Included in the 186 Georgia churches looking to disaffiliate are 15 Augusta-area churches − Barton Chapel United Methodist Church, Augusta; Berlin United Methodist Church, Augusta; Burns Memorial United Methodist Church, Augusta; Cokesbury United Methodist Church, Augusta; St. Mark United Methodist Church, Augusta; Trinity on the Hill United Methodist Church, Augusta; Martinez United Methodist Church; Mosaic Church, Evans; Friendship United Methodist Church, Hephzibah; Liberty United Methodist Church, Hephzibah; Anthony Chapel United Methodist Church, Lincolnton; Lincolnton United Methodist Church; Midway United Methodist Church, Lincolnton; Dunn's Chapel Methodist Church, Appling; and, Winfield Shiloh United Methodist Church, Appling.

St. James Methodist Church, New Prospect Church and Young Harris Memorial Church, all in Athens, also joined the suit.

LGBT issues: Georgia’s Methodists face growing divide over tradition, LGBT inclusion

Previous lawsuit: Trinity Methodist church sues to disaffiliate

The lawsuit and reaction

The lawsuit centers around a new provision added at the last General Conference UMC meeting in 2019. The provision allowed churches to disaffiliate, while keeping their property, if done by the end of 2023.

The provision came in the wake of disagreements about whether members of the LGBTQ community should be ordained as ministers and whether UMC ministers should perform same-sex marriages, according to another lawsuit filed on Feb. 22 by Trinity on the Hill UMC in Augusta.

The process for disaffiliation was suddenly removed from consideration in December, according to a statement from the churches' PR agency. The agency representing the churches, MC Public Relations Agency, said the clock is ticking as the disaffiliation provision sunsets at the end of 2023. The process takes time, so churches started to panic as they began to feel a time crunch.

“Churches in north Georgia that want to disaffiliate using the previously approved process are stuck," wrote John Kenney, pastor of The Quest Church in Grovetown, Georgia, in the release. "These are churches that have done all that has been required; yet, at the last hour were denied the opportunity to proceed with what had been promised to them."

Quest church was among 70 churches allowed to disaffiliate from the Methodist's North Georgia Conference in 2022, according to the PR agency.

While the National UMC General Conference paved a way for those who were discontent to leave, the PR agency said the North Georgia Conference is the only conference that is currently forcing churches to stay part of the UMC.

Robin Dease, resident bishop for the North Georgia Conference, posted a statement to the conference's website on Friday addressing the lawsuit.

"While we review the lawsuit with the appropriate council, we will refrain from sharing details, however, we are familiar with the issues," Dease wrote. "The cabinet discovered and observed that many local churches have been misled about the disaffiliation process and have been presented with information about the process, and about The United Methodist Church and its leadership, that is factually incorrect and defamatory. We have significant concerns about this misinformation and are well aware that it has the potential to do irreparable harm."

Dease went on to say the information presented to local churches about disaffiliation was "outside the bounds of normal and acceptable civil disclosure."

"It has not only been false and misleading but has been antithetical to the concept of a gracious exit or a commitment to honoring the mission and ministry of all Christians," she wrote.

According to Dease, the process was intended to allow congregations to disaffiliate because, "as a matter of conscience, they disagree with the language in the Book of Discipline regarding human sexuality."

"... Leaders are prayerfully exploring the best methods for moving forward and next steps available as set forth in the Book of Discipline," she wrote in the statement. "Given the circumstances, this approach is the most gracious available to us."

Dease is one of the leaders specifically mentioned in the lawsuit.

Coinciding restraining order filed

On the same date the lawsuit was filed, the Georgia churches also filed an emergency restraining order against the trustees of the North Georgia Conference, the conference itself, two bishops and a number of district superintendents for the conference.

According to the motion, the churches asked the court to immediately lift the "pause" on the disaffiliation process, order the district superintendents to immediately set local disaffiliation votes, execute disaffiliation agreements following the votes and schedule one or more special virtual annual conferences prior to the disaffiliation provision's expiration.

Further, the motion asks the court to order that pastors named in the suit not have their clergy moved without the consent of the clergy and local congregation.

Trinity on the Hill lawsuit in Augusta

Trinity on the Hill UMC in Augusta in February took legal action of its own, filing a lawsuit against the North Georgia Conference of the UMC and a number of conference leaders.

The complaint, filed in Columbia County Superior Court, alleges the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church "threated[ed] to destroy the religious congregation" by delaying its disaffiliation process and putting the church at risk of losing its property.

Trinity stated it "does not favor such ordinations or marriages, which Trinity fears will be imposed by the next General Conference of the UMC," according to the lawsuit.

There have yet to be any official changes to the UMC's doctrine. However, the church stated it would like to pre-emptively disaffiliate from the UMC and retain its property, according to the suit.

Dease acknowledged the Augusta lawsuit against her and the conference in her statement, but did not offer any details or specific comments on the suit.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Methodist churches join lawsuit for disaffiliation over LGBTQ issues