Eleven Etowah County churches, so far, among those splitting from UMC
The 638 United Methodist Churches of the North Alabama Conference dwindled to 440 on Dec. 10 as roughly a third of the congregations — some large, some small — formally left the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination.
The action by 198 churches was finalized at a special called session of the conference at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, which was presided over by Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett.
Local church disaffiliations were considered under Paragraph 2553 of the UMC’s Book of Discipline and, according to the conference’s website, attendees took part ‘in a time of encouragement and visioning about the future disciple-making ministry of the conference.”
The disaffiliations stem from differences of opinion over same-sex marriage and the ordination of gay pastors and bishops. The churches leaving the UMC will likely align themselves with more conservative denominations, such as the Global Methodist and Free Methodist churches, or become independent.
Their decisions were ratified by a hand vote, with few in attendance dissenting, following the presentation of a conference report on the disaffiliations and an outlining of the terms for leaving under Paragraph 2553.
“Like most everyone here, this is a day that I hope and prayed would never come, and yet here we are," Harlan Prater, president of the conference’s board of trustees, said according to the NAC website. “And we will face other days that we hope and pray will never come. And Christ will be there.”
About 31% of the NAC’s churches chose to depart; the conference’s footprint ranges from Montgomery north to the Tennessee state line, and eastward from the Mississippi state line to the Georgia state line.
The NAC’s Mountain Lakes District, which includes Etowah, Marshall, Cherokee and DeKalb counties, plus part of Blount County, saw 56 of its 117 churches departing.
Eleven of the 21 UMC churches in Etowah County were listed as disaffiliating: Falls Church, Glencoe First, Hokes Bluff First, Howelton, Liberty, McCauley’s Chapel, Pleasant Hill, Rainbow City First, Red Hill, Union Hill and Whorton Bend.
Ten others have either have decided to remain with the UMC, or have not voted or filed the necessary paperwork to leave the denomination. An option to do so remains until the end of the year.
Wallace-Padgett, according to the NAC website, said, “Grief takes all kinds of forms, including sadness, anger, hurt and disappointment.
“On one hand we grieve today as 198 of our North Alabama Conference congregations are disaffiliating from the United Methodist Church,” she said, “Some of these churches will join another Methodist expression and others will be independent. Though we are sad to see them go, we wish the very best to the disaffiliating churches and withdrawing clergy as they move into a new future.”
Wallace-Padgett thanked those attending for “the way they are walking through this difficult time together,” and said the conference is embodying one of the principles of “The North Alabama Way”: “What we do is of critical importance. How we do it is of equal importance.”
She noted that the event took place at a special time on the Christian calendar. “We are in the midst of the Advent season, a time when we experience the hope Christ’s birth offers us all,” she said. “Though we deeply grieve that some of our congregations disaffiliated ... we are hopeful about our future. After all, we serve the One who not only brings hope but is the Hope of the world.”
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Churches leave UMC's North Alabama Conference
