A New Methodist Denomination?

Over the last several years, the United Methodist Church has experienced internal debates about the ordination of LGTBQ clergy and same-sex marriage.  Back in January, leaders of the church decided on a plan that would have a final vote later in 2020 that would finally split the denomination.  You can read about this in an earlier post here.

But then the Covid-19 pandemic happened, and the plans were put on hold.  After some delay, some people in the UMC have grown tired of waiting for the disputes to be resolved and have now formed their own, new denomination called the Liberation Methodist Connexion (LMX).  Read this RNS article about the split.  You can also view the new denomination's website here.

The group has not revealed how many "members" it has as affiliates.  In fact, I could not find anywhere on its website where it refers to itself as a denomination, although the article calls it a denomination. According to the RNS article, members of this new group are not expected to leave their existing denomination when joining.  The LMX Facebook page refers to itself as a "grassroots collective." So whether this group should be called a denomination is unclear to me.  Nonetheless, as with any new group, its founding members are very excited about their activities and are eager to gain supporters.

Time will tell whether or not LMX will gain enough support to survive over time and whether or not an eventual split in the UMC will help or hurt them.