Friday, March 4, 2022

Global Methodist Church to Begin Officially in May

Schism in the United Methodist Church is taking another turn.  During the last couple years, leaders of the UMC have been negotiating a peaceful way for the UMC to split into separate progressive and conservative groups.  The vote over a proposed plan was delayed due to the COVID pandemic, but various members and leaders in the church have sought to move forward without waiting any longer for the vote.  One group of members have set up a new Methodist denomination -- the Global Methodist Church -- announced yesterday that this new denomination will officially begin on May 1 of this year.  See this article at Religion News Service.

This is not the first new group to form as a result of the prolonged internal disputes over same-sex marriage and gay clergy.  The Liberation Methodist Connexion formed in January 2020 as a progressive alternative.  The Global Methodist Church is theologically conservative.

This schism is yet another case for us to consider using the sect-to-church theory.  The United Methodist Church began as an upstart sect and then transitioned to a low-tension church.  It has experienced revival efforts from within, but the progressive voices seem to have gained the upper hand, thereby compelling the conservative faction to break off and form their own group.  This summary matches the sect-to-church theory well on the surface, but of course there are other aspects of the case that do not fit the theory so easily.  For example, the formation of the progressive Liberation Methodist Connexion is a break-away sect with lower (not higher) strictness than its parent organization.  Examining cases like these can help us to modify and amend the basic sect-to-church theory.

If you are interested, you can see two earlier blog posts on the Methodist schism here and here.

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