‘Division is of the devil,’ United Methodist bishop says as 193 churches disaffiliate

By Greg Garrison

As the United Methodist Church split continues, 193 churches in South Alabama and West Florida officially disaffiliated from the denomination on Sunday, May 7.

“This is heavy stuff,” said Bishop David Graves, head of the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. “It’s overwhelming and at times it’s paralyzing.”

In a special called meeting conducted through a conference call, Graves oversaw a vote to finalize the disaffiliations.

Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Robertsdale, Florala, Brewton, East Brewton, Loxley, Robertsdale, Summerdale, Camden, Eutaw, Linden, Livingston, Marion, Enterprise First, Opelika First, Opp First, Prattville First and Wetumpka First are among the former United Methodist churches in Alabama leaving the denomination.

In Florida, Destin and Defuniak Springs First are among the former United Methodist churches that disaffiliated.

Graves began the meeting with a lament over the division and harm to the church by disaffiliation.

“I’d like to use scripture to tell you to behave and become better Christians and love each other more,” Graves said. “For division is of the devil.”

Graves said the church should focus on Jesus and his mission on earth, which includes “exorcising demons from the church and our lives, and yes, there are the principalities of the world that are walking into our churches each and every day.”

Satan is at work against the church, Graves suggested.

“Your hopes have been truly crushed by Satan’s manifested schemes,” Graves said. “If we don’t believe in spiritual warfare, we better get in tune, friends.”

Leading up to the vote, the Alabama-West Florida Conference had 511 member churches, most of them in South Alabama, the rest in the Florida Panhandle. After the vote, that’s now down to 318. Churches can still vote to leave through the end of 2023.

Over the past four decades, progressives in the denomination have pushed for full inclusion of LGBTQ members, including recognition of same-sex marriage and ordination of openly gay clergy.

Yet the United Methodist Church Book of Discipline still contains language saying “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.”

While progressives who support full LGBTQ inclusion have been influential in the U.S. leadership structure, conservative United Methodists in the United States have joined conservative United Methodists from Africa and Asia at the international governing conferences to block the blessing of same-sex unions and ordination of openly gay clergy. Some progressives have flouted the rules, saying they are unjust. Conservatives say the rules have not been widely enforced.

Since last year, conservative United Methodist churches have been disaffiliating in large numbers.

“This has not been life-giving,” Graves said on Sunday. “There has been so much fighting and fear, fear has sucked the life out of many of you.”

In the North Alabama Conference, 198 of 638 churches disaffiliated on Dec. 10. Since then, 135 more have voted to disaffiliate. Their departure is expected to be finalized on May 11.

At the United Methodist Church General Conferences, which set church law, conservatives have repeatedly won showdowns with progressives who wanted to update the Book of Discipline to be more LGBTQ-inclusive.

Tired of fighting on the issue, many conservatives are now leaving, using an opening agreed upon by the General Conference to allow churches to pay the supervising conference for their property, take it with them and leave the denomination.

As conservative-leaning churches leave, the denomination is expected to eventually change the language and rules restricting LGBTQ members of the United Methodist Church.

The Methodist churches that are leaving the denomination have either remained independent or joined more conservative denominations such as the Global Methodist Church, formed last year to welcome new conservative Methodist congregations, or the Free Methodist Church, or the Foundry movement, a network of affiliated churches in the Methodist tradition.

From 2021-2022, in earlier departures, the Alabama-West Florida Conference lost 47 churches to disaffiliation, including Frazer Methodist Church in Montgomery, which had long been the largest membership United Methodist Church in Alabama with more than 7,000 members. Frazer left the United Methodist Church last year and joined the Free Methodist Church, a more theologically conservative denomination that has about 300,000 U.S. members and about a million worldwide.

The United Methodist Church, founded from a merger of Methodist churches in 1968, has dropped from 10.6 million U.S. members in 1970 to about 6.2 million before the pandemic in 2020, reflecting a broader decline in attendance and membership across mainline Protestant denominations.

Since the pandemic ended, the long-simmering split regained momentum and large numbers of congregations began voting to leave the denomination last year.

“Today is a sad day for the Alabama-West Florida Conference,” Graves said. “There’s no getting around that.”

Here’s the list of churches that disaffiliated on May 7, 2023:

Baypines district

Andalusia UMC, Bay Minette UMC, Bermuda UMC, Brewton First UMC, East Brewton UMC, Excel UMC, Florala UMC, Frisco City UMC, Gulf Shores UMC, Hamden Ridge UMC, Hartwood UMC, Hopewell UMC, Latham UMC, Loxley UMC, Megargel UMC, Mt. Zion West UMC, Opp First UMC, Orange Beach UMC, Pollard UMC, Robertsdale UMC, Rosinton UMC, Stapleton UMC, Stockton UMC, Summerdale UMC, Wallace UMC

Demopolis district

Arlington UMC, Camden UMC, Canton Bend UMC, Christopher’s Chapel UMC, Cokes Chapel UMC, Dayton UMC, Eutaw UMC, Gainesville UMC, Geiger First UMC, Greensboro First UMC, Havana UMC, Jefferson UMC, Linden UMC, Livingston UMC, Marion UMC, Moundville UMC, Myrtlewood UMC, Old Spring Hill UMC, Payne Chapel UMC, Pelham UMC, Pine Hill UMC, Pushmataha UMC, Salem UMC, Soul Chapel UMC, Stewart UMC, Thomaston UMCTrinity UMC, Wesley Chapel UMC

Dothan district

Ariton UMC, Asbury UMC, Bethel UMC, Clayton UMC, Clopton UMC, Cloverdale UMC, Columbia UMC, Cottonwood UMC, Covenant UMC, Denton Road UMC, Edwin UMC, Enterprise First UMC, Grimes UMC, Haleburg UMC, Hartford First UMC, Headland UMC, Heritage UMC, Kinston UMC, Mt. Zion UMC, New Brockton UMC, Pleasant Ridge UMC-Enterprise, Pleasant Ridge UMC – Ariton, Pondtown UMC, Rocky Mount UMC, Skipperville UMC, Webb UMC, Wesley Chapel UMC-Hartford

Marianna-Panama City district

Alaqua UMC, Callaway UMC, Center Ridge UMC, Chipley First UMC, Choctaw Beach UMC, Defuniak Springs First UMC, Emmaus UMC, Forest Park UMC, Good News UMC, Grand Ridge UMC, Lynn Haven UMC, New Hope UMC, Portland UMC, Red Bay UMC, Shady Grove UMC, Wesley Memorial UMC – DeFuniak Springs, Williams Memorial UMC

Mobile district

Aquilla UMC, Chickasaw UMC, Citronelle UMC, Crawford Chapel UMC, Creola UMC, Deer Park UMC, Epworth UMC, Fruitdale UMC, Gainestown UMC, Grace UMC, Mount Carmel UMC, Saraland UMC (Stillwater), Satsuma UMC, St. Mark UMC, Wilmer UMC

Montgomery-Opelika district

Bradford’s Chapel UMC, Brundidge UMC, Campground UMC, Century UMC, Cornerstone UMC, Embrace UMC, Epworth UMC – Phenix City, Fort Davis UMC, Glenwood UMC, Hurtsboro UMC, Live Oak UMC, Mt. Carmel UMC, Mt. Zion UMC – Smiths Station, New Prospect UMC, Oak Grove UMC, Opelika First UMC, Park Memorial UMC, Pitts Chapel UMC, Pittsview UMC, Ramer UMC, Rutledge UMC, Salem UMC, Shady Grove UMC, Society Hill UMC, St James UMC, The Lord’s Church of Montgomery UMC, Trinity UMC – Opelika, Union Grove UMC, Watoola UMC, Wesley Memorial UMC, Williams Chapel UMC-Tuskegee, Woodland UMC

Montgomery-Prattville district

Asbury UMC, Autaugaville UMC, Bethel UMC – Conecuh, Bethel UMC – Fort Deposit, Cain’s Chapel UMC, Clanton First UMC, Cox Chapel UMC, Dalraida UMC, East Tallassee UMC, Eclectic UMC, Fort Deposit UMC, Friendship UMC, Hope Hull UMC, Jenkins Chapel UMC, Liberty UMC, Maplesville UMC, Mt. Pisgah UMC, Mulder Memorial UMC, Oak Grove UMC- Greenville, Oak Valley Station UMC, Perry Hill UMC, Pine Apple UMC, Plantersville UMC, Pleasant Valley UMC, Prattville First UMC, Providence UMC – Georgiana, Providence UMC – TitusRhodes, Chapel UMC, Robinson Springs UMC, Springhill UMC, St. Paul UMC-Greenville, Tallassee First UMC, Wetumpka First UMC

Pensacola district

Aldersgate UMC – Molino, Allen Memorial UMC, Bagdad UMC, Bellview UMC, Christ UMC-Milton, Clear Springs UMC, Crestview First UMC, Crosspoint UMC, Destin UMC, Farm Hill UMC, Gonzalez UMC, Lillian UMC, Mt. Carmel UMC – Jay, New Hope UMC – Robertsdale, Pineview UMC, Woodbine UMC

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