A Methodist pastor responded to my request yesterday for someone within Methodism to explain what’s going on in the church in light of the news that the Methodist pastor who conducted a marriage service for his gay son would not be tried in church court for violating church discipline. Will there be a schism? I asked. The pastor responds:
You ask will there be a schism? Yes. The UMC has one body that speaks for it. The General Conference which meets every presidential election year. At General Conference United Methodists from all over the globe attend. The UMC is in decline in the US, slower then our fellow mainline denominations but declining nonetheless, and that pace of decline will soon pick up as more and more of our members die off. I serve a church that worships around 300 and the average age of my congregation is around 60 and we are considered young and relatively healthy. Despite the US decline there are more United Methodists now then ever, over 12 million (7 million in the US). The church is growing everywhere else in the world. The largest religion in South Korea is United Methodism. Methodism is growing in the Philippines, Latin America, and even Eastern Europe. As great as that is it pales in comparison to Africa.
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