North Alabama – On Tuesday night, 18 more churches have disaffiliated from the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church. This marks the final official departure vote for the region, which has its headquarters office in Birmingham.
Several churches have recently left the North Alabama Conference, with the latest group including congregations in Hayden, Remlap, Pinson, Warrior, Chelsea, and Wedowee. This brings the total number of disaffiliations in the conference to 348, which is over half of all the churches in the conference.
On Tuesday, 18 more congregations left, adding to the 198 that had disaffiliated on Dec. 10, 2022, and another 132 that had disaffiliated on May 11. Prior to the Dec. 10 vote, there were a total of 638 congregations in the North Alabama Conference.
According to Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett, who is in charge of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church, the previous year has been marked by sadness. The North Alabama Conference has suffered from disaffiliation, resulting in significant losses.
According to Wallace-Padgett, individuals who choose to stay should focus their efforts on a fresh beginning, which involves the development of ten newly emerging congregations.
Wallace-Padgett expressed that the conference is essentially new at this point.
Currently, the North Alabama Conference has 290 congregations, including the new start-up ones that have emerged in some areas where other churches have disaffiliated.
For years, the United Methodist Church has been embroiled in a heated debate over its stance on various matters concerning human sexuality. This has been a source of internal conflict within the denomination, with some advocating for a more progressive approach while others insist on maintaining the status quo. As a result, the recent announcement of the split does not surprise many who have been following the issue closely.
Despite the United Methodist Church’s continued adherence to its traditional position of prohibiting same-sex marriage and openly gay clergy ordination, years of conflict over this issue have led many conservatives to depart. When an opportunity arose for them to retain church property while leaving, many took advantage of it.
Several churches have decided to leave their current denomination and are joining the newly formed Global Methodist Church. This new denomination was established last year by individuals who are committed to upholding a traditional stance on same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly gay clergy. Some of the churches that are leaving have chosen to become independent, while others have joined different groups, like the Free Methodist Church or the Foundry Movement.
the churches that disaffiliated on Sept. 12 were:
Central District
Hayden
The Church at Remlap
Sumiton
Taylor Memorial
Warrior First
Mountain Lakes District
Clear Creek
Haygood Memorial
Henryville
Ider
Morton’s Chapel
Nixon’s Chapel
Turkeytown
Northeast District
Beech Grove
Bethel
Cameron
South Central District
Union
The Church at Chelsea Park
Southeast District
Haven Chapel
Midway (Wedowee)
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