Covenant Church in Dothan, Alabama has become one of the latest major churches to disassociate from the United Methodist Church denomination over the progressive drift of the UMC and its weakness in dealing with the LGBT rainbow brigade.
Here's the pastor of Covenant Church, Kyle Gatlin, addressing his congregation after 87% of those gathered voted to leave the UMC:
From the Christian Post:
Covenant United Methodist Church of Dothan, which has approximately 2,600 members, voted last week to seek disaffiliation from the UMC, with 406 present members voting in favor of leaving, 64 voting against, and four abstaining.
Covenant UMC Pastor Kyle Gatlin told The Christian Post that major factors for wanting to leave included "the direction we saw the denomination was headed" theologically.
This included how some bishops were refusing to enforce the UMC Book of Discipline's rules prohibiting the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex unions.
This level of wokeness and progressive Christianity might appeal to some, but those grounded in the truth of God's word know that these are theological lines that can not and must not be crossed.
"We saw Episcopal leaders not enforcing the discipline. Churches and pastors blatantly ignoring the discipline. We saw this in our Jurisdiction and in others," Gatlin said.
He added that while "we did not see this in our own Annual Conference," his church "felt like for the longterm future of our church, now was the time to leave."
The UMC is going to embrace progressivism so much that they will end up with empty pews just like all the other mainline denominations that have led the way in progressing toward liberalism and away from biblical Christianity for decades.
Another CP story tells us that 41 churches in Texas that have recently left the denomination as well.
Another 41 congregations in Texas have officially left The United Methodist Church in response to the mainline Protestant denomination's ongoing debate over its stance on homosexuality.
The UMC North Texas Annual Conference held a special called session on Saturday in which clergy and lay members voted to approve the disaffiliation votes of 41 congregations that formerly belonged to the regional body.
According to a statement emailed to The Christian Post by a conference spokesperson, the regional body "releases these churches with its full blessing," adding that no churches seeking to leave the UMC were denied dismissal...
More than 1,800 churches successfully disaffiliated from the UMC last year, according to a report by UM News, with hundreds of those departing congregations being located in the Lone Star State.
Being woke and "affirming" of sexual sin is more important than holding fast to the truth of scriptures for the United Methodists.
It's tragic to see how liberalism will always lead to the destruction of the church.
Back to the Alabama story:
"Our Administrative Council — by vote of 16-2 — is recommending joining the [Global Methodist Church]," Gatlin said. "Our leaders felt it was best for our church to stay connected to the same churches and pastors we have been in ministry with since 1979."
"We are excited about the local congregation having more control over pastor appointments, keeping more of our money for local ministry, having accountability for all pastors and all churches, and not funding a top-heavy denomination that supports and advocates for many causes we don't agree with."
According to the Alabama-based news outlet WDHN, between 55 and 60 congregations out of the approximately 600 congregations of the Alabama-West Florida Conference are seeking to leave the denomination.
The Global Methodist Church is seemingly the new alternative denomination for non-woke Methodists. The name "global" reflects the reality that most of the conservative churches standing against the LGBT lobby are not in North America, but rather in Africa.
The UMC may be destroying itself through wokeness, but perhaps a new commitment to biblical Christianity will sprout from the ashes.
