Alabama Methodists Remain Blocked From Disaffiliation
The regional conference pushed the decision to the denomination’s Judicial Council
A group of Methodist congregations that have requested to leave the United Methodist Church (UMC) expressed frustration at last week’s annual meeting of the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the UMC.
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Forty-four congregations had sued the Conference for not allowing them to disaffiliate from the denomination, and appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court.
But on May 31, the state’s high court ruled the civil court system did not have jurisdiction to decide the issue—it must be decided within the church’s own judicial system.
The group of churches did not receive an answer from the Alabama-West Florida Conference either. Motions on petitions to disaffiliation were ruled out of order at the meeting.
Instead, the conference voted to ask the UMC’s Judicial Council to rule on procedures for allowing churches to leave in the future. That ruling is not expected before October, according to reporting by Alabama Media Group.
No action would be taken on churches’ requests to disaffiliate until the Conference meets in June 2025, said Bishop David Graves, head of the Alabama-West Florida Conference.
“This is not giving us the opportunity to exit and that’s really all we’re asking for,” said Andy Wendland, a delegate from Church Street UMC in Selma. “We’re just asking to let us leave if we would like to. The board of trustees has the authority to probably allow us to do this. They have not shown the will to do that.”
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“Is this a tactic that the conference is using to keep us either from disaffiliating at all, or till we die?” said Ed Stewart, a delegate from Highland Park UMC in Dothan. “Is this going to drag on year after year?”
In May, delegates at the General Conference of the UMC voted to eliminate the pathway for churches to disaffiliate. The vote on that motion passed 519-203, or by 72%.
Over the past couple of years, about 25%, or 7,600, traditionalist churches across the United States left the UMC because of growing discontent with the church’s changing stance on issues of gender and sexuality.
At this year’s General Conference, a measure to overturn a ban on clergy who identify as LGBTQ from ordination in the denomination passed overwhelmingly.
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