United Methodist Church loses more than 1 million members in single day when group takes stand for 'God and His word'



In one fell swoop last week, the United Methodist Church lost more than 1 million members.

Weeks after the United Methodist Church voted to allow LGBT-practicing clergy and reverse prohibitions on same-sex marriage, the United Methodist Church of Ivory Coast (Eglise Méthodiste Unie Côte d'Ivoire) voted on May 28 to leave the UMC.

'This is not an emotional issue but a matter of unchangeable truth. Homosexuality is clearly a sin.'

The West African Methodists made the decision to leave the UMC "for reasons of conscience, before God and His word, the supreme authority in matters of faith and life." The decision of the UMC to embrace LGBT culture and same-sex marriages "deviates from the Holy Scriptures," according to the EMUCI. The UMC church is, therefore, "sacrific[ing] its honor and integrity to honor the LGBTQ community."

In a statement, Bishop Benjamin Boni said the UMC "is now based on socio-cultural and contextual values which have consumed its doctrinal and disciplinary integrity."

This is a significant development because it means the UMC is losing more than 1 million members.

Even more important is the fact that Methodism of the conservative/traditional variety is growing in the Ivory Coast. The UMC in the U.S., on the other hand, has seen years of decline — especially as the denomination began embracing liberalism.

Ministry Watch explained:

With 900 churches and 100 preaching points, the church has experienced 7-8% annual growth. Its demographic reflects the country’s, with 60% under 35 and women as the majority. Alongside its spiritual mission, the church runs schools and a hospital while engaging in community development.

The Côte d’Ivoire Conference was granted provisional membership in the denomination during the 2004 General Conference and fully admitted in 2008. It quickly became one of the denomination’s largest conferences, with over 1 million professing members as of the most recent report.

The EMUCI is not the first group of Methodists to walk away from the UMC.

Over the last several years, thousands of UMC congregations in the U.S. have disaffiliated from the UMC, joining the Global Methodist Church or remaining independent. They left over the denomination's liberal drift.

The Korean Methodist Church — which boasts approximately 1.5 million members — could soon also be on its way out of the UMC.

"Homosexuality cannot be accepted until the Lord returns. This is not an emotional issue but a matter of unchangeable truth. Homosexuality is clearly a sin," a coalition of conservative Korean Methodists said last month. "This is an issue concerning the sanctity of life that the church must teach correctly, without compromise."

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United Methodist Church REJECTS God’s word to embrace LGBTQ, changes pronouns to was/were



Several years ago, there was a split in the United Methodist Church over the issue of whether or not the church should be “gay affirming.”

“It also had to do with gay clergy, and I’m talking openly gay, affirming homosexuality, homosexual relationships, as what they would call holy, normal, fine, on the same plane as a heterosexual actual marriage,” Allie Beth Stuckey explains.

Now, the controversy is continuing.

Last Wednesday, delegates at the United Methodist Church General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, voted to overturn the church’s historic discipline and doctrine on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

The ruling was approved by a 692-to-51 vote and approves of removing the language that prohibited the ordination of self-avowed practicing homosexuals from the book of discipline.

“What has happened is that progressives, after they basically took over the UMC in 2019, they have hollowed out the Methodist Church, the Methodist denomination, and have decided we are going to abandon Christianity, we’re going to abandon church history, we are going to abandon our creeds, we are going to abandon the Bible all together,” Stuckey says.

“And we are going to then, in essence, abandon Christianity,” she adds.

“This is always what happens when you abandon Scripture,” she continues. “When you decide that the Bible is not authoritative, when you decide that your opinion or cultural changes or social whims have more authority than the word of God, then you will always end up conforming to the spirit of the age.”

“And sexual depravity, and the feelings that you have, the lust that you have, of course will take precedence over what God’s word says. You will change the definitions of holiness, you will change the definitions of sin and repentance, you will change the very definitions of right and wrong.”


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African Methodists take a stand for biblical marriage after United Methodist Church adopts pro-LGBT measures



A group of African Methodists released a statement last week, taking a stand for orthodox Christian teaching on sexual ethics.

The United Methodist Church joined ranks with other progressive American denominations last week when, at its general conference, the church reversed prohibitions on LGBT clergy, same-sex weddings, and rules against LGBT-practicing members.

Now, United Methodist pastors can openly practice the LGBT lifestyle and will not face discipline for officiating same-sex marriages. The denomination, moreover, no longer teaches that "the practice of homosexuality ... is incompatible with Christian teaching."

But Methodist representatives from the majority world are standing their ground.

In a statement, a group of African Methodist delegates accused the UMC of following in the footsteps of "western culture" to change the definition of marriage.

"The United Methodist Church has chosen to follow what pleases man instead of what pleases God," the delegates charged.

"The United Methodist Church has changed the definition of marriage. It now defines marriage differently from what God created it to be in the beginning (Genesis 2:18, 23-25). It has changed the definition of marriage from how Jesus described it in Matthew 19 as one man and one woman," the delegates added.

"In Africa we do not believe we know better than Jesus. We do not believe we know better than God. We do not believe we know better than the Bible," they said.

The African leaders made it clear they want the entire world to know where they stand: "We do not accept a change in the definition of marriage, and we will never accept marriage as anything other than one man and one woman."

Nimia Peralta, a delegate from the Philippines, similarly said, "While we celebrate worldwide regionalization, I truly believe the definition of marriage can never be regionalized."

Measures to approve the progressive guidelines were adopted with overwhelming approval.

That's because most conservative Methodists chose not to attend the conference. Indeed, thousands of former UMC congregations have voted to leave the UMC, joining the Global Methodist Church or remaining independent.

The pushback from African Methodists demonstrates an important phenomenon happening in Christian circles today: the embrace of pro-LGBT theology is almost entirely confined to the Western church.

On the other hand, Christians in Asia, Africa, and Latin America — areas of the world where the issues of sexuality and gender are not cultural lightning rods — are remaining faithful to orthodox Christian teaching on sexual ethics.

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Second-largest Protestant denomination in US votes to allow LGBT clergy — but African pastor holds the line



United Methodists voted on Wednesday to rescind a denominational rule prohibiting LGBT clergy from ordination, a historic moment for the country's second-largest Protestant denomination and its progressive drift.

In 1984, the United Methodist Church took a stand for orthodox Christian sexual ethics, declaring:

Since the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching, self-avowed, practicing homosexuals are not to be accepted as candidates, ordained as ministers or appointed to serve in the United Methodist Church.

Now, 40 years later, the UMC will officially allow LGBT clergy.

At the UMC's general conference meeting in Charlotte, the denomination struck the prohibition from denomination guidelines with an overwhelming vote, 93% to 7%. The change was passed alongside nearly two dozen other pieces of legislation without debate.

The change follows the conference's trend, which has been to pass denominational legislation normalizing the LGBT lifestyle and to remove ethical and disciplinary measures related to LGBT-identifying and LGBT-practicing Christians. Conference delegates are expected to pass additional pro-LGBT measures before the conference ends on Friday.

Methodists who oppose the UMC's progressive trend began breaking away from the denomination several years ago, starting the Global Methodist Church or remaining independent. Thousands of Methodist congregations have already joined the ranks of the Global Methodist body.

The pro-LGBT affirming vote is representative of the split, as most conservative Methodists chose not to attend the conference.

Still, some faithful Methodists, especially from Africa, are holding the line.

"We see homosexuality as a sin," Forbes Matonga, a pastor from West Zimbabwe, said. "So to us, this is a fundamental theological difference where we think others no longer regard the authority of Scripture."

Whereas the UMC is now going the way of other progressive Christian denominations in the U.S. — like the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America — it's important to remember that the embrace of pro-LGBT theology is almost uniquely confined to the Western church, where issues of sexuality and gender have become cultural lightning rods.

The vast majority of Christians in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, however, continue to uphold orthodox Christian teaching on sexual ethics.

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