In exchange, Friday’s announcement said, the new denomination would drop any claim to United Methodist assets, such as church buildings. A church would not need to vote to remain United Methodist. Many mainline denominations, including the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Church of Christ and others, already perform same-sex marriages and appoint gay clergy. But the United Methodist Church, the nation’s largest mainline denomination and the third-largest denomination of any faith in America, has fought bitterly over the issue, to the point that leaders have feared a schism over the issue for years. ADBut the larger divide is between American Methodists and foreign members of the United Methodist Church, especially churches in Africa.

Source: Washington Post January 03, 2020 15:51 UTC