More than 250 churches in North Georgia are due to leave the United Methodist Church (UMC), adding to thousands disaffiliating across the US over moves away from biblical sexual ethicsIn 2019, the UMC gave congregations a four-year window to depart as pressure grew to allow homosexual clergy and same-sex weddings. Although church law officially forbids the weddings or ordinations of “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals”, the denomination appointed its first bishop in a same-sex marriage in 2016. ThousandsAccording to United Methodist News, almost 25 per cent of the United Methodist’s 30,000 congregations have been permitted to disaffiliate since 2019. Same-sex weddingsIn 2021, the governing body of the Methodist Church in Great Britain voted to redefine marriage, conduct same-sex weddings and affirm cohabitation. Representatives at the church’s annual Conference consented “in principle to the marriage of same-sex couples” by 254 votes to 46.

Source: The Guardian November 24, 2023 11:47 UTC