NewsMay 27, 2023
Final Methodist disaffiliation vote scheduled next month in Missouri
This story is updated. On Friday, June 9, four Cape Girardeau County congregations are expected to receive final approval to leave the United Methodist Church, part of a group of 23 Missouri churches in the U.M.'s Southeast District that have previously voted to exit the Protestant denomination...
This story is updated.
On Friday, June 9, four Cape Girardeau County congregations are expected to receive final approval to leave the United Methodist Church (UMC) via disaffiliation, part of a group of 23 Missouri churches in the U.M.'s Southeast District that have previously voted to exit the Protestant denomination.
The tipping point for the schism is a disagreement over Biblical authority, particularly in regard to LGBTQ ordination and marriage.
Clergy and lay members of the Missouri Annual Conference are expected to vote in St. Charles, Missouri, to allow a total of 75 U.M. churches across the state to depart.
Disaffiliates (Southeast District)
- Cape Girardeau County: LaCroix; Wesley (Fruitland); Whitewater; Zion (Gordonville).
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Note: UMC Missouri Conference is formally closing Centenary UMC in Cape Girardeau with a plan to start a new U.M. church in the future. Centenary's soon-to-be former building at 300 N. Ellis St. will be site of a June 6 meeting where professing members will be invited to vote to amend the Articles of Incorporation to change the name of the church and to affiliate with the Global Methodist Church (GMC).
- Stoddard County: Advance; Bell City; Dexter; Hobbs Chapel (Dudley).
- Carter County: Ellsinore; Grandin; Van Buren.
- Franklin County: Casco; Champion City; Leslie.
- Washington County: Belgrade; Caledonia; Potosi.
- Bollinger County: Crossroads; Glen Allen.
- Scott County: Broadway (Scott City).
- Perry County: Perryville.
- Iron County: Arcadia Valley.
- Texas County: Cabool.
To date, at least 2,804 churches have left the United Methodist Church since 2019, according to United Methodist News Service.
On May 15, representatives of eight area disaffiliating U.M. churches met with Bishop Scott Jones of Global Methodist Church at Dempster Hall on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University.
Global Methodist Church, a theologically conservative denomination, launched May 1, 2022.
The author of this article is the former senior pastor Centenary UMC in Cape Girardeau.
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