Two area churches vote to leave their denomination

Two Southeast Missouri churches, one in Perry County and the other in Bollinger County, formally voted Wednesday, Nov. 30, to disaffiliate from America's second-largest Protestant denomination, the United Methodist Church (UMC).

Departure tallies

• Perryville UMC voted unanimously, 26-0.
• Crossroads UMC, Bollinger County, Missouri, voted 31-2.

Southeast District superintendent Bruce Baxter supervised the voting on behalf of the Missouri Conference.

Reflection

The Rev. Kevin Barron pastors the breakaway churches.

"I am grateful both of the congregations I serve understood what is at stake and voted to support the Bible," he said, adding continuing "rebellion" in the denomination against what Barron called the Biblical position that marriage is between a man and a woman is at the heart of the move to disaffiliate.

"The foundation of this rebellion is a desertion of Biblical doctrines that are at the core of orthodoxy, meaning the authority of the Bible over the life of the Christian, the divinity of Christ and the fact that salvation is found only in Jesus. It soon became very clear that a separation was inevitable," said Barron, who has served the two Perryville-area congregations since 2017.

In its governing document called the Discipline, the denomination still officially bans same-sex marriage and the ordination of any "self-avowed, practicing homosexual."

However, each of the UMC's five jurisdictions in the United States voted this fall to become more progressive and LGBTQ-affirming during regional meetings, desiring a future where "LGBTQIA+ people will be protected, affirmed and empowered."

In the denomination's Western Jurisdiction, the UMC's second-ever openly gay bishop, Cedrick D. Bridgeforth of the California-Pacific Conference, was elected Nov. 4.

Next step

Barron said the disaffiliation votes of Perryville and Crossroads churches must receive consent from the Missouri Conference at its scheduled annual meeting June 9 to 11 in St. Charles, Missouri.

Barron said he is aware this approval is not a mere formality since the U.M.'s Arkansas Conference on Nov. 19 rejected the disaffiliation votes of three congregations in the state — in Jonesboro, Cabot and Searcy.

"I am not taking (our) final step for granted as much as I did a few weeks ago," Barron said,

Barron, who previously told the Southeast Missourian he prefers joining the conservative Global Methodist Church, said that decision is deferred to 2023.

"We plan to celebrate Christmas and get to work on what's next after the first of the year," he said.

Reporter Jeff Long is a retired clergy member of the Missouri Annual (U.M.) Conference.