Mount Union
The University of Mount Union is the latest college to disaffiliate from The United Methodist Church in protest of the anti-LGBTQ bans adopted in the Tradition Plan in February by the 2019 General Conference (Mount Union Photo)
A majority of participants at the UMC Next meeting in Leawood, Kansas, have said they want to form a new Methodist church, not reform the existing denomination.
One of the participants, the Rev. Raquel Feagins of San Antonio, Texas, posted on her Facebook page a summary of the second day's proceedings that included news of discussions about racism, classism, and a survey on the UMC's future.
After only 30 minutes discussing racism in the UMC, wrote Rev. Feagins, "We spent the rest of the day trying to discern where God is calling us to go as a denomination. In our tables, we discussed pros, cons, and practical steps involved in three approaches that the convening team presented:
- "Dissolution as a denomination and forming something new.
- "Disaffiliation of individual churches, then joining something new.
- "Continued resistance and reform of our current denomination.
"... We took a straw poll on the three pathways, and then on two. The room is divided between dissolution/forming something new vs. staying, resisting, and reforming. The preference of the majority is towards something new."
Another university drops UMC ties
"The University of Mount Union has cut ties with the United Methodist Church over the denomination’s recent bans on gay clergy and same-sex marriage," reported GateHouse Media Ohio in the Columbus Dispatch.
"Mount Union President W. Richard Merriman Jr. said the board of trustees considered the issue for months before voting Friday to end more than 150 years of church affiliation," the article said.
Merriman was quoted: “We want to have a diverse campus where all kinds of people can succeed, so it was difficult to see how our values as a university could be reconciled with the values the church is espousing.”
Mount Union follows Baldwin Wallace University in disaffiliating from the UMC over the adoption of the Traditional Plan. Another college, Ohio Wesleyan University, said the school was taking a one-year "pause" in its UMC relationship with the church. Two other universities, Ohio Northern and Otterbein, joined their three sister colleges in a post-General Conference statement condemning theTraditional Plan.
Media Mentions as of May 22, 2019
Unsure About Accepting LGBTQ Folks? God Gave You the Keys – Ethics Daily
Wesley Center remains steadfastly in corner of LGBTQ flock – Iowa City Press Citizen
Drew University: Methodist ties 'compromised' by anti-gay policy – New Jersey 101.5 FM Radio
Methodists Gather At Leawood Megachurch To Find A Way Forward After Dispute Over LGBTQ ... – KCUR