{"id":21025,"date":"2024-10-29T10:44:01","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T15:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/twkumc.org\/?p=21025"},"modified":"2024-10-29T10:44:01","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T15:44:01","slug":"update-on-recent-judicial-council-action-related-to-separation-of-churches-from-the-umc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/twkumc.org\/es\/news\/update-on-recent-judicial-council-action-related-to-separation-of-churches-from-the-umc\/","title":{"rendered":"Actualizaci\u00f3n sobre la reciente acci\u00f3n del Consejo Judicial en relaci\u00f3n con la separaci\u00f3n de las iglesias de la UMC"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2019, at a special session of the General Conference, a temporary process was added to the Book of Discipline to facilitate the disaffiliation of churches from the UMC for a narrow set of reasons. That temporary addendum, inserted as \u00b62553, outlined a disaffiliation process to be accessible until December 31, 2023.\u00a0(Addendum to The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church, 2016)\u00a0<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

At the postponed 2020 General Conference meeting in 2024, no petition was adopted to extend \u00b62553, and therefore, that provision expired and will not be contained in the 2024 Book of Discipline.<\/p>\n

Upon the expiration of \u00b62553, a question was raised as to whether a group of members of a local church could separate from the United Methodist Church using\u00a0 \u00b62549 Disposition of Property of a Closed Local Church<\/a>. While this paragraph outlines how to close a church, \u00b62549 does not address separation or disaffiliation, nor do its provisions create a right to separate.<\/p>\n

In June 2024, the Kentucky Conference requested guidance from The Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church regarding the potential for future exits from the denomination by local churches. Specifically, Kentucky asked if in light of the expiration of \u00b62553, if \u00b62549 or some other provision of the Book of Discipline could be utilized to allow for a pathway to exit the denomination.<\/p>\n

Like the Kentucky Conference, other annual conference sessions requested rulings of the Judicial Council<\/a> that would clarify whether \u00b62549 can be used to allow a local church to separate from the denomination, and if so, the process annual conferences must follow under\u00a0 \u00b62549\u00a0 if a church were to request closure for the purposes of allowing its members to separate as a group from The United Methodist Church and continue in some other faith expression.\u00a0 These requests were placed on the Judicial Council\u2019s Fall 2024 Docket.<\/p>\n

The Judicial Council has now met and definitively ruled that \u00b62549 may not<\/u> be used as a method of exit from the United Methodist Church. The Judicial Council specifically stated in Decision 1512:<\/p>\n

\u201cConnectionalism is a bedrock principle of United Methodist constitutional polity, and the Trust Clause is its foundational element. Disaffiliation is a radical departure from connectionalism, and, therefore, church property can be released from the Trust Clause only to the extent authorized by Church law.<\/p>\n

With the expiration and deletion of \u00b62553, the postponed 2020 General Conference effectively removed from The Book of<\/em> Discipline, 2016, <\/em>[hereinafter Discipline<\/em>] the only pathway for the disaffiliation of local churches. Except for the General Conference, no body or entity in the Church has the power to reinstate or replicate \u00b62553 or adopt legislation, policies, guidelines, rules, or regulations authorizing the departure of local churches. Any such action, plan, or attempt to do so intrudes upon the exclusive prerogative of the General Conference and is unconstitutional, null, and void.<\/p>\n

Further, \u00b62549 cannot be construed or used as legislation permitting the \u201cgracious exit\u201d of local churches because it applies to church closure and the sale of property, not disaffiliation. Any application of \u00b62549 to that end would be a misapplication of Church law.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, our Conference is bound by church law.\u00a0 Accordingly, we are unable to offer a path to separation from the United Methodist Church for local churches. Of course, as has always been the case, individuals are free to pursue the faith expression of their choosing.<\/p>\n

We continue to believe that The United Methodist Church is a place for all people, and we remain committed to our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.<\/p>\n

Read this Judicial Council Decision<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Related UMNews article<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2019, at a special session of the General Conference, a temporary process was added to the Book of Discipline to facilitate the disaffiliation of churches from the UMC for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[12,18],"class_list":["post-21025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-feature","tag-home"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUpdate on Recent Judicial Council Action Related to Separation of Churches from the UMC - TWKUMC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/twkumc.org\/es\/news\/update-on-recent-judicial-council-action-related-to-separation-of-churches-from-the-umc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Update on Recent Judicial Council Action Related to Separation of Churches from the UMC - 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