(CL) – Traditionalists committed to leaving The United Methodist Church have chosen “Global Methodist Church” as the name for the denomination they plan to launch. The group also unveiled on March 1 a logo and website.
The work toward a new denomination is guided by a transitional leadership council, which includes some retired United Methodist bishops. “The primary mission of the Global Methodist Church will be to make disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately,
love extravagantly, and witness boldly,” said the Rev. Keith Boyette, chair of the transitional leadership council. But the official start and legal organization of the Global Methodist Church may well be more than a year and a half away.
Boyette and other leaders are counting on the passage of the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation, a plan negotiated by centrist, progressive, and traditionalist United Methodist leaders to end the denomination’s longstanding conflict over how accepting to be of homosexuality.
The protocol would let traditionalist churches and even annual conferences vote to leave and form another denomination, with $25 million to start. However, the protocol requires approval by General Conference, The United Methodist Church’s global lawmaking assembly. READ MORE
