Missouri Conference Votes to Allow 75 Disaffiliations
News
The Missouri Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church (UMC) voted on its Board of Trustees’ recommendation for 75 United Methodist churches to disaffiliate from the Conference and UMC during its opening business session of Annual Conference in St. Charles. The churches listed below represent 11% of the United Methodist Churches in the state.
North Central District
Browning
Clarence
Cole Camp
Epworth (Sedalia)
Fortuna
Goodwill Chapel (Sedalia)
Haseville
Linneus
Mendon
Midway Locust Grove (Columbia)
Mokane
Siloam Chapel (Mendon)
Sumner
Zion (Brunswick)
Northeast District
Bethel Pond (Wildwood)
Big Spring (New Florence)
Morning Star (O’Fallon)
Sunrise (O’Fallon)
The River (Eureka)
The Way (Wentzville)
Northwest District
Fairfax
Lee’s Summit
Sparta
Tarkio
Westboro
Southeast District
Advance
Arcadia Valley
Belgrade
Bell City
Broadway (Scott City)
Cabool
Caledonia
Casco
Champion City
Crossroads (Perry County)
Dexter
Ellsinore
Glen Allen
Grandin
Hobbs Chapel (Dudley)
La Croix (Cape Girardeau)
Leslie
Perryville
Potosi
Rauch Spence (Morehouse)
Van Buren
Wesley (Fruitland)
Whitewater
Zion (Gordonville)
Southwest District
Aldersgate (Nixa)
Ava
Christ’s Community (Joplin)
Conway
Dadeville
First (Joplin)
First (Mount Vernon)
First (Oronogo)
Humansville
Jasper
Kimberling City
Lamar
Mansfield
Morrisville
Mt. Moriah (Jasper)
Nashville
Oakton
Pleasant Hill (Seymour)
Renew at Willard
Royal Heights (Joplin)
Sarcoxie
Schweitzer (Springfield)
Seymour
Sheldon
St. Mark’s (Niangua)
Theodosia
Browning
Clarence
Cole Camp
Epworth (Sedalia)
Fortuna
Goodwill Chapel (Sedalia)
Haseville
Linneus
Mendon
Midway Locust Grove (Columbia)
Mokane
Siloam Chapel (Mendon)
Sumner
Zion (Brunswick)
Northeast District
Bethel Pond (Wildwood)
Big Spring (New Florence)
Morning Star (O’Fallon)
Sunrise (O’Fallon)
The River (Eureka)
The Way (Wentzville)
Northwest District
Fairfax
Lee’s Summit
Sparta
Tarkio
Westboro
Southeast District
Advance
Arcadia Valley
Belgrade
Bell City
Broadway (Scott City)
Cabool
Caledonia
Casco
Champion City
Crossroads (Perry County)
Dexter
Ellsinore
Glen Allen
Grandin
Hobbs Chapel (Dudley)
La Croix (Cape Girardeau)
Leslie
Perryville
Potosi
Rauch Spence (Morehouse)
Van Buren
Wesley (Fruitland)
Whitewater
Zion (Gordonville)
Southwest District
Aldersgate (Nixa)
Ava
Christ’s Community (Joplin)
Conway
Dadeville
First (Joplin)
First (Mount Vernon)
First (Oronogo)
Humansville
Jasper
Kimberling City
Lamar
Mansfield
Morrisville
Mt. Moriah (Jasper)
Nashville
Oakton
Pleasant Hill (Seymour)
Renew at Willard
Royal Heights (Joplin)
Sarcoxie
Schweitzer (Springfield)
Seymour
Sheldon
St. Mark’s (Niangua)
Theodosia
This exit of churches comes after several decades of conversation and ultimately, an impasse regarding the inclusion of and ministry with LGBTQIA+ people. The churches seeking to depart oppose gay marriage and the ordination of gay pastors and believe that The United Methodist Church is moving to allow both in the future.
“Some churches have decided to walk a different path than the United Methodist Church,” said Bishop Robert Farr, resident bishop of the Missouri Conference. “We are a denomination that allows for unity in Christ and diversity in the kingdom. The churches who have disaffiliated did not believe they could be in relationship with churches that served their mission fields differently than they did. We release the churches with blessing.”
The Missouri Conference’s process for disaffiliation is in keeping with Paragraph 2553 of The Book of Discipline, which allows for a local church to disaffiliate from the denomination “over issues related to human sexuality.” Further, the conference may develop additional terms to those listed. Missouri requires churches to complete the following:
- A church conference must be conducted by the appropriate District Superintendent at which the professing members present and voting approve disaffiliation by a 2/3 majority vote;
- The local church must enter into a standard disaffiliation agreement with the annual conference, which includes the following:
- Payment of the current apportionment PLUS 1 more year of apportionments;
- Payment of a “withdrawal liability” in the amount of the church’s pro-rata share of any aggregate unfunded pension obligations as calculated by Wespath using “market factors similar to those a commercial annuity provider” (Missouri’s share is currently about $18.4 million); and
- Satisfaction of other debts or liabilities.
“After the vote, Missouri will continue to be served by over 580 committed and faithful UMC congregations,” said Farr. “These churches have and will continue to invest millions of dollars and thousands of service hours to transform our communities — advocating for the voiceless, serving in the aftermath of natural disasters, educating children and providing basic provisions to those in need.”