Breakaway votes to be scheduled in two area United Methodist churches

The leadership boards of two area churches, pastored by the Rev. Kevin Barron, have decided unanimously in the last week to seek congregational votes aimed at discovering whether members wish to leave the United Methodist Church (UMC), the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States.

Perryville United Methodist Church, 314 W. North St. in Perryville, Missouri; and Crossroads United Methodist Church, a few miles from the Perry County seat in nearby Bollinger County, will have potential breakaway votes scheduled either after Thanksgiving or in early December.

Each of these churches has roughly 30 to 40 people worshiping in their sanctuaries Sunday mornings, down from 45 to 50 each prior to the pandemic.

Any church vote to break away — or, to use the language of the Missouri Conference, to "disaffiliate" — requires a finalizing June 2023 vote in which the state's churches must give majority assent at an annual conference.

"In the churches I serve, I don't have a vote myself [on this matter] but I do have an opinion and the members know how I feel," said Barron, who has served the Perryville and Crossroads churches since 2017.

The Rev. Kevin Barron, pastor of Perryville United Methodist Church in Perryville, Missouri, and Crossroads United Methodist Church in Bollinger County, Missouri. Leadership in both churches have given the green light to scheduling a breakaway vote from the United Methodist denomination over the next few weeks.Submitted

"I have tried to be fair in all of this [but] for me, it all comes down to Scripture," he added, with Barron noting each church must have two-thirds approval in order to signal to the annual conference the desire to disaffiliate.

Additionally, the United Methodist disaffiliation process requires a breakaway church to satisfy certain pension liabilities and to pay at least two years of apportionments — in other words, benevolences — which are set by the annual conference at a certain financial level.

If each congregation votes to leave, Barron believes the best course for both is to link with another denomination — and his preferred option is the new Global Methodist Church.

"I don't like the notion of going independent," he said. "A denomination gives you 'guardrails,' and you will be in fellowship with other churches so you know you're not alone."

The Rev. Bruce Baxter, superintendent of the Southeast District of which both churches are a part, declined to comment on the Wednesday, Nov. 9, leadership vote by Crossroads and the Sunday, Nov. 13, Perryville board vote, referring questions to previous statements by Missouri Area United Methodist Bishop Robert "Bob" Farr.

"It is not my desire for any of our churches to disaffiliate. I am excited about our future and believe local churches are stronger within a denominational structure for accountability and connection," wrote Farr in an Oct. 27 letter emailed to Missouri Conference clergy and laity.

The Rev. Kevin Barron, pastor of Perryville United Methodist Church, 314 W. North St., Perryville, Missouri, behind the pulpit in this undated photograph. The church's leadership on Sun., Nov. 13, gave unanimous approval to schedule a breakaway vote from the United Methodist Church denomination before the church's membership.Submitted

Issues

The United Methodist Church moved toward becoming more progressive and LGBTQ-affirming during U.S. regional meetings earlier this month that included the election of its second openly gay bishop.

Conservatives say the developments will only accelerate their exit from the UMC.

Each of the UMC's five U.S. jurisdictions — meeting separately — approved similarly worded measures aspiring to a future of church where "LGBTQIA+ people will be protected, affirmed, and empowered."

They also passed non-binding measures asking anyone to withdraw from leadership roles if they're planning to leave the denomination soon — a category that almost entirely includes conservatives moving toward the exits.

The denomination still officially bans same-sex marriage and the ordination of any "self-avowed, practicing homosexual," and only a legislative gathering called the General Conference can change that.

This month's votes show growing momentum — at least in the American half of the global church — to defy these policies and seek to reverse them at the next legislative gathering in 2024.

Supporters and opponents of the measures drew from the same metaphor to say their church is either becoming more or less of a "big tent," as the United Methodists have long been described as a theologically diverse, mainstream denomination.

"It demonstrates that the big tent has collapsed," said the Rev. Jay Therrell, president of the conservative Wesleyan Covenant Association, which has been helping churches that want to leave the denomination.

"For years, bishops have told traditionalists that there is room for everyone in the United Methodist Church," he said. "Not one single traditionalist bishop was elected. Moreover, we now have the most progressive or liberal council of bishops in the history of Methodism, period."

Portions of this article were taken from Associated Press reporting.

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