The Global Methodist Church (GMC), a conservative denomination created to serve as a non-woke alternative to the United Methodist Church, was launched in May of 2022 and has already garnered more than 4,200 member congregations. In fact, it ended 2023 with exactly 4,281 member congregations.
Such is what GMC Transitional Connectional Officer Keith Boyette told the Christian Post, explaining the massive and rapid growth of the GMC and from where those new congregations are coming as conservative Christians look for a spiritual home that better relates to their understanding of Scripture.
Speaking on the new congregations, Boyette said, “The current member congregations are predominately former UMC congregations, but we do have member congregations that have come from other denominations, or who were previously nondenominational or independent, or that are new church plants that have already been recognized as member congregations.”
Continuing with his brief comments, Boyette told the Christian Post that there are a large number of United Methodist Church congregations both inside and outside the United States that are trying to disaffiliate from the UMC and join the GMC. He also noted that a large number of congregations are expected to join the GMC after the 2024 UMC General Conference in Charlotte, which begins on April 23.
One of the main issues for the UMC that has led to conservatives leaving it in the dust for the GMC has been same-sex relationships. The UMC’s Book of Discipline provides that the church cannot bless same-sex unions nor allow ordination of those in same-sex relationships.
Efforts to change that have been stymied from theologically conservative delegates from around the world, but many leftists and liberals within the UMC, particularly in America, have ignored that and both officiated same-sex unions and allowed ordinations of openly gay clergy, frustrating many on the right.
That has frustrated many conservatives, and the lack of change in the Book of Discipline has angered many liberals. As a result, thousands of congregations used a provision created in 2019 and which expired at the end of 2023 to disaffiliate from the UMC over the same-sex issue. According to the Christian Post, “7,660 congregations left the UMC from 2019 to 2023, with more than 5,600 voting to disaffiliate last year alone.”
Explaining its mission, the Global Methodist Church notes, “Our Mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly. In our worship, we desire to surrender to and be fully devoted to one God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are passionate about what is important to God.”
It continues, “Jesus calls those who follow Him to love God wholeheartedly and love their neighbors as themselves. Our desire is to demonstrate to the world the extravagant love of God in the person of Jesus Christ. We have been entrusted with a lifesaving and transforming message that we must share with others. Our witness is bold, compelling and fearless. Our mission advances when individuals become disciples of Jesus Christ and join God’s mission to make more disciples.”
Further, it notes, “John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, proclaimed, “The world is my parish.” Ever since, the people called Methodist have committed to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with people all around the world. In that spirit, faithful Methodists have been praying and working to discern God’s will for a new church rooted in Scripture and the historic and life giving teachings of the Christian faith. Given that those called to this new denomination are from many countries, speak many languages, and yet share one faith, the name “the Global Methodist Church” seemed fully appropriate.”
Featured image credit: By Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=89905909
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