BARBARA BRANNON | THE TEXAS SPUR
At church business meetings August 29, Methodist churches in Matador and McAdoo voted to sever ties with the United Methodist denomination and band together with a new group, the Global Methodist Church. The churches’ decisions, which have been under discussion for some months, center on a division over the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) issues, including ordination and same-sex marriage. For individual congregations, disaffiliation from the UMC denomination is complicated by the ways member churches are goverened and how they own property. A vote is required by each congregation exploring the option of disaffiliation, though it is not the end of the process. As Rev. Chuck Harrison, pastor of both the Matador and McAdoo churches, explained, discussions begam some six months ago within churches of the Northwest Texas Conference of the UMC. The process will continue through a December 3, 2022, called annual conference of those who have voted to disaffiliate and have paid their contributions to the denomination, before they can be considered to not be members of the UMC.
“We hope to have as much information included in our final report as we can, by November 15; after that we will just have to wait” for further action, Harrison said. But for now, the two congregations are relieved the vote is over, he said.
As other churches in Texas and elsewhere face similar turning points, the Northwest Texas Conference has provided “Transition Pathways” resources at www.nwtxconf. org/transition.
The Lubbock District office has a calendar of vote dates scheduled by other denominations.
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