83 Iowa churches leave United Methodist in growing divide

For some seven years, the Marion Methodist Church has been pondering its future — would it stay as part of the United Methodist Church denomination, increasingly fractured over theology and social issues, or strike out in a new — and costly — direction?

It chose the latter, feeling a “dissonance” between the traditionalist and progressive factions of the church, said lead pastor Mike Morgan.

For Marion Methodist, located near Highway 13, disaffiliation from the church is not as simple as tearing down a banner with church symbolism. Parting ways with the denomination means over $350,000 in fees to be paid before July; congregation members who disagree with decision choosing to leave; and "brokenness“ within the community.

“We felt it best to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church, eyes wide-open to both the cost and really thoughtfully and prayerfully wanting to engage with congregational members that felt, and community members that feel, very differently,” Morgan said.

During a special online session Tuesday hosted by conference leaders, 83 churches in Iowa including Marion Methodist agreed to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church — one of the largest Methodist denominations with nearly 30,000 congregations across the world. In Iowa, the splinter will affect about 11 percent of the 750 United Methodist churches in the state. The disaffiliations do not happen until June 30.

The United Methodist Church has been beset for years over debates about its theology, same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy in the church. Last year, the United Methodist Church directed churches and pastors to “follow their conscience” as it pertains to the Book of Discipline, text that outlines beliefs, standards and cannon laws for the religion.

Changes to those rules allowed gay clergy to serve and permitted ministers to hold same-sex marriages — differing from the former interpretation of the text’s guidance.

Making the decision

In Marion, Morgan said the serious conversations surrounding disaffiliation have been taking place since the United Methodist Church passed a general disaffiliation plan during its 2019 General Conference. Over the past several years, Morgan has been keeping his congregation involved in the conversations, sharing details on the dissent regarding doctrine, biblical interpretation and theology.

Morgan, however, said the role of LBGTQ individuals in the church was not discussed as an “issue.”

“I think it's very inappropriate to say that dealing with human beings that identify as LGBTQ+ is an issue,” Morgan said. “Those are people. They are people that matter to God, and to just focus on that as ‘an issue,’ I think, is denigrating to those human beings.”

Along with conversations within Marion Methodist, Morgan said representatives from the United Methodist Church and the Wesleyan Covenant Association — which advocates for congregations seeking to disaffiliate — on separate occasions made cases for and against departure. After the discussions, 87 percent of the congregation voted to split from United Methodist, exceeding the required two-thirds threshold.

The growing divide

While not true for every church, the disaffiliation agreement approved during the special session provided an opportunity to act on a long-standing desire to split the Marion church from the United Methodist Church, Morgan said.

“After years of dissonance, the doorway was provided for congregations,” Morgan said.

Interpretation of doctrine was the main area of contention between the conservative and progressive branches of the Methodist church. Morgan said this was exacerbated by different teachings in theology studies.

“As time went by, those sides continued to separate,” Morgan said. “As those conversations continue to broaden, sadly, rather than the church deeply influencing the culture at times, the culture was influencing the church, which is really never been the role of the church.”

Tom Shinkle, lead pastor at Grand View Methodist Church in Dubuque, said the changes in LGBTQ policy were the catalyst for Grand View choosing to disaffiliate — but for broader implications beyond that. Shinkle said altering the Book of Discipline for one set of rules means future requirements for other issues could be altered as well.

“It puts anxiety into the whole system,” Shinkle said.

Shinkle said the root of disaffiliation for Grand View Methodist Church is not based in any hatred of the LGBTQ community. He said taking human sexuality out of the question, the choice to leave the United Methodist Church is “multilayered and complex.”

“We're up-ending doing all this stuff, and my church is paying close to $200,000 just because we ‘don't like gay people’? That's just — it's intellectually dishonest and lazy,” Shinkle said of such criticism.

Congregations staying affiliated

The vast majority of United Methodist churches in Iowa are staying affiliated, despite the growing tensions.

Sherrie Ilg, lead pastor at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids, said there has not been any discussion within her community advocating for disaffiliation.

In April 2022, St. Paul’s held a church vote on the topic of hosting same-sex marriages in the facility, which in part spurred the widespread disaffiliation. St. Paul’s congregation voted in overwhelming support of allowing same-sex weddings, making it the first in Iowa to implement the changes permitted by Iowa United Methodist Church.

Based on previous trends determined by the St. Paul’s and a lack of a desire to disaffiliate, Ilg said the question of leaving the denomination has been a non-issue.

“It seemed to be very clear as to who we are in terms of a welcoming, inclusive community,” Ilg said.

After St. Paul’s voted to allow same-sex weddings in its facilities, Ilg said the congregation gained new members and visitors. That same trend may appear within the coming weeks with the new departures.

“It is a time of kind of sifting and sorting for United Methodist members,” Ilg said.

Matt German, lead pastor at Salem United Methodist in Cedar Rapids, said his congregation has not decided whether to stay affiliated.

Congregation members have until Tuesday to voice any desire to leave the United Methodist Church to church leaders. If 20 percent of the congregation requests the split, German said Salem United Methodist would initiate a straw poll to gauge interest, followed by an official church vote if necessary.

“We have yet to receive anybody expressing interest in disaffiliation at Salem,” German said. “I don't anticipate that happening.”

Financial consequences

As regulated in the disaffiliation agreements, a degree of financial compensation is required for a congregation to leave the United Methodist Church.

The total value is dependent on the size of the church, but each disaffiliating party is required to pay any outstanding debts, 12 additional months of apportionments and the church’s “pro rata share” determined by the Annual Conference.

Apportionments are fees paid by organizations as a stipulation of affiliation. This money is allocated to smaller churches, annual conferences and global missions, according to the United Methodist Church’s website.

While churches with high attendance numbers in more urban spaces have adequate finances to disaffiliate, Shinkle said there were smaller, rural congregations that rely on support from the United Methodist Church.

Shinkle said that some apportionments went back to smaller churches to help pay pastors. He said the missional support, or equitable salary, would provide a few thousand dollars to those rural communities.

Likening the situation to businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, Shinkle said some churches would face more struggles than others, depending on their financial situation.

“The good news is, we're Methodists, and we have an incredibly wonderful rich history of lay people being able to be at the church without a pastor there every single week,” Shinkle said. “That's our that's our history, so this is where some smaller churches are going to have to go.”

Beyond the United Methodist Church

After the disaffiliation, many congregations are looking to join the Global Methodist Church. Restrictions on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy are upheld under this Methodist denomination.

The Global Methodist Church formed last year, and has become the main alternate for churches choosing to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church. Marion Methodist and Grand View Methodist Church are planning to join the Global Methodist Church.

While some churches are choosing to remain independent, Shinkle said Grand View Methodist Church didn’t want to make its own decisions on rules and regulations for services including baptisms, weddings and the like. Shinkle said Grand View Methodist Church’s identity is not rooted in its affiliation to the United Methodist Church, so changing denominations would not deeply alter the church community.

“We're going to keep being who we are and doing the ministries that we're doing,” Shinkle said.

For Marion Methodist, Morgan said the congregation would operate best working with an organization to fulfill the mission of serving communities across the globe. Morgan said the Global Methodist Church would help support that goal.

“Our passion has always been beyond the confines of a church building to reach across the world,” Morgan said.

While Morgan said there is no ill will toward any congregations choosing to stay affiliated or the United Methodist Church as a whole, the decision to disaffiliated has still caused a rift in the Methodist community.

“This is a most grievous time,” Morgan said. “It is very painful, and unfortunately, it's broken a lot of friendships.”