Area Congregations Among First To Seek Exodus From Methodist Church

    A years-in-the-making split of the United Methodist Church, delayed in recent years due to COVID and other factors, has officially begun. In Florida, churches tired of waiting for a broader settlement to leave the church for the new, Global Methodist Church, have filed suit seeking separation.
    One hundred and six United Methodist churches filed suit in Bradford County last Friday against the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. The lead plaintiff is Grace United Methodist Church in Lawtey, Florida, founded in 1822 as a Methodist Episcopal church.
    Grace United Methodist Church has been told that it cannot leave the United Methodist Church unless members pay the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church a lump sum amount representing the current and future liabilities of the Florida Annual Conference. Grace United Methodist Church’s members, like other plaintiffs’ members, have paid for and have maintained these church properties through funds raised in their local churches.
    The lawsuit alleges that the “Council of Bishops and [Bishop Kenneth Carter]…[refuse] “to abide by and enforce the doctrinal positions in the Book of Discipline, effectively shifting the theology in the practice of the UMC despite the Book of Discipline explicitly rejecting the doctrinal positions it encourages and allows.”
    Area Methodist churches in Altoona, Paisley, DeLand, and Clermont have joined the suit.
    “I am appalled at the behavior of the Florida Annual Conference and their complete indifference to the harm that they are inflicting on these churches and its disregard for Florida law. We are confident that a Florida jury will remove the conference’s hold on these churches’ properties, releasing them from this oppression,” said David Gibbs III, lead attorney for the churches.
    The lawsuit alleges that the “[Florida] Annual Conference has taken the position that it is entitled to keep [Grace United Methodist Church’s] Property—which was owned and paid for…long before The UMC and the Annual Conference ever existed—unless Grace…pays a substantial payment of money as unilaterally determined by the Annual Conference Defendants.”
    The churches tried to settle this matter with the Florida Annual Conference. Speaking for the Annual Conference and Bishop, the Chancellor refused any pre-suit negotiations forcing the plaintiffs to seek relief from the court. The churches believe the court will invalidate the trust clause releasing their properties due to the fact that the Florida Annual Conference, Bishop Carter, and Treasurer Craig Smelser are egregiously breaching their fiduciary duties.
    The suit is believed to be the first round of a larger split in the Methodist church in Florida and beyond.