The North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church voted to allow 261 congregations to break from the denomination amid a schism over theological differences and the role of LGBTQ+ people in the church.
The conference ratified the disaffiliation requests from the congregations during a special session Saturday, allowing the churches to leave the denomination, news outlets report. The exit marked a “solemn day,” the North Georgia Conference of the UMC said in a news release.
The United Methodist Church has long debated its bans on same-sex marriages and the ordination of openly LGBTQ+ clergy. The denomination forbids the marriage or ordination of “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals,” but some U.S. churches and clergy have defied the bans. Many conservatives have chosen to leave amid a growing defiance of those bans.
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