Valdosta FUMC – State of the UMC FAQs
(Revised for 2023)
The information on this page comes largely from a Frequently Asked Questions document that we first compiled in the spring of 2022, and have updated periodically as more information has become available and more decisions have been made at our church. From the very beginning of this conversation we have sought to provide as accurate and neutral of information as possible, so that our congregation could make the best decision for our specific church. Our next step is to take part in a church conference vote on February 8th at 6:30pm in the Sanctuary where all professing members will be allowed to vote on whether or not our congregation should disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church.
If you are a member of Valdosta FUMC, we encourage you to read through this information yourself. If you still have questions, we will have an informal drop-in session for questions and answers on the Sunday before the vote (February 5th at 10:00am) in the Fellowship Hall. We also recently held two Town Hall meetings, and if you missed those you can view the video of the second one here.
It is important to note a few things:
1. Our discernment team met for six months, and at the conclusion of hours of meeting and prayer felt like disaffiliating was in the best interest of our church. This group was not unanimous in their views on the various issues we discussed, but they worked together towards a path forward with the vast majority feeling that disaffiliating in 2023 was our best move. Church Council affirmed this recommendation.
2. The hope for many within our church is that there would be some sort of mechanism to keep our South Georgia Conference together, which is why we waited as long as we did to make a recommendation. The more information the discernment team evaluated, the less likely it looked like keeping the conference in a traditional Methodist denomination would be a possibility. Furthermore, it appears that by summer of 2023, roughly half of the South Georgia Conference will have departed, and so the connection of the conference is already breaking apart.
3. Furthermore, while it is inaccurate to say that anything has already changed in the UMC, there are multiple signs that the UMC will look quite different in the next few years. The discernment team felt that there were more concerns ahead than reasons for optimism, and it would not be wise to wait any longer. You can read more about this in the linked statements from the discernment team below.
What is the source of the division within the United Methodist Church?
The most basic answer is that there has been a growing movement to change the
denomination’s traditional teaching on human sexuality specifically as it relates to marriage and ordination. The official teaching of the church is that while all people are welcome and can be members of our congregations, we do not allow homosexual unions to take place in our churches or be officiated by our clergy, and we do not allow practicing homosexuals to serve as clergy. There is a portion within the global denomination that would like to modify that stance to allow for each local church to set their own standards for marriage, and each annual conference to decide on their own ordination standards. Two versions of this type of modification were voted down at a special called session of General Conference in 2019, in favor of maintaining the traditional stance. In addition to the basic answer, many within the denomination would argue that the divide over human sexuality is part of a larger theological divide. Others would point to a breakdown of governance and accountability of leadership within the denomination as cause for concern as well.
How is the UMC dealing with this divide currently?
Right now, everything is in a bit of a holding pattern. General Conference is the only body that can set policy for the denomination, and it typically meets every four years in the same year as presidential elections, unless there is a called session. The call of the special session in 2019 was to find some sort of resolution, but after the traditional vote was upheld a group of conservative, moderate, and progressive leaders came together in the subsequent months to develop a plan for separation of the denomination into two or more successor denominations. This plan, known as The Protocol for Reconciliation and Grace through Separation, received widespread support from all sides, and it was going to be considered as legislation at General Conference 2020 before its postponement due to COVID-19. GC2020 has subsequently been delayed two more times, and now will not take place until 2024. If GC2020 had met in 2020, 2021 or 2022, it was widely assumed that “The Protocol” would have passed and that the South Georgia Conference would have aligned with the traditional successor denominations. Because of the delays of GC2020, several churches have moved through the disaffiliation process to move into a new denomination despite the delay in considering “The Protocol” legislation.
What is the process for a church disaffiliating from the UMC?
The disaffiliation policy, approved by General Conference 2019 and subsequently adopted by the South Georgia Conference in June of that year, created an opportunity for congregations to disaffiliate from the UMC by meeting certain financial requirements. In South Georgia we have sought to be grace-filled and will allow churches to leave by fulfilling two financial obligations: the congregation’s portion of the unfunded clergy pension liability, and payment of any unpaid apportioned funds for the previous 12 months as well as an additional 12 months (e.g. if a church disaffiliates on June 30, 2023, they will pay anything they have not paid dating back to July 1, 2022, as well as what they would owe through June 30, 2024). If a congregation wishes to pursue this path, there are a few steps that should be taken in advance of taking a churchwide vote. If 2/3rds of the members present at a called church conference vote to disaffiliate then the church’s disaffiliation will be sent to the next session of the South Georgia Annual Conference to be approved. Once the disaffiliation is approved, the church will pay their respective fees and will have full rights to their property and the ability to align with another denomination or remain independent. You can read more about how disaffiliation works via this FAQ on the South Georgia website. Additionally, the conference website has an entire section devoted to disaffiliation which includes policy information, articles by Bishop David Graves, and other helpful resources.
Is the UMC changing its doctrine and abandoning foundational beliefs of the Christian faith?
Bishop David Graves addresses this in his FAQ video released by the South Georgia Conference, so you may want to listen to his answer for more information (see question 5). Our UMC Constitution has a protective section known as the “Restrictive Rules”, which specifically prohibits changing our basic doctrinal beliefs. In Section III, paragraph 17 it states, “The General Conference shall not revoke, alter, or change our Articles of Religion or establish any new standards or rules of doctrine contrary to our present existing and established standards of doctrine.” The Articles of Religion clearly express our belief in the Triune God, the virgin birth, the resurrection, and other basic tenets of the faith. In other words, these teachings are safe and protected within the official doctrine of the church. The doctrinal divisions within the denomination stem from contrarian teachings of some bishops and pastors, not anything that the UMC is actively looking to change in terms of official beliefs. Additionally, there are concerns about the lack of accountability in other annual conferences throughout the United States, related to what is taught in their pulpits. Nothing has changed or will likely ever change in terms of official teaching, and our local church and conference both adhere to the official teaching of the UMC, but there are concerns about changes in interpretation and practice in the wider denomination.
What steps has our congregation taken related to our denominational relationship?
On February 7, 2022, at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Valdosta FUMC Church Council, we discussed that there could be changes coming to the UMC soon, and that we as a church needed to be prepared for potential conversations we may need to have in the next couple of years. As part of that conversation, the Church Council charged the Nominating Committee to name a Discernment Team to analyze the different scenarios and to report back at a later meeting. The Discernment Team named by the Nominating Committee included the following:
Ron Allen, Mark Buescher, Tom Gooding, Jack Henry, Becky Hitchcock, Lake Jordan, Mac Mackey, Margaret McCranie, Kyle McQuitty, Jonathan Miller, Jennifer Monroe, Tad Moseley (chair), Joanna Nijem, Hansell Watt, Sally Woods, Anthony McPhail (ex-officio).
The Discernment Team met seven times over a period of six months, conducted a
congregational survey, reported multiple times to church council as well as in a churchwide meeting on August 14th, and ultimately recommended to church council on November 9th that our congregation move through the process of disaffiliation. Church Council voted to accept that recommendation, and our 2022 Church Council Chairperson Lake Jordan notified our District Superintendent that we wished to move through the process and schedule a churchwide vote (this congregational email was subsequently sent to recap the process up to that point). On November 16th our superintendent, Dr. Paula Lewis, conducted an “informal meeting” with our congregation in conjunction with our annual Charge Conference meeting.
That informal session is a requirement to make sure congregations understand the process and what they are entering, and at the conclusion of the meeting the consensus was that we should move forward with taking a churchwide vote.
Dr. Lewis has scheduled that meeting for Wednesday, February 8th at 6:30pm. Everyone on our membership roll that attends on February 8th will be allowed to cast a vote (no absentee or proxy votes will be allowed).
If a church disaffiliates, what happens to the appointed pastor(s)?
Pastors will need to engage in their own discernment process, which may or may not mean remaining with their current church. Most pastors of disaffiliating churches have chosen to remain with the churches they are serving, which requires retiring and/or surrendering their clergy membership in the United Methodist Church. Other pastors have chosen to remain with the UMC, and so they receive new appointments when the disaffiliation is complete. This FAQ on the South Georgia website specifically deals with clergy appointments, credentials, and benefits. Clergy appointments are evaluated every January regardless of this process. Both appointed pastors at Valdosta FUMC (Anthony McPhail and Matt Mullis) have expressed an interest in remaining with our congregation provided that a) the congregation affiliates with another Methodist denomination, and b) the church wishes for both to remain.
What is the timeline for local churches to decide on disaffiliation?
The original provisions of the disaffiliation policy called for a deadline of December 31, 2023, which meant a congregation needed to declare their intention to disaffiliate prior to the annual conference meeting in 2023. Because the original vision of the disaffiliation policy assumed a GC2020 meeting prior to the expiration of the policy, our Conference Trustees have agreed to honor the current disaffiliation procedures through at least 2024. Their basis for this is because once the disaffiliation policy expires in 2023, the responsibility of church disaffiliations shifts to the discretion of each conference’s board of trustees (this video and information explains this process). This modification will allow churches the opportunity to wait until General Conference is held before deciding to disaffiliate or not after seeing what legislation passes. Our discernment team felt waiting would not be prudent, based on the reasons stated in Dr. Tad Moseley’s presentation to Church Council on November 9th.
Will it cost more to disaffiliate at a later point?
It is impossible to say exactly what it will cost at a later point because the largest portion of the disaffiliation fee is the pension liability, which varies based on the bond market and the mortality rate (our current liability projection is ~$300k). The other portion is the apportionments, which have gone down each year due to the conference budget being lowered (our 2023 total is ~$104k). Some churches have cited that it is cheaper for them to leave now, and what they are referring to is that once you pay your disaffiliation fee you will not be required to pay apportionments in future years because you will no longer be UMC.
What is the Global Methodist Church (GMC)?
The Global Methodist Church was initially conceived as the successor denomination for traditionally minded churches and conferences that would have been launched with the approval of The Protocol. Several key leaders from conservative groups within the UMC began developing the plans and named a 17-person Transitional Leadership Council to help guide the launch. When GC2020 was postponed for the third time in March of 2022, the GMC announced that they would launch on May 1, 2022, to provide a landing spot for churches that had already voted to disaffiliate or would be voting to disaffiliate (some of the churches that have left the South Georgia Conference have aligned with the GMC, and others intend to in 2023).
Will our church join another denomination if we disaffiliate?
The first step recommended by the Discernment Team was to pursue disaffiliation, and the general consensus all along from our congregational leaders has been that we will want to align somewhere and be a part of a connectional Methodist/Wesleyan body. Due to the timeline for voting on disaffiliation, we did not feel that the congregation was quite ready to vote on the next step, but later in the spring Church Council will consider the best options available and will likely call for an additional church conference to vote on a future denominational home. Beyond the advantages of being connected to other churches, remaining a part of a Methodist denomination would also allow us to continue to use "First Methodist" as a part of our name (e.g. perhaps returning to our pre-1968 name of First Methodist Church of Valdosta).
How would staying UMC, going independent, or joining the GMC impact our church?
In terms of worship services, day to day operations, beliefs and ministries, our church will look the same as it does right now regardless of affiliation (but there is always room for growth, spiritually and numerically!). Additionally, our hope is to keep as many as possible within our congregation at the table as we move through whatever decisions we will need to make. Valdosta FUMC has a rich heritage and has been and will be a place of meaningful ministry for the individuals and families that are members, and beyond denominational divisions we hope that the gift of being a part of this local church will keep us together regardless of what happens. From an operational stand point there are some policies and procedures that are currently covered by the UMC umbrella that we would be required to address if we remained independent, but if we joined another Methodist entity then we would simply align with their systems.
With some churches having already moved towards disaffiliation and with the UMC in limbo, what will happen to the South Georgia Conference and to our shared district and conference ministries (e.g., Camp Tygart, The Methodist Home, Wesley Foundations, conference children and youth camps, etc.)?
The original hope for many within the South Georgia Conference was for the conference (and all its associated entities) to transfer into a successor denomination. The UMC Judicial Council has ruled that annual conferences cannot leave as a group because General Conference has not provided legislation for that process, and while “The Protocol” would have addressed this it is uncertain if it will pass or even be considered at this point. Most UMC-related agencies are working to remain in connection with churches and conferences in both the GMC and what will remain of the UMC, as well as churches that have disaffiliated and stayed independent.
Why has our church followed a different timeline than other churches in our area?
Every congregation has received the available information and processed it in their own way. While a handful of churches disaffiliated in 2020 and 2021, we, along with most churches in South Georgia, waited to see what would happen on the annual conference level, and if General Conference would meet. The latest postponement of GC2020 became a tipping point for some churches, and so the August 2022 session of annual conference saw 62 churches approved for disaffiliation (bringing the total to 95 or 16% of annual conference). Most churches considering disaffiliation are on the same timeline as us, and it is anticipated that an additional 120-160 churches in our conference will disaffiliate in 2023 (would bring the total to ~40-50% of the conference). Other churches plan to wait until 2024 to discern whether to take a vote or not, and others plan on staying with the UMC perpetually.
If you are a member of Valdosta FUMC, we encourage you to read through this information yourself. If you still have questions, we will have an informal drop-in session for questions and answers on the Sunday before the vote (February 5th at 10:00am) in the Fellowship Hall. We also recently held two Town Hall meetings, and if you missed those you can view the video of the second one here.
It is important to note a few things:
1. Our discernment team met for six months, and at the conclusion of hours of meeting and prayer felt like disaffiliating was in the best interest of our church. This group was not unanimous in their views on the various issues we discussed, but they worked together towards a path forward with the vast majority feeling that disaffiliating in 2023 was our best move. Church Council affirmed this recommendation.
2. The hope for many within our church is that there would be some sort of mechanism to keep our South Georgia Conference together, which is why we waited as long as we did to make a recommendation. The more information the discernment team evaluated, the less likely it looked like keeping the conference in a traditional Methodist denomination would be a possibility. Furthermore, it appears that by summer of 2023, roughly half of the South Georgia Conference will have departed, and so the connection of the conference is already breaking apart.
3. Furthermore, while it is inaccurate to say that anything has already changed in the UMC, there are multiple signs that the UMC will look quite different in the next few years. The discernment team felt that there were more concerns ahead than reasons for optimism, and it would not be wise to wait any longer. You can read more about this in the linked statements from the discernment team below.
What is the source of the division within the United Methodist Church?
The most basic answer is that there has been a growing movement to change the
denomination’s traditional teaching on human sexuality specifically as it relates to marriage and ordination. The official teaching of the church is that while all people are welcome and can be members of our congregations, we do not allow homosexual unions to take place in our churches or be officiated by our clergy, and we do not allow practicing homosexuals to serve as clergy. There is a portion within the global denomination that would like to modify that stance to allow for each local church to set their own standards for marriage, and each annual conference to decide on their own ordination standards. Two versions of this type of modification were voted down at a special called session of General Conference in 2019, in favor of maintaining the traditional stance. In addition to the basic answer, many within the denomination would argue that the divide over human sexuality is part of a larger theological divide. Others would point to a breakdown of governance and accountability of leadership within the denomination as cause for concern as well.
How is the UMC dealing with this divide currently?
Right now, everything is in a bit of a holding pattern. General Conference is the only body that can set policy for the denomination, and it typically meets every four years in the same year as presidential elections, unless there is a called session. The call of the special session in 2019 was to find some sort of resolution, but after the traditional vote was upheld a group of conservative, moderate, and progressive leaders came together in the subsequent months to develop a plan for separation of the denomination into two or more successor denominations. This plan, known as The Protocol for Reconciliation and Grace through Separation, received widespread support from all sides, and it was going to be considered as legislation at General Conference 2020 before its postponement due to COVID-19. GC2020 has subsequently been delayed two more times, and now will not take place until 2024. If GC2020 had met in 2020, 2021 or 2022, it was widely assumed that “The Protocol” would have passed and that the South Georgia Conference would have aligned with the traditional successor denominations. Because of the delays of GC2020, several churches have moved through the disaffiliation process to move into a new denomination despite the delay in considering “The Protocol” legislation.
What is the process for a church disaffiliating from the UMC?
The disaffiliation policy, approved by General Conference 2019 and subsequently adopted by the South Georgia Conference in June of that year, created an opportunity for congregations to disaffiliate from the UMC by meeting certain financial requirements. In South Georgia we have sought to be grace-filled and will allow churches to leave by fulfilling two financial obligations: the congregation’s portion of the unfunded clergy pension liability, and payment of any unpaid apportioned funds for the previous 12 months as well as an additional 12 months (e.g. if a church disaffiliates on June 30, 2023, they will pay anything they have not paid dating back to July 1, 2022, as well as what they would owe through June 30, 2024). If a congregation wishes to pursue this path, there are a few steps that should be taken in advance of taking a churchwide vote. If 2/3rds of the members present at a called church conference vote to disaffiliate then the church’s disaffiliation will be sent to the next session of the South Georgia Annual Conference to be approved. Once the disaffiliation is approved, the church will pay their respective fees and will have full rights to their property and the ability to align with another denomination or remain independent. You can read more about how disaffiliation works via this FAQ on the South Georgia website. Additionally, the conference website has an entire section devoted to disaffiliation which includes policy information, articles by Bishop David Graves, and other helpful resources.
Is the UMC changing its doctrine and abandoning foundational beliefs of the Christian faith?
Bishop David Graves addresses this in his FAQ video released by the South Georgia Conference, so you may want to listen to his answer for more information (see question 5). Our UMC Constitution has a protective section known as the “Restrictive Rules”, which specifically prohibits changing our basic doctrinal beliefs. In Section III, paragraph 17 it states, “The General Conference shall not revoke, alter, or change our Articles of Religion or establish any new standards or rules of doctrine contrary to our present existing and established standards of doctrine.” The Articles of Religion clearly express our belief in the Triune God, the virgin birth, the resurrection, and other basic tenets of the faith. In other words, these teachings are safe and protected within the official doctrine of the church. The doctrinal divisions within the denomination stem from contrarian teachings of some bishops and pastors, not anything that the UMC is actively looking to change in terms of official beliefs. Additionally, there are concerns about the lack of accountability in other annual conferences throughout the United States, related to what is taught in their pulpits. Nothing has changed or will likely ever change in terms of official teaching, and our local church and conference both adhere to the official teaching of the UMC, but there are concerns about changes in interpretation and practice in the wider denomination.
What steps has our congregation taken related to our denominational relationship?
On February 7, 2022, at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Valdosta FUMC Church Council, we discussed that there could be changes coming to the UMC soon, and that we as a church needed to be prepared for potential conversations we may need to have in the next couple of years. As part of that conversation, the Church Council charged the Nominating Committee to name a Discernment Team to analyze the different scenarios and to report back at a later meeting. The Discernment Team named by the Nominating Committee included the following:
Ron Allen, Mark Buescher, Tom Gooding, Jack Henry, Becky Hitchcock, Lake Jordan, Mac Mackey, Margaret McCranie, Kyle McQuitty, Jonathan Miller, Jennifer Monroe, Tad Moseley (chair), Joanna Nijem, Hansell Watt, Sally Woods, Anthony McPhail (ex-officio).
The Discernment Team met seven times over a period of six months, conducted a
congregational survey, reported multiple times to church council as well as in a churchwide meeting on August 14th, and ultimately recommended to church council on November 9th that our congregation move through the process of disaffiliation. Church Council voted to accept that recommendation, and our 2022 Church Council Chairperson Lake Jordan notified our District Superintendent that we wished to move through the process and schedule a churchwide vote (this congregational email was subsequently sent to recap the process up to that point). On November 16th our superintendent, Dr. Paula Lewis, conducted an “informal meeting” with our congregation in conjunction with our annual Charge Conference meeting.
That informal session is a requirement to make sure congregations understand the process and what they are entering, and at the conclusion of the meeting the consensus was that we should move forward with taking a churchwide vote.
Dr. Lewis has scheduled that meeting for Wednesday, February 8th at 6:30pm. Everyone on our membership roll that attends on February 8th will be allowed to cast a vote (no absentee or proxy votes will be allowed).
If a church disaffiliates, what happens to the appointed pastor(s)?
Pastors will need to engage in their own discernment process, which may or may not mean remaining with their current church. Most pastors of disaffiliating churches have chosen to remain with the churches they are serving, which requires retiring and/or surrendering their clergy membership in the United Methodist Church. Other pastors have chosen to remain with the UMC, and so they receive new appointments when the disaffiliation is complete. This FAQ on the South Georgia website specifically deals with clergy appointments, credentials, and benefits. Clergy appointments are evaluated every January regardless of this process. Both appointed pastors at Valdosta FUMC (Anthony McPhail and Matt Mullis) have expressed an interest in remaining with our congregation provided that a) the congregation affiliates with another Methodist denomination, and b) the church wishes for both to remain.
What is the timeline for local churches to decide on disaffiliation?
The original provisions of the disaffiliation policy called for a deadline of December 31, 2023, which meant a congregation needed to declare their intention to disaffiliate prior to the annual conference meeting in 2023. Because the original vision of the disaffiliation policy assumed a GC2020 meeting prior to the expiration of the policy, our Conference Trustees have agreed to honor the current disaffiliation procedures through at least 2024. Their basis for this is because once the disaffiliation policy expires in 2023, the responsibility of church disaffiliations shifts to the discretion of each conference’s board of trustees (this video and information explains this process). This modification will allow churches the opportunity to wait until General Conference is held before deciding to disaffiliate or not after seeing what legislation passes. Our discernment team felt waiting would not be prudent, based on the reasons stated in Dr. Tad Moseley’s presentation to Church Council on November 9th.
Will it cost more to disaffiliate at a later point?
It is impossible to say exactly what it will cost at a later point because the largest portion of the disaffiliation fee is the pension liability, which varies based on the bond market and the mortality rate (our current liability projection is ~$300k). The other portion is the apportionments, which have gone down each year due to the conference budget being lowered (our 2023 total is ~$104k). Some churches have cited that it is cheaper for them to leave now, and what they are referring to is that once you pay your disaffiliation fee you will not be required to pay apportionments in future years because you will no longer be UMC.
What is the Global Methodist Church (GMC)?
The Global Methodist Church was initially conceived as the successor denomination for traditionally minded churches and conferences that would have been launched with the approval of The Protocol. Several key leaders from conservative groups within the UMC began developing the plans and named a 17-person Transitional Leadership Council to help guide the launch. When GC2020 was postponed for the third time in March of 2022, the GMC announced that they would launch on May 1, 2022, to provide a landing spot for churches that had already voted to disaffiliate or would be voting to disaffiliate (some of the churches that have left the South Georgia Conference have aligned with the GMC, and others intend to in 2023).
Will our church join another denomination if we disaffiliate?
The first step recommended by the Discernment Team was to pursue disaffiliation, and the general consensus all along from our congregational leaders has been that we will want to align somewhere and be a part of a connectional Methodist/Wesleyan body. Due to the timeline for voting on disaffiliation, we did not feel that the congregation was quite ready to vote on the next step, but later in the spring Church Council will consider the best options available and will likely call for an additional church conference to vote on a future denominational home. Beyond the advantages of being connected to other churches, remaining a part of a Methodist denomination would also allow us to continue to use "First Methodist" as a part of our name (e.g. perhaps returning to our pre-1968 name of First Methodist Church of Valdosta).
How would staying UMC, going independent, or joining the GMC impact our church?
In terms of worship services, day to day operations, beliefs and ministries, our church will look the same as it does right now regardless of affiliation (but there is always room for growth, spiritually and numerically!). Additionally, our hope is to keep as many as possible within our congregation at the table as we move through whatever decisions we will need to make. Valdosta FUMC has a rich heritage and has been and will be a place of meaningful ministry for the individuals and families that are members, and beyond denominational divisions we hope that the gift of being a part of this local church will keep us together regardless of what happens. From an operational stand point there are some policies and procedures that are currently covered by the UMC umbrella that we would be required to address if we remained independent, but if we joined another Methodist entity then we would simply align with their systems.
With some churches having already moved towards disaffiliation and with the UMC in limbo, what will happen to the South Georgia Conference and to our shared district and conference ministries (e.g., Camp Tygart, The Methodist Home, Wesley Foundations, conference children and youth camps, etc.)?
The original hope for many within the South Georgia Conference was for the conference (and all its associated entities) to transfer into a successor denomination. The UMC Judicial Council has ruled that annual conferences cannot leave as a group because General Conference has not provided legislation for that process, and while “The Protocol” would have addressed this it is uncertain if it will pass or even be considered at this point. Most UMC-related agencies are working to remain in connection with churches and conferences in both the GMC and what will remain of the UMC, as well as churches that have disaffiliated and stayed independent.
Why has our church followed a different timeline than other churches in our area?
Every congregation has received the available information and processed it in their own way. While a handful of churches disaffiliated in 2020 and 2021, we, along with most churches in South Georgia, waited to see what would happen on the annual conference level, and if General Conference would meet. The latest postponement of GC2020 became a tipping point for some churches, and so the August 2022 session of annual conference saw 62 churches approved for disaffiliation (bringing the total to 95 or 16% of annual conference). Most churches considering disaffiliation are on the same timeline as us, and it is anticipated that an additional 120-160 churches in our conference will disaffiliate in 2023 (would bring the total to ~40-50% of the conference). Other churches plan to wait until 2024 to discern whether to take a vote or not, and others plan on staying with the UMC perpetually.