NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The United Methodist Church confirmed this week that it has amended its ordination standards, a development the denomination's communications office asked outlets to place in the context of 23 governance changes the body has made since 2019, none of which have meaningfully stabilized the situation.
"We would simply ask for accurate and contextualized reporting," said a spokesperson for the denomination, who was unavailable to specify what context would be accurate or how much of it would be enough.
The policy, adopted at the denomination's most recent General Conference session, was described by proponents as a natural extension of the body's theological development and by opponents as the reason they left two years ago. Several former UMC congregations, now affiliated with the Global Methodist Church, described the news as confirming the decision they had already made, were glad about, and did not intend to revisit.
The Global Methodist Church, contacted for comment, said it was not taking any calls from journalists who would describe its ordination standards without also describing the UMC's previous ordination standards, which the GMC considers relevant. A spokesperson noted that the denomination had been very clear about this since its founding and was not sure why it kept coming up.
A Christian satire publication, which regularly covers United Methodist affairs and describes its work as trusted, published a headline characterizing the development as a ban on heterosexual clergy. The publication's editors described the piece as performing well. The UMC's communications office, which has been asked about the satire publication on four previous occasions, declined to engage with the specific framing but issued a clarifying note that heterosexual clergy remain eligible for ordination in all 51 annual conferences, a fact the publication's editors said was "technically true but not as funny."
At press time, approximately 4,200 congregations had finalized their disaffiliation from the denomination, 112 had re-affiliated, 6 were still in mediation, and 1 — Zion Community Church of Millbrook, Alabama — had not yet received the paperwork.
"We've been meaning to look into it," said Zion's senior pastor, Carleton Pruitt, who noted that the church's administrative council had not met since October and that the agenda, when they did meet, was already full.
Zion Community Church's membership has declined 14 percent since 2019. Pruitt described this as unrelated to the denomination's governance changes and related instead to the parking situation.
The Pulpit Truth · Denominational Affairs