They also want the denomination to release its claim to property that they say their congregations bought and maintained and that the church has no ownership.

They want UMC to adhere to the spiritual and religious standards in the Book of Discipline and to withdraw fees that for some churches could total in the millions. Their suit does not mention damages or fees, because, Gibbs said, “The churches just want to do what is right.” The plaintiff churches want the UMC to revert to its pre-2019 process for separating, and they have demanded a jury trial. Carter and the trustees are named individually in claims of “constructive fraud” and “breach of fiduciary duty.” That suit, which names Western Conference Bishop Kenneth Carter in his capacity as bishop and the Board of Trustees for the Western Conference, claims church property is being held unlawfully until churches agree to payments that some find extraordinary and unnecessary.

Sixteen churches from the Piedmont Triad are among those 38 that signed onto the suit filed by attorney David Gibbs of the National Center for Life and Liberty, a nonprofit legal ministry in Clearwater, Florida. 10 in Iredell County Circuit Court to expedite and alter their separations. More than 100 congregations in Florida and North Carolina have filed or threatened lawsuits to force divorce, and among them are the members of the UMC’s Western NC Conference, who sued on Nov.

The Associated Press reported that some conservative churches launched a new Global Methodist Church to maintain and enforce bans on those positions and want out of UMC. Some of these churches have been around for centuries, and members who have been loyal their entire lives say they are leaving because of the denomination’s positions on same-sex marriages and ordaining LGBTQ clergythat some churches routinely defied. Ed Rowe (left), Rebecca Wilson, Robin Hager and Jill Zundel, react to the defeat of a proposal that would allow LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage within the United Methodist Church at the denomination’s 2019 Special Session of the General Conference in St.

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