United Methodist Church votes to allow Eurasian churches to leave denomination
Delegates at the United Methodist Church General Conference voted to allow a regional body based in Eastern Europe to disaffiliate from the denomination over theological issues.
At the churchwide legislative meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, delegates voted on Thursday to approve Petition 21103 in a tally of 672 ayes to 67 nays, thus giving the Eurasian Episcopal Area, which has four annual conferences, autonomy.
Bishop Eduard Khegay of the Eurasia Episcopal Area expressed his gratitude for the denomination, explaining that "I became a Christian because of The United Methodist Church."
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While overwhelmingly approved, some argued that the petition was unnecessary in light of the UMC considering another measure that would allow different regions of the global denomination to determine their own stance on hot-button issues like homosexuality.
The petition granting the Eurasian churches autonomy had previously passed the UMC Standing Committee on Central Conference, which met on Monday in advance of the General Conference's kickoff on Tuesday.
"This is for us like leaving home," Khegay told the committee, as reported by UM News. "My hope is we can keep the friendships and relationships whenever it's possible. … We want to remain your sisters and brothers."
The updated status for Eurasian conferences will become effective in early 2025 at a session of the Northern Europe and Eurasia Conference, according to UM News.
Over the past few decades, the UMC has been embroiled in a divisive debate over whether to remove language from its Book of Discipline that prohibits the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of people in same-sex relationships.
Although efforts to amend the Book of Discipline at past General Conferences have always failed, many theological progressives within the UMC have either refused to follow or enforce the rules.
In recent years, thousands of theological conservative congregations have disaffiliated from the UMC after the UMC amended the Book of Discipline rules to create a window for congregations to leave.
While most of the disaffiliations from the UMC have been in the United States, especially in the South, many elsewhere in the global denomination have left.
In 2022, the Bulgaria-Romania Provisional Annual Conference voted unanimously to leave the denomination and join the Global Methodist Church, a conservative alternative to the UMC.
In March 2023, UMC Northern Europe and Eurasia Central Conference delegates voted 40-20 in an online meeting to let regional bodies take the first steps toward disaffiliation.
This vote allowed the regional bodies of Central Russia, Northwest Russia and Belarus Provisional, the Eastern Russia and Central Asia Provisional and the South Russia Provisional annual conferences to become self-governing entities.
