An evangelical Methodist pastor in Los Angeles has spelled out the profound difficulties conservative congregations now face as they seek to quit the United Methodist Church (UMC) over its inclusion of LGBT leaders.
The Fount Church in Orange County and 21 other churches within the UMC’s California-Pacific Conference say they are being met with unfair departure terms, having been told they must pay half the value of the church’s property to leave the denomination – or risk having their land seized. Members of the Fount Church voted unanimously to disaffiliate from the denomination shortly after the UMC, which was founded in 1964, declared the region a ‘safe harbour’ for LGBTQ+ clergy.
But disaffiliating isn’t necessarily easy. The denomination allows congregations to leave if they pay two years of church dues and also fund pension obligations. Local geographic regions can set additional requirements, such as the California Pacific Annual Conference requiring departing congregations to pay 50 cents in the dollar to keep their property. The Conference says it needs that money to fund new United Methodist ministries in the area.
And that’s the problem for The Fount, whose multi-acre campus was recently valued at more than $6 million. ‘In 1964, this property didn’t cost $6 million’, says Lead Pastor Glen Haworth, ‘and to pay $3 million now with only 50 members is impossible’. He sees the situation as patently unfair, especially since conservatives like himself actually won the vote over LGBTQ+ clergy and same-sex weddings back in 2019. Haworth says he’ll try to negotiate a lower price. But if that fails, The Fount’s only options may be walking away with no building at all, or taking legal action to keep it.
