Questions, anger follow UMC conference delay
United Methodists reacted to their general conference’s third postponement—this time to 2024—with emotions ranging from outrage to relief. Many also expressed weariness with the uncertainty that has faced the United Methodist Church since before the pandemic.
The hope was that the denomination’s top lawmaking body would resolve the UMC’s longtime debate over LGBTQ inclusion and avoid costly litigation by adopting a formal separation plan.
The most popular of these proposals, the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation, would allow theologically conservative churches and annual conferences—church regional bodies—to leave with property and $25 million in UMC funds to form a new denomination.
