How are things working out for the United Methodists? They used to be a pretty moderate denomination. Not as Bible-based as the Presbyterian Church in America, but not as secular and leftist as the Episcopal Church. But recently, they’ve taken positions on theology and morality that no Bible-Believing Christian could accept. How did the Bible-believing Christians in the church respond to that?

Here’s the story from Christian Post:

A regional body of the United Methodist Church with approximately 1 million members has voted to leave the mainline denomination over its acceptance of gay marriage and noncelibate gay clergy.

The Côte d’Ivoire Conference based in West Africa voted earlier this week to leave the UMC after the denomination’s decision to remove rules banning the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of people in romantic same-sex relationships from its Book of Discipline.

With approximately a million members, the conference was one of the largest regional bodies within the worldwide denomination, according to UM News.

The approved decision argues that “the new United Methodist Church has preferred to sacrifice its honorability and integrity to honor the LGBT” and that “the new United Methodist Church is now based on sociocultural and contextual values which have consumed its doctrinal and disciplinary integrity.”

This is not the only group to leave the United Methodist Church:

Over the past few decades, the UMC had been embroiled in a divisive debate over whether to remove language from its Book of Discipline that prohibited the blessing of gay unions, the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals, and the funding of LGBT advocacy groups.

In response to the never-ending nature of the debate and many liberal leaders within the UMC refusing to follow or enforce the rules, around 7,500 mostly conservative congregations disaffiliated from the denomination over the last few years.

Most of these departing congregations opted to affiliate with the Global Methodist Church, a theologically conservative alternative to the UMC launched in 2022.

At the UMC General Conference earlier this year, delegates overwhelmingly voted to remove the Book of Discipline language, opening the door for the acceptance of same-sex marriage and ordaining clergy in gay unions.

At the same General Conference, delegates voted to approve the departure of the UMC Eurasian Episcopal Area, which has four annual conferences in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The United Methodists aren’t the only denomination who find Jesus’ definition of marriage in Matthew 19:1-6 to be factually incorrect.

American Protestant denominations, such as United Church of Christ, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The Episcopal Church USA, Presbyterian Church USA, Disciples of Christ, United Methodists generally oppose Jesus’ definition of marriage.

Outside of America, the Church of England approves blessing same-sex unions and Pope Francis formally approved letting Catholic priests bless same-sex couples.

How is all of this apostasy working out for the secular left denominations?

According to Religion Unplugged, it’s not working out well:

• United Church of Christ -52%
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America -41%
• The Episcopal Church USA -36%
• Presbyterian Church USA -58%
• United Methodist Church -31%

Meanwhile, conservative denominations are thriving:

• Presbyterian Church in America +101%
• Assemblies of God +51%

This isn’t the first time that United Methodists have gotten into trouble for choosing feelings over truth. The United Methodists recently adopted women pastors. Maybe that decision has something to do with their continued decline, in both orthodoxy and attendance?