More than one million United Methodists quit the church overnight after sex rule change
- UMC bishops approved gay pastors and same-sex marriage in the US in early May
- The Ivory Coast branch of the church responded by defecting on May 28
- Leader Bishop Benjamin Boni criticized the umbrella church for choosing the LGBT side
More than a million United Methodists left the church overnight because of new rules on homosexuality.
During a North Carolina conference in early May, the United Methodist Church – a global denomination of Protestantism based in the US – changed some rules to allow gay ministers and same-sex marriage.
The Ivory Coast division – which has an estimated 1.2 million followers – responded by accusing international leaders of “deviating from the Holy Scriptures” and “sacrificing its honor and integrity in honor of the LGBTQ community’.
Bishop Benjamin Boni, president of the division, said she voted in favor of seceding from the umbrella church at a May 28 meeting at the Jubilee Temple of Cocody, Abidjan, on the south coast of the West African country.
He said in a statement that the decision to part ways after more than 20 years was made “for reasons of conscience.”
Bishop Benjamin Boni (pictured), chairman of the division, said the separation was formalized at an “extraordinary session” on May 28 in Abidjan on the West African country’s southern coast.
The move represents a huge blow to the United Methodists Church, as the Ivory Coast division known as EMUCI is its largest overseas jurisdiction, accounting for about 12 percent of global membership.
EMUCI joined the United Methodist Church in 2002. The umbrella church was the result of a merger between the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church in 1968.
Questions surrounding homosexuality have been a point of contention for the church for years, having previously upheld the ban on gay marriage and the inclusion of gay ministers.
The first openly gay bishop in the United Methodist Church, Karen Oliveto, spoke about the division last year.
“There is a whole segment of the church that is leaving because they don’t want to be an inclusive church,” she said. CBS News Colorado.
The United Methodist Church, a global movement within Protestantism with headquarters in the US, made the statements at a conference in North Carolina in early May. (Photo: three bishops of the UMC)
In the photo: United Methodist Church of Ivory Coast. Cocody Anniversary Temple where the historic separation was formalized on May 28
The first openly gay bishop in the United Methodist Church, Karen Oliveto (photo), spoke out about the divisions last year
“They build a church based on who they exclude. And you have to ask yourself, ‘If you build a church the way you’re leaving, are you letting Jesus in?’
Oliveto remains in office in Mountain Sky, which includes Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah, despite her election being nullified after she came out in 2017.
She recently spoke out against the UMC Book of Discipline description of homosexuality as “incompatible with Christian teachings” — which has now been removed — in April 2024, according to the Christian Post.
