Instead, the organization has told the Fount and 21 other churches they must pay half the value of their real estate in order to disaffiliate. Those were the terms of a protocol drafted in 2019 among churches within the conference to allow conservative congregations to part ways.īut the leadership of the California Pacific Conference has not allowed that deal to come to a vote, Haworth said. In the past, that usually meant paying off pensions and any other outstanding dues before going on to either operate independently or join a different denomination, Haworth said. That’s why the Fount’s members voted unanimously to disaffiliate from the UMC last October. He said his congregation’s differences with the UMC lie in their fundamental understanding and interpretation of their faith, not just the conference’s acceptance of gay and lesbian pastors. “And the progressive end of the church wants to basically negate all of the teachings of the Bible that have to do with sexual morality.” “It’s the Bible that we disagree on,” Haworth said during an interview at Surf City Church alongside others trying to leave the conference on June 19. The Fount is one of 22 Southern California churches attempting to cut ties with the denomination in a process called “disaffiliation.” The small Orange County congregation began considering the option shortly after the Western Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church, which the California-Pacific conference is part of, proclaimed that their region was a “ safe harbor” for clergy who identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community, the Fount’s lead pastor, Glen Haworth, said. Surf City Church in Huntington Beach, the Fount in Fountain Valley and numerous others whose congregations disagree with the California-Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church’s inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community into its leadership want to leave the organization, but say they’re being held ransom.
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