BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. – The 2023 South Carolina Annual Conference overwhelmingly approved Tuesday the closure of 113 local churches whose members have voted to separate from the United Methodist Church.
Two Berkeley County churches, Pinopolis United Methodist Church and Friendship United Methodist Church in Cross, are among the long list of churches in the Palmetto State that opted to split from the Protestant denomination.
“We pray for these churches that have chosen a different journey,” Bishop L. Jonathan Holston said after the vote. “May we also acknowledge that that which binds us will never leave us. In the midst of our separation, may we show each other the grace and love that you demonstrated through your sacrifice on the cross and your resurrection from the grave.
“For those who are leaving us, we bless you and send you on your way. For those who are remaining, we pray that God gives us a new will to do what God has called us to do,” he continued. “May it become clear, may it become important, may it move from our heads to our hearts.”
Separating churches are to be closed effective June 30, 2023, the conference announced.
Meanwhile, Pinopolis United Methodist Church, which was founded in 1897, will keep its doors open but will rename itself, Pinopolis Community Church (PCC). Last month, the church launched a GoFundMe page to raise approximately $140,000 in separation costs.
“On Tuesday, May 30, we put our separation costs of $140,000 in the SC Conference escrow, one day before the deadline,” the church announced in its June newsletter.
The church intends to continue to pursue donations and raise money to reduce the amount it owes on a loan that assisted in the separation from the UMC.
It’s not clear what Friendship United Methodist Church plans to do following its split. Across the country, many churches that parted ways from the denomination have gone independent or joined Global Methodist Church, a Methodist denomination of Protestant Christianity that subscribes to conservative biblical values and traditions.
According to a press release from the United Methodist Church South Carolina Conference, these churches determined that they can no longer function as a United Methodist church because they firmly believe that the denomination has not consistently upheld its stated doctrine on issues of human sexuality.
The UMC Book of Discipline currently prohibits performing same-gender weddings and the ordination of “self-avowed practicing homosexuals.” However, many churches fear that will change, opting to leave the denomination now as a more liberal shift in church leadership and theology grows.
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