Methodist conservatives to launch breakaway group in May

A group of theologically conservative United Methodists plans to launch a new worldwide denomination on May 1, impatient to get started after yet another pandemic-related delay to a formalized divorce agreement with their denomination.

The creation of the Global Methodist Church, announced Thursday, was long in the making, organized by conservatives who were fed up with liberal churches’ continued defiance of the United Methodist Church’s bans on same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly gay clergy.