DALLAS — While Texans takes to the polls Tuesday to decide the future of the state, members of the White’s Chapel United Methodist Church voted Monday to decide the future of their church.
The voting congregants voted in favor of leaving the United Methodist Church by nearly a 94% majority, according to Rev. Dr. Larry Duggins with White’s Chapel.
“What that means is that we will go through the process of disaffiliating with the United Methodist Church,” Duggins said.
The vote to disaffiliate comes as hundreds of other United Methodist churches move to do the same as its members across the world disagree on the future on the denomination. Under a temporary set of guidance found in its Book of the Disciple, the United Methodist Church is allowing local churches to break off from the denomination over the issue of “human sexuality” while maintaining their assets and properties.
The divide in the United Methodist Church in recent years began over the inclusion of LGBTQ people in theology, such as same-sex marriages, and church leadership, though some Methodists say their disagreements with the denomination are broader.
Duggins said the issue of LGBTQ rights in the church sparked the initial conversations about leaving, but the move to leave within the White’s Chapel congregation became a way for the local church to stay together as the broader denomination continues to face division.
“We decided that we did not want to make a litmus test on whether or not we destroy our church,” he said.
Duggins added White’s Chapel is committed to its LGBTQ families and he said it’s “harmful” to constantly hear disaffiliation is about LGBTQ rights.
“We want them to be part of our of our of our community,” he said.
White’s Chapel is in one of the top five largest United Methodist Churches in the country and among the larger megachurches in Texas with more than 15,000 members and over 4,000 weekly churchgoers.
Duggins said just over 2,500 people voted on Monday.
Congregation members of White’s Chapel had from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to cast their votes. Duggins said it was a coincidence of availability the vote took place one day before the midterm elections.
“The church is big enough that we actually had to hire an election company,” he said. “We had the voting machines and voting tellers.”
Duggins said the church hired Honest Ballot Association, a voting system company based out of New York.
The process won’t be finalized until June 2023, Duggins said. While the congregation voted in favor of leaving, under the stipulated guidance called paragraph 2553, a vote is also required of its annual conference or its geographical ruling body, the Central Texas Conference.
St. Andrew United Methodist Church, a megachurch in Plano, announced its intentions to disaffiliate in October.
