This story has significant lessons and warnings for the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The United Methodist Church in the Ivory Coast voted on May 28 to exit the denomination in response to the church’s decision to approve gay pastors and same-sex marriage at its governing General Conference earlier this month.
In 2022, this conference reportedly had over 1.2 million members. So, its departure means over one tenth of United Methodism has—in one day—left the denomination.
“For reasons of conscience before God and His word, the supreme authority in matters of faith and life,” the annual conference of the United Methodist Church of Ivory Coast (EMUCI, Eglise Méthodiste Unie Côte d’Ivoire), gathered for an extraordinary session on May 28 in Abidjan, and decided “to leave the United Methodist Church denomination.”
The decision follows the early May 3 vote at the United Methodist Church General Conference in the United States to lift the ban on ordaining gay pastors and officiating same-sex marriages. For EMUCI, which joined the United Methodist Church in 2002, this now apostate church “deviates from the Holy Scriptures” and prefers “to sacrifice its honor and integrity to honor the LGBTQ community.”
As shared in this video, the decision-making process for the Ivorian Methodists happened only a couple weeks after the United Methodist General Conference concluded May 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina. At that General Conference, delegates removed the church’s longtime stance that sex is only for marriage between husband and wife. Adultery and extramarital sex were removed as chargeable offenses for clergy, along with homosexual behavior. They removed any anti-gay references and gender-specific language for marriage from their official Church Principles.
This is Apostate Protestantism on steroids.
The annual conference of EMUCI, through a statement from its president, Bishop Benjamin Boni, declared that “the United Methodist Church now rests on socio-cultural values that have consumed its doctrinal and disciplinary integrity.”
Some History
The United Methodist Church was formed in 1968 after the merger of the former Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church.
In the late 1950’s the Methodist Church first allowed women elders.
In 1968, the Church defrocked an openly gay minister.
In 1976, they allowed female delegates.
In 1979, the first Methodist female elder in the Congo was ordained.
In 1982, the first openly gay bishop was assigned in Denver, CO.
In 1984 the first African American female bishop was elected
In 1994, the General Conference elected a woman as head of Communications.
In April, 1996, Hillary Clinton addressed the General Conference in Denver. Her speech was laced with references to her book “It Takes a Village” and she called for more social justice in the church.
In 2002 a woman becomes president of the Council of Bishops
In 2007, Frank Schaefer was defrocked for officiating in a gay marriage.
In 2014, Frank Schaefer’s ministerial credentials were reinstated by the General Conference.
In 2016, several liberal Conferences voted for full inclusion of gay clergy. All of them allowed openly gay and lesbian clergy appointments, providing spousal benefits for employees in same-sex marriages.
In 2022 the feminist Methodist General Commission on the Status and Role of Women celebrated its 50th anniversary.
In May of 2024, the United Methodist Church voted to allow full inclusion of gay clergy and same-sex marriages throughout the denomination. They also voted to enter into full communion with the Episcopal Church.
The issue of homosexuality has been contentious for many years, with the church previously upholding bans on same-sex unions and the ordination of homosexual pastors.
In February 2019, delegates at a special session in St. Louis, Missouri, voted against LGBTQ+ acceptance, adopting the “Traditional Plan” by 438 votes to 384, reaffirming “the incompatibility” of homosexuality with Christian teaching.
This year (2024), however, the petition for a liberal doctrinal shift was adopted by mutual consent, alongside 22 other legislative texts, with 692 votes in favor and 51 against, achieving a 93% approval rate.
The Traditional Plan, rejecting the inclusion of LGBTQ individuals within the church, remains the stance of minority African churches, including that of Ivory Coast. Following this development, the president of EMUCI, who met with delegates from the General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina May 14, convened the various bodies of his church.
To say that homosexuality and gender confusion has been hard on the United Methodist Church is to understate what has become a devastating separation. And this separation is just the right thing to do for millions of members who value the Word of God over deviant but popular moral evil in our western culture.
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“You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice” (Exodus 23:2).