Approaching Sodom > Is the Episcopal Church in America already on fire?

 

Episcopal Church celebrates first trans dean — woman in lesbian marriage to trans-identified pastor

By Michael Gryboski, Editor Thursday, September 03, 2026

The Rev. Micah Cronin, believed to be the first trans-identified dean for an Episcopal Church cathedral, preaching at All Saints' Cathedral of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Aug. 30, 2026. | YouTube/AllSaintsMKE

A Wisconsin cathedral has installed what is believed to be the first trans-identifying dean in the history of The Episcopal Church.

The Very Rev. Micah Cronin, a woman who identifies as a man, took the helm of All Saints' Cathedral in Milwaukee on Aug. 16, according to Episcopal News Service. The cathedral draws an average of just 70 worshippers on a given Sunday.

Cronin is married to a woman who goes by the Rev. Elias Henry, also a trans-identified pastor, who serves at The Corner House, a Lutheran, LGBT-affirming campus ministry at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Cronin laid out her story in an introductory email to the congregation last month: raised Methodist, she joined TEC at 19, the same year she decided to self-identify as trans. 

“For clarification, this means that I was raised as a girl. For my whole adult life, I have been known and loved as myself — Micah,” wrote Cronin. “The churches I was raised in were not able to receive me as I am. But as a young person, I heard through the grapevine that the Episcopal Church would accept me.”

“I knew that no matter what I had to follow Jesus. The small Episcopal parish I walked into years ago made it possible for me to do that, through their kind, steadfast, gentle acceptance, and above all, their love.”

Cronin's appointment lands amid a decades-long freefall for The Episcopal Church. Like most U.S. denominations, it's bleeding members, and its progressive turn has driven much of the exodus.

When TEC consecrated the Rev. Gene Robinson as its first openly gay bishop in 2003, scores of congregations voted to leave in protest.

In 2010, the denomination reported that the number of active baptized members in their churches had dropped just below 2 million. By 2023, that number decreased to approximately 1.547 million people.

In a church where Jesus is glorified, the numbers grow. Where numbers diminish, it is often because God has removed His candlestick - The Holy Spirit, because of error.

For its 2024 Parochial Report, released last October, TEC omitted a membership tally, explaining that there were questions about how to properly chart the numbers.

The report noted 19,624 baptisms of children and adults in 2024, a considerable decline from 2014, when the denomination reported over 28,000 total baptisms. 

In 2024, three Episcopal dioceses in Wisconsin were merged into a single regional body, in large part because the entities had suffered considerable membership decline.

The decision, which was given final approval by the 81st Episcopal Church General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, was technically a reunification, as the three dioceses were initially founded as one statewide body in 1847.

At the time of the reunification, the new Diocese of Wisconsin included 101 congregations and approximately 11,500 baptized members, with Bishop Matthew Gunter serving as its leader.

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Tim Walz's 'Christian' Church > "A Trainwreck of Heresy and Blasphemy"

 

The website Protestia calls the church, "A Trainwreck of Heresy and Blasphemy"

God the Hen, God the Baker: Tim Walz’s ‘Church’

Is About What You’d Expect

Aug 9, 2024 7:00 am By Robert Spencer

Hey, Tim Walz isn’t so bad. In an age when leftists compete with one another in how much they can repudiate and mock traditional values, it is surprising and refreshing to discover that the Democrats’ shiny new vice-presidential candidate, America’s dad, is a regular churchgoer. Walz’s Christian piety, however, is not exactly the sort of thing that would put you in mind of Augustine, Aquinas, Martin Luther, Mother Theresa, or any other prominent Christian you’d care to name. In fact, it’s just the sort of thing you’d expect: the far left at prayer.

The Daily Caller reported Wednesday that Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz attends a church, all right, but you will not be surprised to learn that it’s not exactly a bastion of Christianity as it has been known up until these enlightened days. Walz attends Pilgrim Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minn., where the worship is as woke as it can be. If it weren’t for the folks walking around in robes and the occasional prayers, Walz might sometimes get confused and think that he is at a Democrat party meeting, for Pilgrim Lutheran is little more than the Democrat platform in ecclesiastical trappings.

Pilgrim Lutheran’s stances on everything are tediously predictable, and 100% in line with the latest far-left wisdom. The Caller notes that “materials published by Pilgrim Lutheran Church instruct parishioners not to refer to God using male pronouns, push congregants to support reparation funds, encourage them to celebrate Ramadan and include a modified gender-neutral version of the Lord’s Prayer, among other liberal practices.” Of course. Anything else would be racist, bigoted, sexist, and “Islamophobic.” Pilgrim Lutheran’s leadership would no doubt rather be burned at the stake rather than be accused of any of those beyond-mortal sins.

Walz’s church is, of course, not singular to his corner of the Minnesota Soviet Socialist Republic. Woke churches have spread all over our fair land, and are full of the blue-haired, gender-confused, and heavily tattooed whenever they feel the need to give the appearance that God or Gaia or Almighty Whoever heartily approves of their activities.

Pilgrim Lutheran itself is an outpost of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which ditched traditional Protestant Christianity quite some time ago in order to chase after the left’s latest cultural fads and imbue them with a patina of sanctity. And so it is no surprise once again that the ELCA not only has female bishops but lesbian bishops, as well as female bishops who are really men but have demanded that everyone around them pretend that they’re women.

There is more. Read the rest here.

Have you ever heard anything so stupid in your life? > ‘Queer liberation is Palestinian liberation’

There is only one country in the Middle East that allows Pride Parades and that is Israel. The rest of the Muslim dominated Middle East does not allow gay or lesbians in any way, shape or form. So, why do LGBTQetc identify with people who would murder them in a heartbeat, against a country where they actually have rights and freedom? Astonishing stupidity!

Canada: Fredericton Palestine Solidarity

is Pride Parade Grand Marshal, 

‘queer liberation is Palestinian liberation’

JUL 4, 2024 7:00 AM BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

Yet again, gay activists supporting “Palestine” (which hates them) are out making a spectacle of themselves, this time via Fredericton Pride in New Brunswick, Canada:

Fierté Fredericton Pride is happy to announce that Fredericton Palestine Solidarity is our Grand Marshal for our Pride Parade taking place on Sunday, July 21st at 3pm.

We believe, as Fredericton Palestine Solidarity does, that queer liberation is Palestinian liberation…

Fierté Fredericton Pride stands in solidarity with UNB (University of New Brunswick) students, faculty, alumni and staff activists asking for the university to disclose and divest from all Israeli investments and partnerships, as well as those with any arms manufacturers..

“UNB” is the University of New Brunswick, which cowardly rushed to distance itself from Israel in May under questioning about its investments in Israel. Its administration stated that “currently UNB does not have any active partnerships with Israeli institutions” except for “a small fraction of its endowment” in Israel-based companies.

The Queers for Palestine movement is so antisemitic that it’s “forcing LGBTQ+ Jews back into the closet,” according to a Jerusalem Post report. Compounding the issue in Fredericton is taxpayer-funded government support.

Among the sponsors’ logos presented at the upcoming Fredericton Pride event are those of the Government of Canada and the city of Fredericton.

The city of Fredericton is represented by Liberal MP Jenica Atwin.

The province of New Brunswick, however, is governed by Premier Blaine Higgs of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick, which issued a statement in January about rising antisemitism after an attack on a Fredericton synagogue. Conservative Minister of Justice and Public Safety Kris Austin stated:

There is no place in New Brunswick for antisemitism. I want to express my support to the Jewish community and assure them our department has already engaged with local police to offer support and any needed assistance as they investigate.

Since October 7, we have seen a horrific rise in antisemitic and Holocaust-denying activity both online, and in streets across Canada and around the world.

The Palestinian cause and “resistance” is packaged under the anti-racism banner, and is fuelling the rise in antisemitism. Its organizers know how to harness and manipulate Western wokesters, while concealing the truth about how Palestinians view gays, as well as the fact that the “resistance” is aimed at annihilating Israel from the River to the Sea.

The truth is that gays are despised, scorned, and utterly rejected among Palestinians. They are under threat of violence. It is only in Israel that the gay community can live in peace, including Palestinian gays. 25-year-old Ahmad Hacham Hamdi Abu Marakhia, a gay Palestinian, “was kidnapped and brutally beheaded in Hebron.” His body was then paraded through the streets of a Palestinian neighborhood. The incident happened three months after a prominent sermon by Al-Aqsa Mosque Islamic scholar and cleric Imam Mohammed Saleem Ali, who stated passionately:

The Palestinian people will not allow a single homosexual on our land; such perversion brings the wrath of Allah on us all.

Mohammed Saleem Ali also discussed the “killings of female students in the Arab world, saying that this is a result of the ‘immorality’ of mixing the male and female students in universities.”

Gay-hatred is not the exception among Palestinians. It’s the rule. Crowds attending Friday prayer at al-Aqsa reach tens of thousands. During Ramadan, over 250,000 have attended.

So what do Western gays supporting “Palestine” really think they’re doing? Western gays who support a “free Palestine” from the River to the Sea are being played for fools. Just days ago in Halifax, Canada, two lesbians who were merely celebrating a birthday night out were beaten up by a group of Muslim men.

Since Fierté Fredericton Pride members are supporting Fredericton Palestine Solidarity as the “Grand Marshal for our Pride Parade,” why host such an event in the Palestinian territories, since “Queer liberation is Palestinian liberation” in their view? They certainly won’t have any problems raising funds and publicity for such an event. 

In Western countries, pro-Hamas gay activists face gentle opposition in response to their antisemitism such as petitions like this one — click HERE. Just imagine what they’d face if they took their anti-Israel activism in a gay pride parade to the Palestinian territories, exhibiting their full flamboyance, rainbow flags and Palestinian flags.

Their rabid and blind support of the Palestinian “resistance” isn’t reciprocated.

It must be quite a joke in Islam. How stupid can those westerners be?

Approaching Sodom > Now that UMC has divested itself of all its Christians, it's free to practice ungodly doctrine

 

UMC ends funding ban on LGBT advocacy groups,

scraps punishment for officiating gay weddings

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Wednesday, May 01, 2024

The United Methodist Church General Conference voted to drop a ban on funding LGBT advocacy groups and removed a required punishment for pastors who officiate gay weddings after thousands of theologically conservative congregations left the mainline Protestant denomination in the last two years. 

On Tuesday, delegates approved a petition that struck from the UMC Book of Discipline Paragraph 806.9 language that prohibits the General Council on Finance and Administration from "ensuring that no board, agency, committee, commission, or council shall give United Methodist funds to any gay caucus or group, or otherwise use such funds to promote the acceptance of homosexuality."

The change was among the bulk of legislation approved by a vote of 667-54, which also loosened restrictions on the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals and mandatory punishments for clergy who officiate same-sex weddings.

Measures passed in Tuesday's consent calendar scrapped elements of the Traditional Plan enacted at the 2019 General Conference to bolster UMC's restrictions on same-sex marriage and ordination of noncelibate homosexuals.  

According to UM News, other measures approved Tuesday include the striking of a ban on "self-avowed practicing" LGBT individuals from being considered for ministry. The delegates also voted to scrub the requirement for a one-year suspension without pay for any pastor who officiates a same-sex wedding and to allow gay pastors with good standing to be appointed to positions across annual conferences. 

The Rev. Jeff Campbell, the top executive of UMC Discipleship Ministries, told UM News he welcomed the removal of the funding ban, saying it freed his agency "to fully serve all those who seek our support without worry of unnecessary, discriminatory oversight."

"Discipleship Ministries staff remains committed to challenging and supporting all leaders for our missional task of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world," he added.

For decades, the UMC has faced a debate over whether to change its Book of Discipline's biblical stance on LGBT issues, which labeled homosexuality "incompatible with Christian teaching."

Although numerous attempts at past General Conferences to change the various provisions failed, many theological progressives within the denomination refused to follow or enforce the rules.

In December 2022, for example, the UMC General Board of Church and Society gave a $2,000 grant to Reconciling Ministries Network, an LGBT advocacy organization that is not an official part of the UMC, to develop a Vacation Bible School curriculum.

A GBCS spokesperson argued in an earlier interview with The Christian Post that the grant was compatible with the Book of Discipline since the money would not be going to LGBT advocacy directly.

In response to the longstanding debate and progressives' resistance to the rules, approximately 7,500 mostly conservative congregations disaffiliated from the UMC from 2019 to 2023.

Most of these departing congregations have affiliated with the Global Methodist Church, a theologically conservative denomination launched in 2022 in response to the UMC debate.

Due to the large number of conservatives that have left the UMC in advance of the General Conference, many expected the churchwide legislative gathering to finally remove the Book of Discipline rules banning the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of people in same-sex relationships.

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Canada - European View of the Great Canadian Experiment in Madness

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"The predatory psychopath has been able to figure out how to cloak himself in the guise of compassion" 

- Dr. Jordan Peterson

Canada’s woke nightmare is a vision of Britain’s future

Drug decriminalisation, gender ideology, legal euthanasia – the country seems to

have adopted every policy on the progressive wish list

29 August 2023 • 2:47pm

Steven Edginton, Telegraph

video 38:05

Under Justin Trudeau, Canada has sought to position itself as the global bastion of progressive politics. In my latest Telegraph documentary, seen above, I went to the former British colony to find out how Canadians are dealing with Trudeau’s radical reforms; from the promotion of gender ideology in schools and the mass legalisation of drugs, to his extreme new suicide laws and clamp downs on freedom of speech.

I began my investigation in one of the country’s most liberal cities, Vancouver. Possession of up to 2.5 grams of hard drugs, including heroin, cocaine and fentanyl, has been legalised in the city as part of a three year experiment which began in January of this year. If the aim was to combat the opioid crisis that already beset the city then it appears there is still much to be done as vast tent sites line the streets, patrolled by roaming zombie-like drug addicts.

As we filmed on Hastings Street, infamous as the epicentre of Vancouver’s homelessness crisis, I witnessed a topless man shoot a needle into his arm five feet from me. Though it wasn’t quite as bad as San Francisco, where my cameraman and I came under attack from angry vagrants, the scenes were still shocking.

It’s not just the homeless who patrol the streets of Vancouver. Chris Elston, better known online as Billboard Chris, campaigns against the imposition of gender ideology on children, whether through Canada’s education system or via dangerous operations to “transition” children. As his nickname suggests, Chris walks around Vancouver wearing signs protesting gender ideology, encouraging lively debates with passers-by which he puts on X, formerly Twitter.

Chris kindly allowed our crew to join him on a walkabout, where we found many Canadians horrified by the use of puberty blockers in children and the promotion of biological men in women’s sports.  

We did encounter some opposition of course, mostly through the odd shout or flicking of the finger. So much for Canadian politeness.

One aggressive gentleman, tall, ageing and angry, began a tirade against Chris with the rather bizarre singular message that he is “queer”.

For those who do question gender ideology there can be severe consequences. We spoke to a nurse, Amy Hamm, who faces losing her licence to practise after two members of the public complained about a poster she was involved in pledging support for the gender-critical author J K Rowling.  

The promotion of transgenderism in Canadian schools has led to a fierce backlash from some parents, not least from some of the country’s ethnic minority communities. While multiculturalism has become a key pillar of Justin Trudeau’s vision of Canadian identity, not everyone fits in with his mould of the enlightened immigrant.

In Toronto, I caught up with a family originally from India to discuss their experiences of modern Canada. Neerunjun, a social worker fired by his company for refusing to take the Covid vaccine, discussed how his eight-year-old son was asked to wear the opposite sex’s clothes for a school day promoting cross-dressing. He let his child have a day off instead of submitting to such woke indulgence.

Part of Canada’s social revolution can also be witnessed in its extreme new euthanasia laws. In 2016, the ruling Liberal Party passed legislation enabling assisted suicide for terminally ill Canadians. Next year the legislation will be expanded to include those with mental health problems. As Christianity declines across Canada, and the liberal obsession with “bodily autonomy” and “personal freedom” reaches its logical conclusion, a new dystopia is forming. As Dr Konia Trouton, a euthanasia advocate, told me, “we are an organised society but within that organisation we have to allow some freedoms and opportunities, this is not a communist system where we can try and reign that in”. The campaign group Euthanasia Prevention Coalition estimates that 13,500 people chose state-assisted suicide last year.

For a nation to be truly woke, it must have its own narrative of oppression. In America, activists focus on the country’s history of slavery and racist laws. In Britain, they focus on the Empire. In Canada, where historically there were very few black people, the nation’s story of guilt centres on a so-called genocide against its indigenous population. Supporters of this narrative point to the discovery of hundreds of disturbances in the earth around an Indian residential school in Kamloops, which is supposedly evidence of a mass grave site. 

However, no bodies have ever been found and many question the idea of a genocide as being at best an exaggeration and at worst a total fabrication. We interviewed a man who questioned the genocide story, and was fired from his job as a teacher as a result. Canada’s Justice Minister David Lametti has said he is open to punishing those who deny the indigenous genocide narrative, similar to bans on Holocaust denialism.

To prevent wokeism from spreading it is important to have a strong opposition party. Canada’s Conservatives have been historically weak in pushing back against Trudeau, however, their recently elected leader, Pierre Poilievre, has injected fresh energy into the party. Whilst there are some who still question Poillievre’s conservative credentials, his strategy seems to be working; one recent poll gave his party a twelve point lead over Trudeau’s Liberals.

However, the most successful opponents to Canada’s social revolution have so far not been politicians but members of the public. Our film highlights some of these brave individuals, including Dr Jordan Peterson, perhaps the most high-profile Canadian in the world other than the country’s leader.

During my travels I found ordinary people appalled at Canada’s surrender to drug dealers, its contempt for freedom of speech, its enforcement of gender ideology on children and a breezy willingness to terminate the lives of its own citizens. However, for all the depressing stories of people losing their jobs, or being hounded by the government, these cases were equally inspirational. Whilst Canada is a warning to the West, there are also individual messages of hope from those brave individuals fighting for their freedom.

How has Canada changed in recent years? Have you noticed the impact of progressive politics? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section at the Telegraph.

Approaching Sodom > Left Abandons Truth - Leaves it for Right-Wing < Melanie Phillips

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MELANIE PHILLIPS SHOCKED THE LEFT BY

SAYING THIS OUT LOUD

written by Phil Schneider 

May 31, 2023 2.1K views

Israel Unwired

The left-wing today has completely shunned the ideas of liberalism and adopted cultural totalitarianism. Melanie Phillips says it so well and so eloquently. She understands and knows how to explain the nature of the absurdity of cancel culture better than anybody else today. Reason, argument, discussion, and open-mindedness have been tossed out the window.

How did this happen and when did this happen? This was not the norm in the crazy 60’s. In the 70’s and 80’s, this was not the case either. It seems to have begun sometime in the 21st century. The political landscape was very volatile in the 60’s, between McCarthyism still being a force, civil rights marches on Washington, and race riots across the United States. But, there was no cancel culture even after a popular President, a Civil Rights Leader, and Presidential candidate were all assassinated. It was just a very emotionally charged atmosphere.

The Vietnam War pitted masses of youngsters against the leadership of the United States. But, even the opposition to the Vietnam protesters knew that the Vietnam War was not going well. The protesters had a point – even if they were extremists. And the protesters knew that Communism was indeed a threat that needed to be contained – just not via American lives in Vietnam. Each side knew that the other side had legitimate logic backing it up.

But today, young people – in the masses – are flocking towards hard to fathom values that are completely at odds with basic concepts of existence – such as the very existence of genders. And these ideas are not based on respecting the values of others, as anyone who thinks otherwise is repudiated and cancelled as a member of the Dark Ages.

Discussion and difference of opinion are not praised but tossed aside as negative phenomenon. What has really been thrown away is the placing of any concept of truth at the top of a pedestal of priorities. That is why Melanie argues that truth has become a right-wing concept. What a horrible tragedy for mankind.

Can this be reversed? Can the left-wing repudiate the obsessive focus on gender issues and woke concepts of reality? Today it seems hopeless. But the world does not only spin out of control in a negative fashion. Sometimes, concepts that were thought to have been gone from the world come back into fashion.

What is needed on the left is a big dose of some old-fashioned open-minded liberalism. Difference of opinion needs to be embraced. Striving towards truth needs to be a common goal among those who disagree. Recognition that no specific political persuasion can rule over the other needs to be the norm.

Was liberalism ever open-minded? At 75 years of age, I cannot remember a time when it was. 

A Twitter follower asked one time what the difference between left-wing and right-wing was? I answered, "Truth". Truth is something that seems to be related to belief in God. No such belief leaves one with no fear of lying. But 'fear of God' makes one wary of lying. Jesus said, "I am the Truth". If you refuse to believe in Jesus, you have no reason to tell the truth. This blog is dedicated to the truth.

It is indeed a battle over the culture. The culture of basic decency.

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Approaching Sodom > Christianity rapidly diminishing in England and Wales

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When the pre-incarnate Christ visited Abraham before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham argued for the Lord to abandon the idea of destroying Sodom if there were as few as 10 good people in the city. There weren't. God's angels rescued Lot, his daughters, and briefly, his wife for a total of four.

The numbers of Christians in the western world are dropping precipitously while many professing Christians are being led so far astray they are in danger of Jesus declaring, "depart from Me you wicked evildoers; I never knew you!"

Less than half of England, Wales is Christian for first time in census history

By Joe Fisher

The prevalence of Christianity is declining in England and Wales, according to the latest census data

from the U.K. Office for National Statistics. File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 29 (UPI) -- The prevalence of Christianity is declining in England and Wales, according to the latest census data from Britain's Office for National Statistics.

Religious identification is an optional part of the survey that about 94% of respondents answered in the 2021 survey, up from about 93% in 2011. Among those, about 46% or 27.5 million people described themselves as Christians. It is the first time a census has reflected less than half of the populations of England and Wales being Christian.

No single religion surpassed Christianity in the survey. The second most common response to the question was "no religion," which accounted for about 37% of answers or 22.2 million people. This represents an increase of 12% over 2011 figures, when about 14 million people said they subscribed to no religion.

Linda Woodhead, a professor from King's College London, said selecting "no religion" does not mean a person does not have a belief system.

"Some will be atheist, a lot will be agnostic -- they just say, 'I don't really know' -- and some will be spiritual and be doing spiritual things," she said to BBC.

Which, if they are not in line with the Bible, would not be a good thing.

The changes in Christianity and "no religion" responses were greatest in Wales, where "Christian" was chosen at a 14% lower rate and "no religion" was chosen at a 14.5% higher rate.

London has the most diverse religious makeup, according to the census. More than 25% of respondents described their religion as one other than Christian.

"One of the most striking things about these census results is how at odds the population is from the state itself," Andrew Copson, chief executive of Humanists U.K., told the Guardian.

"No state in Europe has such a religious setup as we do in terms of law and public policy, while at the same time having such a non-religious population."

Religion was introduced as a voluntary part of the census in 2001. There was an option to write in another religion not listed on the census. The most common write-in answer was "Pagan" with about 74,000 responses. Alevism, an Islamic tradition most common in Turkey, has 26,000 responses and the Indian religion Jainism had 25,000.

"Shamanism" saw the greatest increase in answers among other religions, climbing from 650 to 8,000 in the last decade.

Non-religious write-ins were led by "Agnostic" with 32,000 and "Atheist" with 14,000.

Is this the point of the invasion of Muslims into Europe, to reduce, or even completely annihilate Christianity? Is this left-wing ideology?

How long before God's Judgement falls?

Approaching Sodom > UMC Splintering; Street preacher arrested for reading Bible near obscene LGBTQ event

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Oklahoma megachurch leaves UMC over ‘irreconcilable’

theological differences; changes name

By Anugrah Kumar, 

Christian Post Contributor| 

Sunday, March 27, 2022

Asbury Church Senior Pastor Tom Harrison preaches during the traditional service in Tulsa,

Oklahoma, on March 27, 2022. | Asbury Church

A megachurch in Oklahoma has dropped “United Methodist” from its name and started fully disaffiliating from America’s second-largest Protestant denomination due to what it describes as the United Methodist Church's “slow and steady drift” from its historic Christian mission.

Asbury United Methodist Church in south Tulsa is now officially called Asbury Church, the megachurch says in a statement on its website, adding they “have begun the process of disaffiliating from the denomination.”

“We do not know where or when we will affiliate with a new denomination,” the church continues. “Currently, our main focus is protecting the assets and interests of Asbury and fully disaffiliating from the UMC.”

Asbury Church’s announcement comes weeks after the UMC delayed its General Conference meeting for a third time earlier this month, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Postponed to 2024, the General Conference is expected to be contentious as delegates negotiate a denominational split over theological differences, including the full inclusion of LGBT members into the denomination and the ordination of ministers in same-sex relationships.

On Jan. 30, Frazer United Methodist Church, a congregation of about 4,000 members in Montgomery, Alabama, disaffiliated from the mainline Protestant denomination, saying in a statement to The Christian Post that the congregation intends to join the Free Methodist Church: “[W]e believe that the Free Methodist Church is a better fit for our present identity and future fruitfulness.”

The Rev. Tom Harrison, Asbury Church's senior pastor, said the split had been inevitable for some time, according to Tulsa World.

“There isn’t one issue driving this separation; rather, after years of operating under vastly different approaches to theology, ministry and Christology, it was determined by the leadership of the Church, in conjunction with the pastoral staff, that these approaches are irreconcilable and no longer sustainable,” Harrison explained. “As Asbury Church, we will continue to pursue our mission of helping others follow Jesus.”

The UMC has been engaged in a long battle over the church’s teachings on sexuality, prompting more conservative churches to leave the denomination. The UMC’s official stance, as outlined in the Book of Discipline, labels homosexuality a sin, bars the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals and prohibits the blessing of same-sex marriages.

However, progressive United Methodists have, on several occasions, defied the rules by ordaining openly gay clergy or officiating same-sex marriages.

The Asbury megachurch says it might consider joining the Global Methodist Church, a more conservative Methodist denomination, which has announced it will officially launch in May.

“This future denomination will be made up of former United Methodists from North America, Africa, Europe and elsewhere who uphold the authority of Scripture,” Asbury says in its statement. “The formation of this new denomination has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The creators of the GMC previously said they would hold off on launching until after the General Conference.

The denomination’s website says thousands of Methodist clergy and laity from around the world have worked together for “over three years to lay the groundwork for a new, theologically conservative Methodist denomination steeped in the great ecumenical and evangelical confessions of the Christian faith.” 

“It is anticipated that some theologically conservative local churches will find annual conferences willing to negotiate fair and just exit provisions, while others will, unfortunately, face obstacles placed in their paths,” the denomination said in a statement.

“The Transitional Leadership Council decided it was time to launch the Global Methodist Church, so those who can leave early will have a place to land, to begin building and growing, and making room for others to join later.”

The Rev. Keith Boyette, chairman of the Transitional Leadership Council that has been overseeing the creation of the GMC, has said theologically conservative churches and annual conferences “want to be free of divisive and destructive debates, and to have the freedom to move forward together.”

Seattle police arrest street preacher for reading the Bible:

‘Risk to public safety’

By Anugrah Kumar,

Christian Post Contributor

Street preacher Matthew Meinecke | Twitter/Journalist Jonathan Choe

Seattle police arrested a street preacher on charges of being a risk to public safety for reading his Bible aloud at a public park near an LGBT pride event.

Matthew Meinecke, who identifies himself as The Seattle Preacher on Twitter, was surrounded by Seattle police officers as he was reading his Bible and was subsequently arrested and fingerprinted at a police station before being released.

“SPD has enough resources to send 10 police officers to arrest a preacher reading his Bible in a public park. Because it's such a horrible crime now!” Meinecke wrote on Twitter, posting a video showing his arrest.

Certainly, the abundance of police was to discourage rioting as LGBTQs are not known for tolerance.

“So at this point, we can no longer stand by. The risk that you pose for public safety by remaining here can be mitigated if you leave. It’s your last chance,” a police officer can be heard saying.

The preacher told the officers, “I don’t want to leave because I’m not in danger.”

“I was at the Seattle Center, reading the Bible, not aggressively preaching, not stirring people up, not anything. People throwing things. People vandalizing our property. I think about 10 police officers showed up," the pastor told journalist Jonathan Choe with the Discovery Institute.

“Your job is not to silence me and move me. Why are they so offended by words? I just believe in using the word of God.”

The preacher also posted a video showing a protester seizing his Bibles and ripping pages while shouting, “Get the f--- out of here! Get your holy water off my ovaries, b----! Get the f--- out!”

Another person shouted at him, saying, “Forget about your imaginary fairy in the f---ing sky.”

Meinecke said he saw “a bunch of naked people walking around over here, not even 200 feet away. … Naked grown men around little children.”

And were they arrested? Not very likely!

Last weekend, Meinecke was also arrested during a Roe v. Wade protest, Choe added on Twitter. “Far-left extremists ripped up his Bible and assaulted him. But they got away.”

In a video Meinecke shared online, he added: “We’ve got a city full of crime. We’ve got needles all over the place. Lawless homeless camps everywhere. We’ve got assaults. We’ve got broken glass. We’ve got Antifa running the place. But they’ve got time to send in 10 police officers to arrest a street preacher reading his Bible in a park.”