At least seven Chautauqua County churches are disaffiliating from the United Methodist Church.

The Findley Lake, Gerry, Bemus Point, Dewittville-Hartfield, Charlotte Center, Park United Methodist Church in Sinclairville and Cassadaga, and Cherry Creek churches have taken the final step of asking for the state Supreme Court to approve land transfers that will end membership in the United Methodist denomination and form their own independent churches as allowed in 2019 during a special session of the United Methodist Church’s general conference. During that session local churches were given a limited right to seek to disaffiliate from the denomination after the United Methodist Church changed its Book of Discipline’s stance on same-sex marriage and the role of LGBTQ people. Churches have until Dec. 31 to disaffiliate. Other churches are also in the midst of discussions with the United Methodist Church’s local Annual Conference.

A two-thirds majority of church members is required to start the disaffiliation process. To leave the United Methodist Church, local churches had to request permission to begin the disaffiliation process and transfer local church assets to a new church. Assets of local churches are held in trust by the local United Methodist conference — in the case of the local churches the Upper New York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church — so local churches have to file a case in state Supreme Court to have the church assets released from the trust and be conveyed to the new church.

A standard disaffiliation agreement was created, which means the five cases filed in state Supreme Court in Mayville follow the same basic form. Churches disaffiliating have to stop using the group tax exemption administered by the United Methodist Church, turn over archives, membership rolls and historical documents related to funerals, baptisms and weddings, and minutes of trustee, committee and church council minutes and insurance documents — though the new church can keep copies and can access archived records for business and legal reasons. Cemeteries become the responsibility of the new church organization and the new church is given 90 days to remove United Methodist branding from its church.

Churches disaffiliating also have to stop using the group tax exemption administered by the United Methodist Church, turn over archives, membership rolls and historical documents related to funerals, baptisms and weddings,and minutes of trustee, committee and church council minutes and insurance documents — though the new church can keep copies and can access archived records for business and legal reasons. Cemeteries become the responsibility of the new church organization and the new church is given 90 days to remove United Methodist branding from its church.

CHERRY CREEK

The first case to be filed was by the former Cherry Creek United Methodist Church in March. Its disaffiliation agreement was finalized in October 2022 and states the new church will be incorporated as the Cherry Creek Country Church of Faith. Church members had to pay a total of $19,391.33 to disaffiliate. Costs include unpaid apportionment payments to the local United Methodist conference, the church’s share of unfunded pension obligations, any outstanding invoices for insurance, salary or benefits, legal fees and and any costs associated with legal transfer of the property. The vote by local church members to disaffiliate was 10-1. The separation was approved by state Supreme Court on April 19.

DEWITTVILLE-HARTFIELD

Filed on May 8, the former Dewittville-Hartfield United Methodist Church is becoming the Christian Community Church of Dewittville. Its members voted in December 2022 to disaffiliate by a 7-0 vote. The disaffiliation agreement was finalized in March. Church members had to pay $25,538.25 to disaffiliate while paying $1 for the land and church building. The transfer was approved in state Supreme Court on May 10.

BEMUS POINT

Bemus Point, Park and Dewittville-Hartfield share the same pastor, Joseph Pascoe.

The former Bemus Point United Methodist Church finalized its disaffiliation agreement on March 25 after a unanimous vote by 108-5 vote of its members on Dec. 12. The church is among the largest to disaffiliate and came with the highest cost among the five churches at $252,889.67 — $144,936 in unpaid apportionment payments,$91,904 in pension payments, $10,049.67 for outstanding invoices and $6,000 for legal fees and property transfer costs.

State Supreme Court has not yet formally approved the disaffiliation transfer for Bemus Point, Gerry and Findley Lake.

The church will be known as the Bemus Point Methodist Church, according to a Feb. 7 business certificate.

GERRY

Members of the former Gerry United Methodist Church reached a disaffiliation agreement with the Annual Conference on March 25 following a unanimous December 15, 2022, vote of its 12 members. Church members paid $21,948.18 to disaffiliate. The new church will be called the Gerry Methodist Church.

FINDLEY LAKE

The former Findley Lake United Methodist Church. Its members approved disaffiliation on Nov. 13, 2022, with a 42-2 vote and finalized the agreement with the Annual Conference on March 25. It will now be known as the Findley Lake Church. Findley Lake is one of the largest payments of the churches totaling $93,199.14.

CHARLOTTE CENTER

Members of the newly formed Charlotte Center Church voted to disaffiliate in December with a unanimous 7-0 vote. Church members had to pay $13,798.30 to the Annual Conference.

PARK METHODIST CHURCH

The former Park United Methodist Church is among the largest disaffiliation agreements approved thus far, totaling $145,854.78. The disaffiliation agreement was finalized in late March and was filed in state Supreme Court on June 7.

REMAINING METHODIST

The Park, Gerry and Bemus Point congregations will remain in the Methodist family despite leaving the United Methodist denomination, reflecting a desire of church members to remain Methodist without adhering to all United Methodist doctrine. There are 80 different churches considered Methodist, according to the World Methodist Council, a number that includes the United Methodist Church that was formed in 1968 from the joining of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church.

LONG-SIMMERING ARGUMENT

There are dozens of similar cases on state Supreme Court dockets throughout New York state amid a nationwide movement of some 3,500 U.S. congregations that have received their local conferences’ permission to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church, according to United Methodist News Service via a recent Associated Press report. With conference season underway, disaffiliations are closing in on 4,000 and could rise even more by the end of the year, said the Rev. Jay Therrell, president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, a conservative group advocating for departing congregations.

About a third of the estimated 800 churches in the Western Pennsylvania Conference — a sprawling 23-county region — are seeking to have their disaffiliations approved at the conference’s June annual meeting, according to Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi.

The United Methodist Church — with about 6.5 million members in the United States and at least that many abroad — has long debated its bans on same-sex marriages and the ordination of openly LGBTQ clergy. In 2019 many moderate and liberal clergy made it clear they would not abide by a 2019 ban on LGBTQ-inclusive practices.

United Methodists are part of a global movement that traces their origins to the 18th-century English revivalist John Wesley, who emphasized personal piety, evangelism and social service. American membership has declined to about 6.5 million, from a peak of 11 million in the 1960s. Overseas membership soared to match or exceed that of the U.S., fueled mostly by growth and mergers in Africa.