Savannah Church Leaves United Methodist Church Over Same-Sex Marriage

Caption

Members of Savannah's Asbury Memorial Church pose with a rainbow-painted door that reads "God's Doors are Open to All."

Credit: Asbury Memorial Church on Facebook

Asbury Memorial Church in Savannah has disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church over bans on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy.

Asbury announced Thursday that the split is complete, after the South Georgia Conference of the UMC approved it last month. The conference approved seven disaffiliations in its virtual session.

The Savannah congregation has long been at odds with the UMC over the “unequal treatment of LGBTQ people", according to the statement. In 2016, Asbury’s members voted to discontinue all weddings in their building because of the UMC ban on same-sex weddings.

Senior Minister Billy Hester said he’s long hoped to push the church as a whole toward more inclusive policies.

“There comes a point where, you know, you're working on something, but if there's no change, you almost become an enabler,” he said. “And so we've decided we need to take this step.”

In February 2019 at the UMC Special Session of the General Conference, 54% of global Methodist delegates voted to uphold a policy stating “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.”

Many U.S. Methodist churches disagreed with the vote, Hester said. 

The UMC General Conference was due to vote in May on a proposal to split the denomination because of the dispute over same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. Church leaders postponed that meeting because of the coronavirus.

Hester described Asbury Memorial’s LGBTQ members as central to the church’s growth and success, and instrumental in restoring the church building. He said the church has attracted gay and straight members who “wanted to have more of an inclusive, welcoming — be part of that kind of church.”

The inability to marry at Asbury has hurt, Hester said. In addition to the church’s decision not to hold any weddings, as a Methodist minister he was barred from performing same-sex marriage ceremonies.

“Our minister of music, who helped build this church up, and our administrator couldn't get married in their church. I couldn't do their wedding,” Hester said. “They're my best friends and I couldn't do their wedding.”

Later this month, Asbury plans to recognize the couples in the congregation who’ve been unable to marry there in recent years.

The church of more than 300 members is now non-denominational, though Hester said it will follow the teachings of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.