On Monday, January 23, the MUMC Administrative Council voted to hold a vote of church membership regarding disaffiliation from the United Methodist Church. The decision to move forward in the discernment process for disaffiliation followed the announcement of the results of the church-wide pulse survey that was administered the week of January 15 – 22.
A total of 665 church members participated in the pulse survey that was used to gauge the opinions of church members regarding whether or not Madison UMC should leave the United Methodist Church denomination through disaffiliation. The polling process involved the dissemination of 1,318 surveys via email, of which 1,020 of those emails were opened.
Members who did not have access to the email link were given the option of a printed survey. The survey result was 81.7% preferring to disaffiliate and 18.3% preferring to remain with the United Methodist Church. The breakdown of the count follows:
Survey Responses To Disaffiliate To Remain UMC
Online 579 473 106
Paper 86 70 16
Total 665 543 81.7% 122 18.3%
The next step of the process is for Administrative Council Chairman Wil Crawford to notify District Superintendent Stephen Cook of the decision to move forward with a church-wide in-person vote of Full Members. The District Superintendent and Conference will work with MUMC leadership to set the date for the vote, which will be held prior to March 31. More information regarding the vote will be shared over the next several weeks as plans evolve.
The Administrative Council made the decision to enter the discernment process on October 16 following an Annual Conference Zoom webinar and an exploration meeting with Annual Conference representatives on October 2. Since that time the church has engaged in discussions and reviewed information regarding the United Methodist Church.
The Administrative Council also voted to delay any decision about where our church might affiliate until after we determine if our church will disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church. We have had a sub-committee researching multiple Methodist denominations since July, 2022. Their work is summarized in our current Next Steps Resource Guide. Additional information about those possibilities will be provided, if needed, following our church conference vote.
Please continue to pray for the life of the church, the ministries, and missions that live out our mission to build faithful disciples serving Jesus Christ and as we pray that we are living toward our vision to be a Family of believers in harmony with God’s Word that glorifies God.