Looking for information about the split in the United Methodist Church?

This page is intended to be a resource for members of Thomasville FUMC who are looking for information about the turmoil taking place in the United Methodist Church. Thomasville FUMC has not voted to disaffiliate from the UMC, but is asking all members to get educated on the issues for the possibility that TFUMC will vote on the issue of disaffiliation. This page seeks to provide information in an unbiased manner, though many of the resources provided are biased. This page will be edited frequently as the situation develops and more resources become available! Please note: The issues facing our denomination are myriad. This page is not meant to “boil down” our differences into two groups. (For example one might argue that a third group called “Centrists” represents the feeling of a lot of Methodists.)

An overview of the conflict.

Rev. Daniel Hixon, the pastor at St. Francisville UMC in St. Francisville, LA, gives a good overview of the situation facing the current UMC and how we got to this point.

An argument for staying in the UMC.

Rev. Adam Hamilton is the pastor of Church of the Resurrection, a large United Methodist Church in Leawood, KS. In the video above he talks about why he wants to remain in the UMC.

An FAQ Video with Bishop Graves of the South Georgia Annual Conference

Learn About Disaffiliation

Use the link to the left to visit the webpage created by the South Georgia Conference that talks about the process of disaffiliation from the UMC. This should be a primary resource for answering questions about how disaffiliation would take place.  Additionally, there are links to FAQ’s.

FYI – The cost of disaffiliation (leaving the UMC but keeping TFUMC property) is not a static figure. As stated in the policy of our Conference, the cost of disaffiliation is 1 year’s apportionments (if paid up and current) + our share of pension liability + $1500.00 in legal fees paid to the Conference to cover legal fees for having deeds changed and other legal necessities.  The pension liability portion of the equation is a volatile number. The equation used to calculate our pension liability has some variables like market values and number of retirees, that change regularly. As of March 2022, TFUMC’s cost of disaffiliation was about $270,000.00. 

Here is the breakdown:
$107,598.00 = 1 year’s apportionments based on 2022 rate.
$159,262.82 = pension liability – calculated in March of 2022
$1500.00 = legal fees

An Appeal to Wait

Is the UMC Really…?

A UMC website created to “help clear up some common misperceptions or misinformation around disaffiliation”.

The Disaffiliation Journey of Trinity on the Hill in Augusta, GA

This church has provided a very comprehensive webpage documenting their discernment/disaffiliation journey. They have provided a lot of resources including full recordings of their “Town Hall” meetings. Though some of these videos can be quite long, they are very informative. Though this church is in a different Conference, and much further along in their process, they are a very similar church to ours.