Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church and 10 other congregations in North Alabama voted Sunday to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church and most are planning to join a new conservative movement, according to church leaders.
Even though the denomination has repeatedly voted to keep its traditional stance on marriage as only between a man and a woman, conservatives complain that progressives in the denomination have repeatedly ignored the rules.
“I don’t think that’s the main reason ,” Stafford said. “We have very different interpretations in the nature, role and authority of scripture. We have very different interpretations on the nature and role and authority of Jesus. Traditional Methodists believe that he is the way, the truth, and the life. He’s not one of the ways. They didn’t kill him for doing good things or saying sweet things. They killed him because he proclaimed himself as the son of the living God.
“Traditional Methodist churches have and always will love every person who comes in the door,” Stafford said. “We always have and they always will. It is about having covenants, laws, that bind us together. If you don’t have covenant, you have chaos.
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