95 Louisiana churches approved to disaffiliate from United Methodist Church

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – During a gathering on Saturday, May 27, dozens of Louisiana churches were approved to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church.

According to church leaders, 95 total churches in Louisiana were approved to disaffiliate.

The decision was made during a special session of the Louisiana Annual Conference at the First United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge.

Church leaders said the session was called “for the sole purpose of voting on the Louisiana Conference Board of Trustees recommendations for the churches disaffiliating per paragraph 2553.”

Sexuality is one of the issues that led to the disaffiliations. That includes the topic of same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy.

The below churches approved for disaffiliation are in the Baton Rouge area, according to church leaders:

• Francis Asbury United Methodist Church (Baton Rouge)
• Huff Chapel United Methodist Church
• Livingston United Methodist Church, Inc.
• Mangum Chapel United Methodist Church
• Montpelier United Methodist Church, Inc.
• Pine Ridge United Methodist Church
• Tangipahoa United Methodist Church
• Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church, Greensburg
• Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church, Ponchatoula

Bishop Delores Williamston reacted following the decision.

“Those who decided to leave based on disaffiliation and have disaffiliated, that they go and have success in whatever God is calling them to do in the mission field,” Bishop Williamston said. “Also, I’m so excited about putting this behind us as an annual conference so that we can move forward into the mission field.”

See the full statement from Bishop Williamston below:

To see a complete list of the churches in Louisiana that were approved to disaffiliate, click here.

Click here to report a typo.

Copyright 2022 WAFB. All rights reserved.