The contraction of Mississippi’s United Methodist Church for 2023 will conclude on Saturday.

That is when around 16% of all of Mississippi’s United Methodist Churches that were members coming into 2023 are likely to be allowed to leave the fold.

That process will take place Saturday morning as part of the session of the Mississippi Annual Conference at the Anderson United Methodist Church in Jackson. There are 142 churches that will be submitted for ratification to disaffiliate. That is in addition to 189 churches that were ratified to disaffiliate in a similar vote in June.

The 142 churches have completed the required steps to leave the denomination and are seeking ratification to disaffiliate that will be voted on in eight separate ballots. Results will not be released until results of all eight ballots are in.

This is the latest in the nationwide split of the church, which has been described by some as the largest denominational schism in the last 50 years.

Some churches standing pat: One pastor says there are no winners United Methodist Church schism

Schism impact on Millsaps College: What is the Methodist schism impact on Millsaps College? It’s more than money

The issues for the United Methodist Church, in general, center around, but are not limited to, a difference in opinion about whether someone who identifies as LGBTQ should be ordained in churches. Other denominations, including the Episcopal church, have faced similar challenges in recent years. Amid issues surrounding human sexuality, hundreds of Episcopal churches splintered off nationally to move to the new, more conservative Anglican Church in North America, though no Mississippi parishes left the Episcopal fold.

This year is not the first time churches have chosen to leave the denomination over the same issues. It is just the largest group to do so as a combined 331 of the 856 (38.7%) fully connected members are expected to be allowed to disaffiliate in 2023.

Leading up to this year, a total of 55 churches disaffiliated from the conference with seven leaving in 2019, 11 in 2020, 23 in 2021 and 14 in 2022.

Mississippi Bishop Sharma Lewis did not respond to attempts for comment for this story ahead of the conference. Several other United Methodist ministers also chose not to make comments.

Leaving the church is a two-step process. First, a church must vote to disaffiliate from the Mississippi Conference. If two-thirds of the church members present for a vote then vote to leave, the church is then disaffiliated. But the Mississippi Conference must still ratify that church’s departure.

In this round of voting, Mississippi churches had until the end of October to have a church vote.

In this latest round, Mississippi’s largest Methodist church, Jackson’s Christ United Methodist Church, voted to part ways with the UMC

It was reported to its members by email by Christ United Methodist Church that more than 86% voted to disaffiliate while a little more than 13% voted to remain United Methodist.

The vote required a 66.7% majority to move forward with disaffiliation.

A total of 830 votes were cast with 717 choosing to disaffiliate and 112 voting to remain United Methodist.

Others that held similar votes by October were St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church in Madison, which voted not to split as did West Point and Starkville. However, in the same timeframe, Merigold, Ellisville and Brandon United Methodist Churches made the decision to switch to leave the United Methodist Church. Most are choosing to join with the Global Methodist Church.

In the first round of voting in March, the largest church to vote to disaffiliate was Madison United Methodist Church. There, an overwhelming majority of the MUMC members present voted to leave the church umbrella.

Of the 664 votes cast at the church conference, only 57 (8.6%) were cast to remain with the United Methodist denomination, while 605 votes (91.4%) were cast to disaffiliate. There were two abstentions.

United Methodist churches disaffiliating

Here is a list of all 142 churches within the Mississippi United Methodist conference, which are seeking ratification for disaffiliation from the conference on Saturday.

BALLOT 1

Brookhaven District

• Pleasant Valley
• Jackson St UMC
• Hawkins Chapel
• Crystal Springs
• Hazlehurst UMC
• Hopewell
• Thirkield
• St Paul

East Jackson District

• Brandon
• Canton FUMC
• Singleton
• Carthage
• D’Lo
• Bethany
• Sherman Hill
• Brandon Trinity
• Holly Bush
• Christ UMC

BALLOT 2

East Jackson District (cont.)

• Lodebar
• Lone Pine
• Madden
• Pearl
• McLauren Heights
• Mountain Ridge
• Richland
• St James
• Taylorsville
• Thornton
• Johnson Chapel

Greenwood District

• Carrollton
• Merigold
• Shipman Chapel
• Ebenezer (Holmes)
• Greenville First
• Greenville Trinity
• Bethel

BALLOT 3

Greenwood District (cont.)

• Leland
• Bethlehem
• Lexington FUMC
• Moorhead
• Sunflower
• Rosedale
• Winona Moore Memorial

Hattiesburg District

• Ellisville
• Laurel First
• Franklin
• Gitano
• West Laurel
• Moselle
• Mt Zion
• Fairfield
• Leona
• Purvis
• Tallowah

BALLOT 4

Hattiesburg District (cont.)

• Seminary
• Oakdale
• Bethel Collins

Meridian District

• Hopewell
• Mt Pleasant
• St Mark Dekalb
• Liberty
• New Hope
• Lauderdale
• Lynville
• Mellen
• Marion
• Mars Hill
• College Park
• Pilgrim Hill
• Henry’s Chapel
• Oak Grove
• McGowan Chapel

BALLOT 5

Meridian District (cont.)

• Pleasant Hill
• Portersville
• New Bethlehem
• Hopewell: Rose Hill
• Sageville
• Binnsville
• Blues Chapel
• New Beginning
• Spring Hill
• New St. Matthew’s

New Albany District

• Harris Chapel
• Liberty Ashland
• Indian Springs
• Hickory Flat
• Winborn
• Iuka
• Pleasant Hill Iuka
• Burnsville

BALLOT 6

New Albany District (cont.)

• Harmony
• Patrick
• Jumpertown
• Tula
• Taylor
• Potts Camp
• Potts Camp Bethlehem
• Cornersville
• Salem (Etta)
• Christ Ripley
• Jacob Chapel
• New Hope

Seashore District

• Caswell Springs
• Mt Pleasant Vancleave
• St Paul Ocean Springs
• Rosedale
• Wiggins
• H A Brown

BALLOT 7

Senatobia District

• Charleston
• Tippo
• Coffeeville
• Crenshaw
• Greenleaf
• Hinds Chapel
• Lyon
• Bethel
• Shiloh
• Southaven First

Starkville District

• New Hope
• Bellfountaine
• Brooksville
• Crawford
• Shaeffers Chapel
• Eupora
• Adaton

BALLOT 8

Starkville District (cont.)

• Maben
• Cooksville
• Macon
• Liberty Hill
• Palestine UMC Cedar Bluff

Tupelo District

• Strong
• Algoma
• Palestine
• Lewis Memorial
• Friendship
• Harden’s Chapel
• Pleasant Valley
• Mantachie
• Ozark
• Fairview
• Cornerstone

West Jackson District

Churches ratified to disaffiliate in June

Here is a list of all 189 churches within the Mississippi United Methodist conference, which were ratified in June to disaffiliate from the conference. Included is the church, votes for disaffiliation, again and the percentage.

Brookhaven District

• Rehobeth, 13-0 − 100.00%
• Beauregard, 42-0 −100.00%
• Mallalieu, 6-0 − 100.00%
• Chapel of the Cross, 15-1 − 93.75%
• Ebenezer, 20-0 −100.00%
• Community UMC, 6-0 − 100.00%
• Gloster, 6-0 − 100.00%
• Kokomo, 7-0 − 100.00%
• Whittington Memorial, 7-0 − 100.00%
• Meadville, 23-0 − 100.00%
• Grace Natchez, 44-3 − 93.62%
• Natchez Jefferson Street, 140-26 − 84.34%
• New Hebron, 26-0 − 100.00%
• New Hope, 50-5 − 90.91%
• Greendale, 8-0 − 100.00%
• Sartinville, 16-0 − 100.00%
• Tilton, 36-0 − 100.00%
• Tylertown, 35-8 − 81.40%
• Woodville, 24-1 − 96.00%

East Jackson District

• Gasque, 19-0 − 100.00%
• Fannin, 40-0 − 100.00%
• Freeny, 29-3 − 90.63%
• Madison UMC, 605-57 − 91.39%
• Magee, 60-2 − 96.77%
• Pelahatachie, 22-0 − 100.00%
• Puckett, 52-0 − 100.00%
• Ridgeland First, 36-2 − 94.74%
• Mize, 7-0 − 100.00%

Greenwood District

• Avon UMC, 33-0 − 100.00%
• Glen Allen, 39-1 − 97.50%
• Benoit, 12-0 − 100.00%
• Greenwood St John’s, 130-23 − 84.97%
• Hollandale, 21-0 − 100.00%
• Indianola: Christ, 19-0 − 100.00%
• Indianola FUMC, 157-8 −95.15%
• Inverness, 78-1 − 98.73%
• New Hope, (Winona) 30-1 − 96.77%
• Silver City, 13-0 − 100.00%

Hattiesburg District

• Collins, 43-3 − 93.48%
• Good Hope, 4-0 − 100.00%
• Mount Olive, 15-3 − 83.33%
• Oak Grove Hatt, 131-58 − 69.31%
• Petal Asbury, 60-9 −86.96%
• Philadelphia Jasper Co., 23-0 −100.00%
• Prentiss, 22-0 −100.00%
• Santee, 8-0 −100.00%
• Sumrall, 72-1 − 98.63%
• Boyles Chapel, 7-0 −100.00%
• Waynesboro, 67-1 −98.53%
• Williamsburg, 28-0 −100.00%
• Lone Star, 22-2 −91.67%
• Winchester, 8-0 − 100.00

Meridian District

• Chunky, 15-0 − 100.00%
• Big Oak, 25-2 − 92.59%
• Coker Chapel, 57-2 − 96.61%
• Collinsville, 44-0 − 100.00%
• Pleasant Ridge, 16-0 − 100.00%
• Concord, 17-0 −100.00%
• Cooks Chapel, 24-0 −100.00%
• Coopers Chapel, 40-0 − 100.00%
• New Hope Dekalb, 21-0 −100.00%
• Pleasant Ridge, 5-0 − 100.00%
• Spring Hill, 3-0 − 100.00%
• Enterprise, 19-0 − 100.00%
• North Bend Philadelphia, 16-0 − 100.00%
• Hope-Philadelphia, 17-0 − 100.00%
• Philadelphia First, 150-15 − 90.91%
• Southside, 27-0 − 100.00%
• Pleasant Grove, 14-0 − 100.00%
• Sandtown, 126-1 − 99.21%

New Albany District

• Baldwyn, 26-1 − 96.30%
• Asbury, 25-0 − 100.00%
• Belmont, 41-9 − 82.00%
• Christ Boonville, 48-0 − 100.00%
• Lebanon, 4-0 − 100.00%
• Booneville First, 106-18 − 85.48%
• Carolina, 32-0 − 100.00%
• Pisgah, 20-0 − 100.00%
• Corinth First, 107-9 − 92.24%
• Gaines Chapel, 59-1 − 98.33%
• Old Bethel, 20-3 −86.96%
• Ingomar, 26-2 − 92.86%
• Campground UMC, 13-0 − 100.00%
• Rocky Springs, 7-0 − 100.00%
• Snowdown, 11-0 − 100.00%
• Spring Hill, 40-6 − 86.96%
• Kossuth, 42-3 − 93.33%
• Pleasant Hill, 12-0 − 100.00%
• Liberty, 29-0 − 100.00%
• Thrasher, 5-0 − 100.00%
• Dumas, 24-0 − 100.00%
• New Harmony, 16-0 − 100.00%
• Paynes Chapel, 27-0 − 100.00%
• New Albany Calvary, 29-4 − 87.88%
• Mt Olivet, 10-0 − 100.00%
• New Albany First, 317-76 − 80.66%
• Christ, 6-0 − 100.00%
• Cambridge, 5-0 − 100.00%
• Pine Flat, 10-0 − 100.00%
• Abbeville, 7-0 − 100.00%
• Bethel Rienzi, 11-0 − 100.00%
• Adkins Chapel, 24-0 − 100.00%
• Ripley, 93-42 − 68.89%
• Blue Mountain, 12-0 − 100.00%
• Union Hill, 35-7 − 83.33%
• Paradice, 10-0 − 100.00%

Seashore District

• Refuge, 28-0 − 100.00%
• Pleasant Hill, 23-3 − 88.46%
• Big Point, 35-1 − 97.22%
• Cedar Lake, 78-0 − 100.00%
• Diamondhead, 63-29 − 68.48%
• Gulfport Trinity, 262-22 − 92.25%
• Hurley, 50-0 − 100.00%
• Lucedale 1st, 123-5 − 96.09%
• Grace Lucedale, 5-0 − 100.00%
• Antioch, 17-0 − 100.00%
• Pine Grove, 10-0 − 100.00%
• Red Hill, 13-0 − 100.00%
• Poplarhead, 42-1 − 97.67%
• Wiggins: Bond, 9-1 − 90.00%

Senatobia District

• Batesville, 222-29 − 88.45%
• Clarksdale UMC, 117-5 − 95.90%
• Cochram, 20-0 − 100.00%
• Como UMC, 64-5 − 92.75%
• Wesley Chapel UMC, 21-0 − 100.00%
• Eureka UMC, 46-0 − 100.00%
• Eudora, 20-4 − 83.33%
• Hernando, 318-9 − 97.25%
• Holly Springs, 67-1 − 98.53%
• Waterford, 17-0 −100.00%
• Friars Point, 13-0 − 100.00%
• Marks, 13-0 −100.00%
• Lambert, 10-1 − 90.91%
• Mt Olivet, 31-0 − 100.00%
• Terza, 11-0 − 100.00%
• Rice Chapel, 9-0 − 100.00%
• Early Grove, 11-0 − 100.00%
• Sardis, 72-7 − 91.14%
• Senatobia, 131-2 − 98.50%
• Water Valley, 38-3 −92.68%
• Water Valley: North Main, 15-0 − 100.00%

Starkville District

• Ackerman, 27-5 − 84.38%
• South Union, 16-0 −100.00%
• Artesia, 19-0 − 100.00%
• Cedar Bluff, 10-0 − 100.00%
• Siloam, 9-0 −100.00%
• Columbus: Covenant, 24-1 − 96.00%
• Columbus First, 223-107 − 67.58%
• Piney Grove Columbus, 36-1 − 97.30%
• Longview, 14-0 − 100.00%
• McAdams, 6-0 −100.00%
• Middleton, 12-0 − 100.00%
• Vernon ,10-0 − 100.00%
• Mt Pisgah, 12-0 − 100.00%
• Shuqualak, 10-0 −100.00%
• Weir Salem, 6-0 − 100.00%
• Campground Louisville, 21-0 −100.00%
• Flower Ridge, 26-1 −96.30%
• Rocky Hill, 23-0 −100.00%
• Pleasant Hill UMC, 13-0− 100.00%

Tupelo District

• Amory, 120-2 − 98.36%
• Amory St Andrew’s, 81-2− 97.59%
• Carolina, 7-0 − 100.00%
• Ecru, 8-0 − 100.00%
• Fulton ,144-51− 73.85%
• Houston, 82-11 − 88.17%
• Buena Vista, 8-0 − 100.00%
• McCondy, 11-0 − 100.00%
• Nettleton First, 52-1 −98.11%
• Shiloh, 12-0 − 100.00%
• Plantersville, 8-0 −100.00%
• Saltillo, 198-3 − 98.51%
• Hebron UMC, 11-0 − 100.00%
• Smithville, 9-0 − 100.00%
• Thaxton, 23-0 − 100.00%
• Palmetto, 21-0 − 100.00%
• Tranquil, 20-0 − 100.00%

West Jackson District

• Benton, 26-0 − 100.00%
• Midway, 22-0 − 100.00%
• Ellison, 64-0 − 100.00%
• Fletcher Chapel, 29-0 −100.00%
• Holly Bluff, 9-0 −100.00%
• MT Olivet, 20-0 −100.00%
• Raymond, 78-1 −98.73%
• Learned, 6-0 − 100.00%
• Redwood, 16-0 −100.00%
• Eagle Lake, 8-0 −100.00%
• Porters Chapel, 34-8 − 80.95%
• Yazoo City, 147-21 − 87.50%

Ross Reily can be reached by email at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter @GreenOkra1.