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After taking a Church Conference vote Sunday, Lake Highlands United Methodist Church has come to a decision on whether to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church (UMC).

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A majority voted to stay in the UMC. The results were 157 in favor of staying in the UMC and 145 in favor of disaffiliating.

In a church email announcing the vote, Church Council Chair Stephen Turner remarked on the vote with a quote from the church’s Litany of Gratitude from worship service:

“Just as God has done throughout the history of this church He has made a way for us. We are still called to follow Jesus, trusting in His goodness and grace. This church now has an opportunity to move forward together in faith. We may not know exactly what the future looks like but we can trust in God’s faithfulness. Now is our time to follow Jesus into the future that God desires for His church.”

We previously reported that the church was considering disaffiliating from the UMC to either become independent or join the Global Methodist Church (GMC) as a result of division over the denomination’s inclusive stance on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

During the 2019 General Conference, paragraph 2553 was added to the Book of Discipline to allow for disaffiliation of individual churches facing division, but allow them to keep their property.

The GMC denomination, on the other hand, is more conservative in its interpretation of homosexuality.