And it's getting ready to split over the subject of same-sex marriage and openly gay clergy. Article here
Methodism began in England as an offshoot of Anglicanism, but was imported into the colonies and spread through the use of Circuit Riders who rose through rural communities and conducted services on a regular basis. It became the largest denomination in the early U.S. There were once many Methodist denominations as well, ranging from Free Methodists to AME. Most of those denominations in the middle became the Methodist Episcopal then added another denomination in 1968 to become the United Methodist Church. It does now appear to be separating again, much in the way the Lutheran Church did in the past. The Wisconsin and Missouri Synods of the Lutheran Church do not resemble the ELCA in any way except perhaps for Consubstantiation.
I'm part of a Methodist "3 Church Charge." A "charge" is a group of small churches that cannot afford their own pastor, so they share the costs of one. Long before I joined in 2010, each church would have a pastor-led service every few weeks, with a lay person leading services the other Sundays. Some time before I came on board the pastors became like the circuit riders of old, going from one church to the next, delivering 3 sermons every Sunday (there is a 10 minute drive in between each.) The churches in the charge help each other with whatever events may be going on in the individual churches...or collective "Charge" events. I've done repair work in all 3 churches. It's like one congregation in 3 different facilities. I've changed churches within the charge since I first joined. The congregation of the first church I belonged to was founded in the 1700s (the original building burned to the ground long ago.) Francis Asbury preached to the early congregation 1780. Patrick Henry signed the founder's license to perform marriages. When we had Homecomings, the descendants of the founder (4 generations of them) would attend. For someone whose mother was an immigrant and whose father's parents were immigrants, I found it fascinating to be around those who could trace their lineage back to the 1600s...and earlier. Sadly, when the matriarch of the current generations passed away in 2014, all those folks stopped attending such events. I hate to think of what the recent events are going to do to us locally. The folks in these 3 churches have known each other for generations. I know there are differing opinions on the matters at hand among us, but there have been no arguments...or even debates. I've had a few brief casual conversations and know where some people stand. But we've not yet been put in a position where we must choose one way or the other...so far, it's just a concept. An interesting side note: long before I joined, the charge had a gay pastor. He was not "out," but it was an open secret. They loved the guy, and many speak of him fondly and have told me they would take him back in a heartbeat. In the Methodist organization, the congregations don't get to choose their pastor...it's done at the District level. There have been some doozies go through the place. Apparently the gay pastor was among the best they had experienced.
I attended Methodist Churches for many years. There was one in Wasilla that had a female gay divorcee with one child. She opened the church to LBGTQ meetings and functions of all kinds and nearly destroyed the church. Both the District Superintendent (who changed the Lord's Prayer to "Mother/Father God" in the services she conducted. Both the pastor and the superintendent were replaced by the bishop and, as far as I know, the church has somewhat recovered. They went through several pastoral changes after the collapse: traditional male minister reconstructed the church, followed by a couple who shared the ministry, and, last I heard, there was a male leader again who has recently developed cancer. The last guy was an acquaintance of my wife's whom she thought very highly of. I also dated a Charge Minister over three churches (female) in my single days.
From what I understand, the churches will be given the option of which division to join. I guess your Charge will have to decide whether to stay together.
And it obviously gets more granular than that. Once the decision has been made at the charge level, then each church has a decision to make, then each member has a decision to make. Interestingly, there are 16 Districts in the Virginia UMC Conference. They just decided to go from (1) Supervisor per District to (1) Supervisor for every (2) Districts; in other words, we went from (16) District Supervisors to (8). This is the first step in anticipated future streamlining and consolidation of districts. I don't know if other states (Conferences) are doing this. Details here. The decision for smaller congregations might be a little simpler than for the larger ones because the small guys are generally not routinely engaged with the higher-level organization...there's a "What do we get for our money" undercurrent. Larger organizations will have the potential loss of that corporate relationship to consider in their decision making. But smaller churches have the "we cannot afford to pay a pastor on our own" tethering them together. The interesting thing is going to be how the two emerging groups will publicly differentiate themselves, and how at risk the "traditional" group might be for government intervention. Second to that will be to see how long-term attendance fares in the respective churches and how the tenor of each unfolds.
A few years ago there was a bishop (I believe) installed by the UMC,whose identification was "Questioning." They changed the verbiage for the proceeding from "he" and "she" to "they." This bishop's full name was "M" Regarding changing The Lord's Prayer: at that point you just need to go start your own religion. And I'm not saying that to be mean...but you obviously do not embrace the one you've landed in. Re: dating a Charge Minister. I've often wondered about the lives led by those who are in the church hierarchy as their chosen vocations. Of course, that statement probably says more about me than it does about them, huh? One of us is compartmentalizing...