Interesting. We were told that if we left, we would get the deed outright after continuing to tithe to them for 3 years after leaving. Then again, our church was built in the 70s and AFAIK is fully paid for. That could be our difference.Yes, our church had to take out a mortgage since our building and land was held by “the trust” and to pay off pension obligations and such. We are joining the Global Methodist church and will now keep title to the property as there is no trust now. Global Methodist is the conservative alternative.
And we are choosing to stay until the vote. For the main reason that this is not a done deal. All of the churches have to vote to move to the new doctrine. Today (OK, a year ago) as it stands, the vote is not expected to pass, assuming nobody jumps ship to GUMC. There are just too many overseas SUPER conservative UMCs for the liberal faction here in the states to win. (this is 110% a Big city liberal US push) But its close. BUUUUUT... If the liberals get us to jump ship, our votes no longer count and the vote gets closer, making the change inevitable. If we all were to hold our ground, it wont happen. The early shift to GMC is like a write-in or 3rd party syphoning votes; in the end, it only hurts those of us that want to maintain doctrine and tell those that want to liberalize to go form their own liberal church.
And for the record, St Lukes has gone rogue. They announced they were "personally" deciding to follow the new doctrine and do gay marriages even though it has not yet been voted on. To the point our district superintendent sent out a finger wagging rebuke of them to the entire district, essentially telling the rest of us "this is against doctrine, dont get any ideas." .