Ivory Coast Methodists leaving the United Methodist denomination

The United Methodist Church Council of Bishops said Wednesday it would help The United Methodist Church of Ivory Coast work to become independent. The annual conference last week voted to leave in response to the denomination’s recent vote to allow same-sex weddings and LGBT clergy. The Ivory Coast group, which goes by the acronym EMUCI, has made up a sizeable chunk of the United Methodist Church’s membership.

What is the history of the annual conference? The Protestant Methodist Church in Ivory Coast broke from the British Methodist Church in 1985 and became independent. In 2004, it provisionally joined the United Methodist Church and officially became a full member of the denomination in 2008. When it joined in 2004, it was the denomination’s largest conference.

Are there other United Methodist conferences in Africa? The denomination has had thirteen African episcopal areas, making up three central conferences. At this time, no other annual conferences have announced an exit from the denomination. However, other African churches may leave the United Methodist Church for a new theologically conservative denomination, the Global Methodist Church.

Dig deeper: Listen to Elizabeth Russell’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast on the regionalization of the United Methodist Church in Africa.