COLUMBIA, S.C. — Thousands of churches in the United Methodist denomination are choosing to step away from the organization, including 113 in South Carolina.
It was a day of reflection Wednesday for pastor Jody Flowers, who has been leading Chapin United Methodist church for decades. His church is one of 113 that elected to leave the denomination this week.
"The issues for us when we started to have conversations in 2018 centered around the inspiration of scripture, the interpretation of scripture," Flowers said. "Were we going to continue interpret scripture the way the church has for 2,000 years or suddenly would we begin to try to interpret it differently?"
Flowers says ultimately his church decided it would be best to step away from the United Methodist Church. Flowers says, however, separation because of different ideals is something that Christianity is familiar with.
"There's been a movement where God would bring one group out, start something new, and then another group comes out," Flowers said. "You know, the Methodist church came out of the Church of England. Then lots of denominations have come out of the Methodist church through the years."
One local church that decided to stay under the United Methodist denomination is Wesley United Methodist Church on Gervais Street. Pastor Tiffany Knowlin Boykin is the lead pastor there.
"We believe we have been United Methodist for decades and decades. We believe in the work of the church," Boykin said. "Our focus is doing kingdom work, is outreach, is mission, showing the love and hope of Jesus Christ, so there's nothing that's changed in that aspect for us, so our focus is on 'whosoever."
Boykin attended the United Methodist convention in Florence, South Carolina, this week and says the atmosphere was a somber one, but says the church is about unity and still praying for those who decided to step away.
"I think the hope for most of us is that all of us can go forward and do the work of the kingdom, even those who believe they're being called on a different path."
Flowers said his church is currently exploring options for what to do next, being led by their 'way forward team', hosting meetings and praying for guidance for the next step. He says an announcement should be made soon.
The list of the churches leaving the United Methodist denomination can be found here.