Methodists vote to disaffiliate; separate churches organizing

    In the coming weeks , there will likely no longer be an Imperial United Methodist Church.
    In January, church members reached the necessary 67% margin in a vote to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church.
    Members are now forming two separate churches with two new names.
    Those who voted in the majority to disaffiliate will now be affiliated with the Global Methodist Church, said Glen Knobbe, chair of the church’s administrative board.
    The name of their church will be Imperial Methodist Church.
    However, nothing will be final until their UMC Conference approves the disaffiliation of the churches seeking to do so, he said.
    Currently, Imperial Methodists are members of the Great Plains United Methodist Conference, which includes Nebraska and Kansas.
    Meanwhile, a group of Imperial Methodists who want to remain with the UMC are starting another church— Faith United Methodist Church of Chase County.
    Erin Konecky is heading up a committee that is organizing the church. They are announcing this week their first service will be Sunday, June 4, at the Upper Republican NRD office building in Imperial.
    Knobbe said an estimated 160 churches in the conference have voted to disaffiliate in the past 6-8 months.
    The local vote to disaffiliate came down to a disagreement on doctrine, Knobbe said.
    The local vote to disaffiliate was right at the 67% mark. It  passed by a thin margin, he said.
    The group is now just waiting for the UMC Conference to say “yes” to the disaffiliation. Knobbe said he feels confident the conference will approve their application.
    Imperial’s application to join has already been approved by the Global Methodist Church, he added. Paperwork will be finished if the UMC Conference gives its okay.
    Knobbe described, generally, the Global Methodist Church as “back to basics and with conservative values.”
    Former Imperial UMC pastor Deb Copple left the end of April after accepting a pastorship in Iowa. Services have continued, Knobbe said, using guest speakers/preachers and taped sermons.
    Pastor Brian Loy, now in Lakin, Kansas, will be moving to Imperial as the Imperial Methodist Church pastor.
    His timeline for arrival is not yet finalized, Knobbe said, but it will be this summer.
    Loy, too, is in the process of disaffiliating as a UMC pastor, according to Knobbe.
    Imperial Methodist Church will retain the church property on East 5th Street and its parsonage, according to UMC rules on disaffiliation, he said.