TOWN OF JOHNSTOWN — A town of Johnstown church is in the process of severing ties with upstate New York’s United Methodist conference.
The pending break-up is centered around dissatisfaction and discomfort with the association, according to Rev. Bradley Chesebro of the Foothills Worship Center.
“We just really thought getting rid of the denominational baggage, claiming our own identity was really important for us,” Chesebro said.
The move, the pastor explained, would put more money into Foothills and prevent the conference from potentially relocating him to another church.
He’s been with Foothills since 2021. Within the last 24 years, he’s been moved around to more than five churches under orders of UMC.
“I get things all set up, the gear’s running and we get going well and they move me,” Chesebro said. “That's not something churches really wanted to have happen.”
In his second year as pastor, Foothills moved operations from its longtime Gloversville home to a 30,000-square-foot former building on Jansen Avenue formerly owned by the Greater Johnstown School District. It cost $700,000.
UMC still owns both properties. Once the final property transfers are approved — the final step of the disaffiliation process — it’ll all be in Foothills’ hands. Chesebro expects that could happen as soon as May.
So far, it has reportedly cost the church $150,000 in fees to break away from UMC. For Chesebro, it’ll be worth not sending around $45,000 to UMC each year.
“We prefer to keep that $45,000 in the community of Johnstown,” Chesebro said.
Members of the Foothills board unanimously voted to break away from UMC last year.
The Foothills Worship Center on Jansen Avenue on Thursday.
They were granted the ability to do so as a result of a 2019 compromise amid much debate over same-sex marriage and the acceptance of non-celibate LGBTQ+ clergy.
So far, 118 out of more than 600 churches have parted ways with the upstate UMC, in addition to more than 7,600 across the country. Here’s a list of the local churches that have made the split:
- South Corinth Methodist Church: May 16, 2023
- Amsterdam Methodist Church: Feb. 2
- South Glens Falls Methodist Church: Feb. 6
- Central Bridge Methodist Church: Feb. 26
- Warrensburg: First Methodist Church: Feb. 27
- Christian Hill Bible Church (Johnsburg): Feb. 27
- Lake George Community Methodist Church: Feb. 28
- Wells Methodist Church: March 3
- Malta Ridge Methodist Church: March 18
The national exodus is expected to have a financial fallout. The mainline Protestant denomination’s finance committee in February approved a $346.7 million proposed budget, its teeniest budget in 40 years. That budget still has to be approved at the General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina later this spring.
In New York, like the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, the upstate UMC has already spent millions in sexual abuse court case settlements brought by the state’s 2019 Child Victims Act.
Upstate UMC spokesperson Shelby Winchell said it’s too early to tell how the shortfall of the latest departures will impact the group’s finances. From an emotional standpoint, she described the departures as a “sad turn of events.”
“But regardless, we're still going to pray for one another and we wish them well,” Winchell said. “It's almost like a divorce, in a sense, if I could make that sort of comparison, but it's not an unhappy divorce.”
The upstate branch has opposed both national and global Methodist policy, which states that homosexuality is “incompatible” with the denomination.
Meanwhile, some former members in the South and Midwest have joined the Global Methodist Church. The Wesleyan–Arminian theological denomination of about 4,500 congregations and counting was formed in 2022 in hopes of upholding traditionalist opposition to issues such as abortion and LGBTQ+ issues — issues they believe to be ill-enforced in UMC.
Meanwhile, Chesebro, who said he has ministered gay men and lesbians, maintained that the forthcoming departure has nothing to do with differences on LGBTQ+ inclusion.
With the pastor’s run, the town of Johnstown church has never received a request to hold a same-sex wedding or bring on a LGBTQ+ clergy member.
“When it comes to weddings and stuff, I have not been approached for that issue and we will address that when the time would be appropriate,” Chesebro said.
Beyond sexuality, there have been some fears in the Methodist community over progressivism impacting theological teachings. Of note, Chicago area Bishop C. Joseph Sprague in 2002 sparked widespread criticism after calling Jesus Christ’s virgin birth and resurrection into question. He was officially cleared of heresy a year later and retired in 2004.
Questioning the divinity of teachings in the scripture, Chesebro said, is a non-starter.
“When you start questioning the Bible and divinity of Christ, that's a scary position for us to be in,” he said.
Foothills plans to stay autonomous and independent for now, but could explore joining another denomination like GMC down the road, according to the pastor.