Religion

of the South American delegates and I think the Philippines were the major resistance and there were enough US and other delegates who voted to keep defeating the motions. That margin has been shrinking and shrinking over the past several General Conferences. Every person I know who has attended General Conference can attest to the influence of these conservative delegations.

Our church did not even call for a vote. The largest churches in our county are all staying in the UMC. There will of course be shifting around amongst individuals who will seek the opposite of what the congregation as a whole is doing. That is fine.
There will be mergers of smaller congregations which join the Global or declare themselves "non denominational". I expect we will lose some members, but also gain some.

I am thankful that this is the way things have been resolved. For a long time I was convinced that the "Global folks" stirred this up in an attempt to soil the nest and make the rest of us leave. (I could hear them salivating over all the church property that would possibly be turned over to the local Annual Conference. Especially ours - we have 7 city blocks in downtown Fort Worth )

Once the issue of church property was settled, the way was clear for the progressive congregations to leave if needed. Instead the Globals ended up doing the leaving. I think there is a deadline by which a church can leave the UMC without surrendering property. I don't remember if the Bishop and District Superintendents had to approve a departure or not. That is possibly going to vary depending on the conference.

It's been a long hard road.