Congregations Hold More Diverse Views After Split in United Methodist Church, Study Finds

Cover of the study on the left and David Eagle on the right

Congregations that remained with the United Methodist Church (UMC) in North Carolina during a 2019 schism over gay marriage and ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy are more politically and theologically diverse than those that left, researchers at Duke University found.

“Somewhat paradoxically, while the UMC as a whole is becoming more liberal due to the exodus of the most conservative pastors and congregations, a greater share of congregations within the denomination will have members with diverse theological and political viewpoints,” according to a new report by Duke sociologists Joseph Roso and David Eagle.

Their study, released April 16 by the Religion & Social Change Lab at Duke, is based on administrative records of the North Carolina and Western North Carolina conferences of the church and a 2021 longitudinal survey of clergy. (Read the report here.)

About 35% of North Carolina’s 1,880 United Methodist congregations disaffiliated over the controversy, while 17.5% (166) of active congregational clergy who completed the survey departed, the authors found.

The clergy who left the denomination are, as a group, more conservative than those who stayed, but even among pastors who stayed a significant fraction (24%) don’t support the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy. Among congregations, nearly a third (31%) of those remaining in the denomination are predominantly opposed to same-sex marriage.

Congregations that disaffiliated tended to be more homogenous in their beliefs and somewhat smaller and more rural. They also represented a sizeable amount of income for the conferences. According to the authors, congregations that disaffiliated contributed a total of $6.5 million to the denomination in 2020.

One troubling finding from the 2021 survey of clergy was that the pastors who stayed reported feeling more symptoms of depression, anxiety, burnout and occupational distress than the pastors who left the UMC.

The researchers said there is some evidence to suggest that managing conflict within their congregations is part of what is taking a toll on leaders’ mental health. Clergy who remained with the denomination were found to be more likely than clergy who left to be politically and theologically misaligned with their congregation.

Far from identifying only tensions, our report suggests a timely opportunity for the UMC to embrace its ‘Big Tent’ roots and sow communities that bridge political and theological divides.

David Eagle

“Over half (59%) of NC pastors staying in the UMC say they are at least somewhat more liberal than most people within their congregation,” according to the report.

“Far from identifying only tensions, our report suggests a timely opportunity for the UMC to embrace its ‘Big Tent’ roots and sow communities that bridge political and theological divides,” said Eagle, who directs the Religion and Social Change Lab.

While remaining clergy face health and occupational challenges, if given the support to sustain themselves, these pastors “are poised to lead one of the very few institutions in America where plurality without division can still be practiced,” the authors wrote.

Other findings include:

  • Prior to the split, 64% of UMC clergy in North Carolina identified as Democrats or leaned Democrat and 24% were Republican or leaned Republican. After the split, 73% of clergy leaned Democrat and 14% Republican.  
  • Among disaffiliating congregations, clergy estimated about 72% of their congregants supported Donald Trump in the 2020 election, and only 22% supported Joe Biden. Congregations remaining in the denomination were almost evenly split: clergy estimated that an average of 46% of their members supported Biden, and 48% supported Trump.
  • Only 6% of disaffiliating clergy exhibited elevated symptoms of depression, but 14% of clergy remaining with the denomination did. The story is similar for anxiety. The report said 12% of disaffiliating clergy exhibited symptoms of elevated anxiety, while 18% of clergy remaining with the denomination did. Nearly half (49%) of all clergy remaining with the denomination reported high levels of emotional exhaustion and over a third (36%) reported high levels of depersonalization.

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