It's official I guess. At midnight a few minutes ago my church membership evaporated. I am no longer a member of any church. I have not moved my membership; I have been kicked out as my church was disbanded.
I received this message, the last I suppose from my church home of over 60n years:
The so-called "disaffiliation team" takes over the multimillion dollar church property for an extremely small percentage of its worth. They will organize a new group on the site and likely give it a name that will make some folks think it is the same church; it will not be.
It was the only possible outcome, I have thought, since Bishop Dease made the reverse ruling a couple of weeks ago. And today the bishop made it official. We lost by one vote in the special conference and by ten votes in the church conference in July. It isn't right in any way except legally, but it is the right thing legally and I believe in following the law. Unless the rump group that is taking over the church property makes some ridiculously careless error (and they won't) in the next 31 days it is final.
Exclusion is the new organization's only reason for being. The group that will organize in those buildings is founded for one purpose -- and the ballot that accomplished the dissolution made it plain -- and one purpose only: to exclude certain people. Can you imagine belonging to a church that's sole reason for being is that? As I said, they will use a name that will confuse some folks but the church that was on that site from 1875 until tonight is no more.
Many of those folks are people I love and in other ways admire. I wish those people well.
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