On Friday of last week, the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Churches announced that any local churches that would like to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Denomination may do so. 

The announcement came after a bitter lawsuit between the conference and 180 churches in which a judge ruled against the North Georgia Conference’s position.  While there were 180 local congregations involve in the law suite, it is likely that there are many more that want to leave the denomination that have not done so.  Some smaller, especially rural churches, while not part of the lawsuit, have expressed their desire to leave the embattled denomination.

Already, several rural Methodist churches in Chattooga County have disaffiliated, more are expected to be taking votes in the coming weeks.  While there are other Methodist denominations that the churches could become a part of, many are choosing to be independent Methodist Churches.