HoweEnterprise.com
9
January 23, 2023
Methodists
City of Howe (Continued from page 8)
were there to talk about the water problem or the compliant with the open records request. “It all plays in together,” said Ingram. “No sir, it does not,” said French. “No one in this room is complaining about open records but you.” “I’m probably the only one that submitted one,” said Ingram. French then said Ingram’s threeminute time limit was up. First United Methodist Church at Denny Street and O’Connell Street stood from 1909 to 1977. Photo by Bob Walker. (Continued from page 1)
by the disaffiliating congregations. The official split won't happen until the summer of 2024, the next gathering of the church's General Conference. But Howe’s congregation’s vote was placed ahead of the March deadline. In a recent article published by Vicki Hyatt in The Mountaineer in Waysnesville, NC, it states a church split has been simmering for years over samesex marriage and the ordination of gay pastors. Although the official stance of the United Methodist Church does not endorse either, the church has turned a blind eye to congregations accepting gay marriage and gay pastors anyway — leading some traditional congregations to fear the church is headed that way. A tentative agreement was worked out whereby congregations wishing to continue along a more conservative path could begin negotiations to separate and still retain the church facilities constructed on land held in trust by the UMC.
The national merger in 1968 of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church brought the name, “The United Methodist Church,” to Methodism. This is not just an issue with the Methodist Church as churches of all denominations have gone through similar scenarios. The Baptists have had similar experiences with the Southern Baptist Convention. In 2009 a new Lutheran organization, the North American Lutheran Church, left the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States. The chief reason for the split was the ELCA's shift in policy toward homosexual members and clergy. The NALC regarded the shift as being unbiblical and symptomatic of growing liberalism of ELCA.
Cassie Montgomery of Duke Street then spoke and said the explanation from public works was helpful but
was too late. “It’s a mishandling to wait until people have to go to social media or news outlets to make this seem like a more pressing concern that finally we’re getting the water tested at the middle school on the eighth,” said Montgomery. “That seems like that should have been occurring when the water was the color of the yellow tassels on the flag. I’m in medical and I know that there’s a lot more than meets the naked eye and I’m not happy or comfortable with the fact that the water samples that were taken only checked for E. coli and total coliforms. The following day, Ingram picked up a packet to run for city council as well as Michael Hill. Karla McDonald and Cort Myrick picked up packets to run for mayor of Howe.
Keep Howe Beautiful Yard of the Month
The church released the following statement to the Howe Enterprise: “The FUMC-Howe held a Church Conference on Sunday, January 15, 2023, and the congregation voted to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church. After much deliberation over
(Continued on page 10)
941 Calder Street, Howe, Texas. Courtesy photo.
