The Liberation Methodist Connexion (shortened to LMX) is a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

denomination based in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

drawing from

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

and

liberation theology Liberation theology is a Christian theological approach emphasizing the liberation of the oppressed. In certain contexts, it engages socio-economic analyses, with "social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples". ...

. Formed in 2020 as a

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy pa ...

offshoot of the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelica ...

, the LMX includes Methodists and non-Methodists alike and encourages continued collaboration with the UMC.

Name

Liberation Methodist Connexion is named for the

movement that originated with

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

theologians in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

during the 1960s. The spelling of "" is drawn from an old British spelling of the word used by John Wesley, the founder of

History

At the 2019 special session of the

General Conference, delegates voted 438-384 in favor of a Traditional Plan that would reaffirm the language in the UMC's

Book of Discipline A Book of Discipline (or in its shortened form Discipline) is a book detailing the beliefs, standards, doctrines, canon law, and polity of a particular Christian denomination. They are often re-written by the governing body of the church concerne ...

banning the ordination of

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term i ...

clergy members and preventing clergy from performing same-sex marriages. Several progressives within the UMC began proposing a new denomination in response to this decision. Members of this progressive coalition referred to themselves as the "Liberationists" and discussed the possibility of a new denomination in the months following the General Conference. In January 2020, the UMC proposed the "Protocol of Grace and Separation" that would allow churches with traditional views towards LGBT issues to form a new Methodist denomination and provide the "post-separation" UMC to rescind the Traditional Plan. A vote on the Protocol, set for the May 2020 General Conference, was postponed until 2022. Members of the "Liberationist" coalition opted to advance their plan to form a new denomination rather than wait for the UMC to settle its stance on LGBT issues. The Liberation Methodist Connexion was formally announced on November 29, 2020. In December 2021, the organization published a press release detailing initial struggles within the LMX and outlining the denomination's statement of values and mission statement.

Beliefs

According to the Liberationist Methodist Connexion website, the denomination's doctrine is not "set in stone". In a presentation given announcing the LMX's founding, collaborators indicated that "correct action" will be prioritized over "correct doctrine".

References

{{Liberation theology LGBT and Christianity LGBT and Protestantism Methodism Methodist denominations established in the 21st century Methodist denominations Methodist denominations in North America Christian organizations established in 2020

Name

History

Beliefs

See also

References