Board of large Georgia congregation to vote on withholding apportionments Board of large Georgia congregation to vote on withholding apportionments Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New York, and Washington. A task force, created in response to these motions, will report its findings to the church's administrative body, the 250-member Board of Stewards. With more than 5,000 members, the church is one of the largest in Georgia. Payment of these funds has been temporarily suspended.
Conflicting reports exist on the cause of the move.
The church's senior pastor, the Rev. Charles Sineath, did not respond to phone calls from United Methodist News Service. The qualifying factors are so limited that the Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe, dean of the Emory chapel, said it is unlikely such a ceremony would ever take place. The Wesleyan Christian Advocate , weekly newspaper of Georgia United Methodism, reported that individuals close to the situation have said Emory was only the catalyst for some members who harbor a long-simmering dissatisfaction with the denomination. Creation of the task force occurred at a called meeting on Jan. 25 that lasted more than three hours. A notice in the church's bulletin on Feb. 8 said the task force was studying reasons for the denomination's declining membership.