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Senator proposes compromise to let United Methodist congregations leave while requiring reimbursement for conference investments
Summary
Sen. C. Anthony Muse sought a favorable report on an amendment to Senate Bill 586 that would allow local United Methodist churches to disaffiliate and retain property if they reimburse conferences for documented investments; witnesses and committee members questioned accounting, timelines and deed language.
Sen. C. Anthony Muse, Maryland state senator representing Prince George’s County, urged the House Economic Matters Committee to report favorably on Senate Bill 586 with an amendment that would let local United Methodist congregations disaffiliate and retain ownership of their property provided they reimburse their conference for documented financial investments.
Muse said the amendment aims to address what he called an inequitable application of a trust clause that, he said, “has been carried out” in practice to require congregations to pay large sums in order to leave the denomination. “This amendment does not say that the Methodist Church is not owed anything,” Muse said. “It says if they are owed anything, it's gotta be paid off.”
The amendment, as Muse described it, would: require a disaffiliating local church to reimburse a conference for the total amount the conference invested in real property used by the…
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