Over the past few years, the United Methodist Church has been caught in a schism over its stance on LGBTQ rights, and thousands of churches worldwide have been caught in the crossfire — including those in Butler County.

The dividing line isn’t just running between congregations. It’s running right through the pews of individual churches, separating people who had long worshipped together.

Those who come up on the short end of a disaffiliation vote face the dilemma of whether stay or go.

The splintering — often grievous and tense — has spurred new initiatives to provide havens for the unmoored. Some United Methodist regional conferences have begun designating “Lighthouse” congregations — ones that actively welcome people who wanted to stay United Methodist but whose former churches voted to leave. Other conferences use different names, such as “Beacon” or “Oasis,” but the idea is the same.

Nixon United Methodist Church on Airport Road is among those churches that have chosen to — not only stay loyal to the United Methodist Church — but also welcome families from churches that make the decision to break away.

The Penn Township church has chosen to become a Lighthouse Congregation, acting as a landing place for those seeking a new United Methodist church, according to its pastor, the Rev. B.T. Gilligan.

Nixon is one of 17 such Lighthouse Congregations in Western Pennsylvania, and the first in Butler County.

“We just wanted to be a place for those who have been hurt by disaffiliation,“ said Gilligan, who has been with Nixon for six years. ”We just wanted to offer them rest and comfort.“

About a third of the estimated 800 churches in the Western Pennsylvania Conference — a sprawling 23-county region — have inquired about disaffiliating, according to Liz Lennox, director of communications for the Western Pennsylvania UMC.

Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi, of the Western Pennsylvania UMC, said “very few votes” have been unanimous.

For those on the short end of those votes — sometimes described as pilgrims — the Lighthouse congregations offer places where they can join or just find temporary harbor until they figure out next steps.

But Lighthouse churches aren’t places to settle into old routines, Moore-Koikoi said.

“This has been an opportunity to really think about folks who are unchurched, and how this nucleus of people looking for a church home might help us discern needs in the community and create faith communities (to reach people in new ways),” Moore-Koikoi said.

As part of the process of becoming a Lighthouse Congregation, members of Nixon have received training in how to welcome members of disaffiliated churches into the fold. Already, according to Gilligan, two new families have joined the church.

“I really hope this extends and goes far beyond the disaffiliation, but allows for people who have been hurt by churches for all different kinds of reasons,” Gilligan said.

Thousands of United Methodist congregations have been voting on whether to stay or quit one of the nation’s largest denominations amid intractable debates over theology and the role of LGBTQ people. There are sharp differences over recognizing same-sex marriage and ordaining LGBTQ clergy.

At the 2019 General Conference in St. Louis, the UMC reaffirmed its stance on homosexuality by upholding bans on same-sex marriage and the ordination of "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" as clergy. At that same meeting, the church also added Paragraph 2553 to its Book of Discipline, effectively writing up an exit plan for any churches that wanted to disaffiliate.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the General Conference has not been held since and is next scheduled to be held in 2024. Over the past three years, the United Methodist Church — at least in the United States — has taken tentative steps toward possibly accepting homosexuality, including ordaining its second-ever openly gay bishop, Cedrick Bridgeforth, in November.

Since 2019, the United Methodist Church has approved the disaffiliation of more than 2,000 member churches. So far, none of those have been in the Pittsburgh area.

However, with the Western Pennsylvania UMC’s annual conference scheduled for June 14 to 17, that isn’t expected to last for long. The first day of the conference is a special session dedicated to voting on disaffiliating member churches.

The process of disaffiliating is a long and cumbersome one. After initiating conversations with the district superintendent, a disaffiliating church must set up a vote with its members, and that vote must be at least a two-thirds majority to proceed.

After that, the UMC makes the disaffiliating church aware of the financial obligations that come with leaving. These include paying the United Methodist Church 2% of its assessed property value along with two years worth of its apportionment.

A second vote is then taken among the church members, which also must be a two-thirds majority. After the member church meets its financial obligations, the disaffiliation only becomes official if voting members at next month’s Western Pennsylvania conference approve it.

“It’s our hope to make this process as fair and transparent as possible,” Lennox said.

“Our intention is not to grow the membership of these Lighthouse Churches,” Lennox continued. “Our intention is just to care for them during this time.”

The concept of the Lighthouse Congregation did not originate in Western Pennsylvania. It was the brainchild of retired Florida pastor Steve Harper and first spread throughout the North Carolina and Western North Carolina chapters before coming to the Keystone State.

"The pain is real, and there is a lot of grief and a lot of heartache over the split in the United Methodist Church,” said the Rev. Lynda Ferguson, the great-grandchild of a circuit-riding Methodist pastor.

Her North Carolina church, First United Methodist Asheboro, became a Lighthouse congregation. That assures newcomers that it’s committed to staying United Methodist, so they won’t have to worry about another disaffiliation vote. More than 400 congregations have disaffiliated in North Carolina.

Ferguson said she can personally relate to those from departing congregations. Her childhood church — the one that shaped her faith and where at age 12 she felt the call to ministry — also voted to leave.

"Part of the Lighthouse mission is to let people know the United Methodist Church is still here and still welcoming,” said the Rev. Ed McKinney, pastor of Stokesdale United Methodist Church in Stokesdale, N.C., which also became a Lighthouse congregation.

Michael Hahn and his family are among a group of newcomers who have begun participating in Stokesdale after their previous congregations left the denomination.

Hahn, whose family has been Methodist for generations, said he couldn’t imagine leaving the denomination, which he values for blending faith and rationality: “It’s a place where I don’t have to check my logic and reason at the door and blindly accept things.”

Hahn said he, his wife and daughters have found “a very warm and welcoming environment” in the Stokesdale congregation, with people saying, "We’re glad to have you here; we want to walk through this period with you.”

Many of the departing churches are joining the conservative Global Methodist Church, created last year. Others are going independent or joining different denominations.

While the Global Methodist Church doesn’t have a program like the Lighthouse initiative, it has begun launching or adopting congregations that can become homes for those who want to leave the United Methodist Church but whose congregations are staying.

That was the case with the founders of Grace Methodist Church. They launched the church in January in Homosassa, Fla., after their previous congregation voted to stay in the UMC. The new church immediately affiliated with the Global Methodist Church.

Grace Methodist has been renting a former lodge hall for its services and has already started Bible studies and community outreaches, while also working to attract attendees from their neighborhood.

“We’re not there just to go to church on Sunday for an hour; we’re there to help the community," said member Neil Kline. The enthusiasm of participants is evident, he said: “They can’t wait to get to church, and they don’t want to leave.”

The Rev. Bill Farmer came out of retirement to serve as the church's pastor. He said he reached the point where he couldn’t stay in the United Methodist Church anymore — but the congregation he attended was staying.

The group's previous congregation “was a good church,” Farmer said, and he wished it well. But “my struggle was with the United Methodist structure, what’s going on in the United States, particularly."

More than 3,500 U.S. congregations have received their local conferences’ permission to disaffiliate from the UMC, according to United Methodist News Service. With conference season underway, disaffiliations are closing in on 4,000 and could rise even more by the end of the year, said the Rev. Jay Therrell, president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, a conservative group advocating for departing congregations.

Any churches affiliated with the United Methodist Church that are looking to disaffiliate under Paragraph 2553 have until Dec. 31 to do so.