Four churches in the northwest district of North Dakota will disaffiliate from the Conference of the United Methodist Church, according to Rev. Mark Ehrmantraut, pastor at Vincent United Methodist Church in Minot. However, the two Methodist churches in Minot are not among them and will remain in the United Methodist conference.

The Methodist churches in Ashley, Bowman, Lehr, and Williston all voted to leave the conference last Saturday, said Ehrmantraut.

Under the terms of the agreement, churches that voted to disaffiliate from the conference will be permitted to buy their church buildings for the nominal fee of $1, according to Ehrmantraut, among other financial agreements.

The disaffiliation process included talks among people who belong to the congregation, voting by church members at the local level, and finally a vote at the general conference on Saturday.

Some more conservative congregations have decided to leave the conference due to differences in theology surrounding human sexuality and concerns that the Conference of the United Methodist Churches might change its rules in the future.

Ehrmantraut said United Methodist church pastors have discretion over whom they marry but the denominations Book of Discipline currently counsels against a pastor marrying a same-sex couple.

Some of those congregations that have chosen to disaffiliate have concerns that the doctrine about same-sex marriage in the church or ordination of sexually active members of the LGBT community. Nationwide, some Methodist churches that have chosen to disaffiliate have become members of the conservative Global Methodist Conference or to become nondenominational.

Ehrmantraut and Rev. Rick Craig, who is pastor at Faith United Methodist Church in Minot and Des Lacs United Methodist Church, both said that their congregations chose to stay in the United Methodist Church conference.

“We are focused on loving God and loving our neighbor,” said Ehrmantraut. He said church teaching is that all people are people of value and worth.

According to information provided by Erhmantraut, there are re 245 United Methodist Churches in the Dakotas (ND & SD) Conference of the UMC.