The Nigerian police on Sunday forced a church to shut down its service after members engaged in a serious fight.
Congregants of the United Methodist Church (UMC) in the Durumi District of Abuja, the nation’s capital city, fought themselves for several hours leading to the damage of its property.
Punch newspaper reported the police were forced to dismiss the service by spraying teargas after the members refused to sheath their swords.
The force also took some elders of the church to its station for interrogation.
The newspaper, quoting anonymous church members, said the rift among the elders had caused the plan to break away from its headquarters in the United States.
According to the report, some elders of the church are opposed to some practices of the American headquarters, which they described as alien to Nigeria’s culture.
“Our headquarters is in America and they have legalised some practices that are not part of our culture. Some elders were of the view that we should pull out, and give the church another name. But another set of elders kicked against the move. This created a faction in the church. At one point, they wanted to go to court, but I cannot say why they did not end up going.
“Today, while addressing the church during the service, our pastor announced that they would be heading to the court and expressed his wish that the church remains with the headquarters. That was what instigated the fight.
“I have never seen such a thing before in my life. The fight was so serious that when the police came they did not stop until they fired teargas. Some of the church elders were taken to the station for interrogation after the whole thing.
The police confirmed the incident to the newspaper.
Spokesperson of the command in Abuja, Josephine Adeh, said the FCT Police Commissioner, Bennett Igweh, had invited the elders to his office.
“The CP has invited all the church elders to come to the command by 10 am tomorrow (Monday).
UMC, according to Wikipedia, is a worldwide mainline protestant denomination based in the United States. It is a major part of Methodism.
In the 19th Century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelism. The present denomination was founded in 1968 in Dallas, Texas by the union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church.
The UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley. As of 2022, it had 5.4 million members and 29,746 churches in the US. As of 2022, the church had 9.9 million members and 38,460 churches worldwide. In 2015, the Pew Research Center estimated that 3.6 per cent of the U.S. population, or nine million adult adherents identified with the UMC.
On January 3, 2020, a group of Methodist leaders proposed a plan to split the UMC over issues of sexual orientation and create a new traditionalist Methodist denomination, the Global Methodist Church, which was formed in 2022.
Prior to the establishment of the Global Methodist Church, some Methodist congregant had already left the UMC to join the Free Methodist Church, a traditionalist Methodist denomination aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement.
As of December 2023, the number of UMC churches in the United States that were approved for disaffiliation stood at 7,660. In May 2024, the UMC General Conference repealed bans on LGBTQ clergy and same sex marriage.
UMC history
UMC, according to Wikipedia, is a worldwide mainline protestant denomination based in the United States. It is a major part of Methodism.
As of 2022, UMC had about 5.4 million members and 29,746 churches in the U.S. Also as of 2022, it had 9.9 million members and 39,460 churches worldwide.
On January 3, 2020, a group of Methodist leaders proposed a plan to split the UMC over issues of sexual orientation (particularly same sex marriage) and create a new traditionalist Methodist denomination. The Global Methodist Church was formed in 2022. In May, 2024, the UMC General Conference repealed bans on LGBTQ and same sex marriage.
Prior to the UMC May 2024 General Conference, it had rules, found in the Book of Discipline that prohibited same sex unions and the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals. Many progressive UMC leaders and churches, especially in the United States, are supportive of gay marriage and ignored the injunctions in the Book of Discipline. Many conservative members of the UMC did not like the trend of the church trending towards endorsing gay marriage and hence, have initiated movements to split-off from the UMC.
UMC was first established in Nigeria 100 years ago.
