On October 30, 2022, Culpeper United Methodist Church held a special called conference to discuss and vote on the “Program to Explore Possible Disaffiliation of CUMC from the United Methodist Church”. At that special called conference, the congregation in attendance voted to approve the exploratory program. As part of that program, focus groups were held during January and February 2023.

 

During those focus groups, the Leadership Team received feedback from members of the congregation that they wanted more information about the human sexuality issue within the UMC and possible disaffiliation from the UMC. At the same time, some members expressed a desire to share information with the congregation that they are using to make their decision on this issue.