From the pulpit, Aaron Tiger opened his Bible to the book of Philippians and surveyed his new flock.
During a year-end Sunday service at Christ Church on Harvard in Tulsa, Christmas trees lined the stage and a band played the final notes of praise and worship songs. Tiger took a moment to thank the family and friends in attendance who had welcomed him to his new church home.
Like thousands of others across the country who once belonged to the United Methodist Church, Tiger is no longer affiliated with the organization that has shaped much of his life.
Born in a small town in Oklahoma, Tiger grew up following his family around the state as his father, a United Methodist pastor, was "called" to lead different congregations.
Tiger, 39, said he accepted Jesus Christ as his savior at a church camp in high school before attending college at a Methodist university. There, he met his wife, Heather, and the two were married in a United Methodist church before Tiger left for seminary to become a pastor.
"I was a cradle United Methodist," Tiger said. "All of my experience in church was in a United Methodist context. All I knew was this United Methodist world."
Then, Tiger said he felt called to a new direction.
Still scenes inside Christ Church on Harvard in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The congregation of around 500 people disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church earlier this year. Photos courtesy of Christ Church on Harvard
After years of uncertainty, debate and discussion about the future of the United Methodist Church, Tiger helped lead his church in Mustang, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City, through the disaffiliation process in October. Ultimately, he left that church and started at Christ Church in Tulsa, which had also disaffiliated from the UMC.
In the last four years, more than 7,600 congregations across the U.S. have received approval to leave the United Methodist Church, according to a count by United Methodist News. Nearly three-quarters of those exits occurred this year.
This significant transformation came after delegates at a special session of the UMC General Conference in 2019 approved a temporary policy of disaffiliation, a response to disagreements over theology and church policy, including those dealing with LGBTQ+ issues.
While some church leaders have left because they want to overhaul church teachings to permit same-sex marriages and allow ordination of gay clergy, many more joined the Global Methodist Church, a more conservative breakaway denomination, which stands by the UMC's current rules prohibiting same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly LGBTQ+ people.
The vote allowed churches to leave the denomination and retain their property in exchange for an exit fee. That policy is set to expire by the end of the year, though some regional groups, known as annual conferences, are looking at ways to extend it. As that yearslong window closes on Dec. 31, about a quarter of United Methodist churches have left the denomination.
A pedestrian walks past a sign reading "All Are Welcome Here" at Brown Street United Methodist Church in downtown in Lafayette, Indiana in 2015. Photo by Nate Chute/Reuters
Ryan Burge, a political science professor at Eastern Illinois University, said the break-up in the United Methodist church was built on being the moderate option for Christians in America, but the growth of the faith in Africa has pushed the church to maintain a more conservative stance on sexual mores.
The money and the donors for the church are in America, with the growth overseas in Africa, has led to a crossroads for the UMC, Burge said.
"It's hard to be in the same denomination when you disagree about something so fundamental about your faith," he said.
Churches have also cited falling attendance numbers and a lack of growth within the denomination as additional reasons to leave.
"There were these huge divisions within the United Methodist Church, and I just couldn't see a way forward," Tiger said. "We were more concerned about our will being done, and I just kept thinking, 'This isn't the purpose of the church.'"
Standing in front of his new congregation of roughly 250 people on the last Sunday of November, Tiger highlighted the promise of the Christmas season. He emphasized the hope new change can bring and the anticipation of the work still to be done. It was also the first Sunday of the Advent season, the four-week period in the Christian church calendar that leads up to the celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
"Advent is this great season of both waiting and receiving," Tiger told the PBS NewsHour. "For me it was just such a gift because we had been waiting for this change. It feels amazing to be moving forward finally."
In Oklahoma, nearly 130 churches have departed the denomination. As a result, the United Methodist Church has lost its position as the second-largest faith group in the state. It now trails the Oklahoma Southern Baptists, which has 1,767 churches statewide.
Some of Oklahoma's largest United Methodist churches, by attendance, led the way in disaffiliation. In Tulsa, Asbury, First United Methodist Church-Tulsa, and St. James-Tulsa left the denomination, as did St. Luke's in Oklahoma City, which was the largest United Methodist church in the state. Some churches have filed separate lawsuits against the United Methodist Church over the disaffiliation process.
A smaller number in Oklahoma left the denomination to be more inclusive.
The Rev. Bob Long, senior pastor of St. Luke's, said before the church overwhelmingly voted to leave the United Methodist Church, its primary concern was the denomination's ban on same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly gay clergy.
"We don't agree with that at all," he told The Oklahoman. "We're going to be inclusive. We're going to be welcoming to all our children of God."
St. Luke's in Oklahoma City was the largest United Methodist Church in the state until its congregation voted to disaffiliate from the denomination in March. Photo by Adam Kemp/PBS NewsHour
Lance McDaniel, 54, found a welcoming and accepting church family when he started attending St. Luke's more than a decade ago. McDaniel said he felt his faith strengthened through acts of service with his fellow congregation members.
As a lifelong Methodist, McDaniel said he was hesitant at first when the talks of disaffiliation started. But when it became evident that neither his church nor its core mission would be altered by the congregation's desire to leave the UMC, he felt more at ease.
"I've always felt welcomed and loved at St. Luke's," McDaniel said. "And I think especially right now as gay people are targeted so politically in Oklahoma, I think it's important for churches to be explicit that everyone is welcomed. That's the important part of St. Luke's disaffiliation to me."
For Tiger, he wants anyone attending Christ Church on Harvard to feel welcomed because he believes "God's love is for everyone."
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Tiger said. "So if we take that seriously, then hopefully every church that disaffiliated is an inclusive church."
Despite the many departures and legal challenges, leaders of the Oklahoma United Methodist Church expressed optimism and identified opportunities for growth.
Derrek Belase, the director of connectional ministries for the Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church, said at the administrative level, the loss of so many churches has caused waves within the denomination. For the churches that stayed, their day-to-day hasn't changed much.
"I'm always asking, 'Where do we need to reach people now?'" Belase said. "But local churches are doing great work and focused on their ministries."
Belase also pointed to where disaffiliations have left gaps in the UMC's presence across Oklahoma. Pastors have tried to fill in from other churches or through online services to make sure those congregants seeking a United Methodist experience get it, he said.
Belase added that the other focus for UMC leaders is making sure those who are without a church home now find their way into a new community.
Belase had attended New Covenant Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City, before it ultimately disaffiliated in March. Belase said the United Methodist Church has designated "lighthouse" churches this year to support displaced Methodists. The goal is to identify those existing churches for anyone, like Belase and his family, who said they felt traumatized by losing their place of worship and community.
"It's a safe place for people who have been hurt by disaffiliation," Belase said. "It's so hard when you lose your whole community. All the sudden, it's not your church anymore."
Belase said, as is the case for most nonprofits, the Christmas season and the end of the year is important for the United Methodist Church, as it is often when it sees its biggest monetary donations. While the rash of disaffiliations has caused some financial uncertainties for the denomination, church leaders are actively working to support and strengthen the remaining congregations.
Despite UMC's optimism now, the effects of this schism might not be realized for years to come, Burge said.
"Growing is fun, and declining is not fun," Burge said, adding that the UMC will have to make some difficult decisions going forward, such as how many people they can employ, how many seminaries they have, and how many churches they need.
"This is going to have a long tail for the UMC," he added.
The effect of the exits on the UMC's budget and ministries will become clearer after the General Conference next year, when there will be another chance for LGBTQ+ supporters to propose changes to the church's rules and teachings. At the gathering, which is scheduled for April and May in Charlotte, North Carolina, delegates could also vote to regionalize the church, which could lead to locally determined rules about ordination for LBGTQ+ people and and same-sex marriage.
Right now, churches around Oklahoma are focusing on the season at hand, Belase said. Whether they are United Methodist or not, he said he believes in the good work being done by all this time of year.
"Churches are re-centering themselves as we are in this liminal space," he added. "We are all doing our best to serve the kingdom."
Aaron Tiger, 39, leads a Sunday morning service at Christ Church on Harvard in Tulsa. Tiger had been a United Methodist pastor for 13 years before disaffiliating from the denomination in 2023. Image courtesy of Christ Church on Harvard
For Tiger, he's still getting used to the idea of no longer being a United Methodist pastor. He's excited for the opportunity at Christ Church on Harvard and for the ministry work he has lined up, but he's also aware of whom and what he's left behind.
As an attendee at the annual conference for the past 13 years, Tiger said one of his favorite traditions was gathering together to sing "And Are We Yet Alive." The 1749 hymn is dedicated to pastors who convene at the conference to reflect on the past year and give thanks to God for keeping each other protected, even in the absence of one another.
Tiger said he thinks about his dad, who will still be there at the conference singing that hymn without him.
"The call of God is greater than a denomination," Tiger said. "My biggest griefs are that there are people I love and respect, and I won't get to see them in those moments anymore."