Nearly one-third of churches split from regional Methodist church body amid ongoing schism about sexuality

Hundreds of churches split from a regional body of the United Methodist Church (UMC) over the weekend as the second-largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. continues to hemorrhage congregations.

Delegates at a special session of the UMC's North Carolina Conference voted 957-165 on Saturday to approve the departure of 249 conservative congregations in the regional body that wanted to be disaffiliated from the mainline denomination effective Dec. 31.

The number of churches leaving is roughly 32% of the conference's member churches, and they are taking with them about 22% of...