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Excerpt from news.google.com
The mostly theologically liberal United Methodist Church and the theologically conservative Global Methodist Church are each claiming control of a regional body based in Nigeria.
The UMC Nigerian Episcopal Area comprises four regional bodies known as annual conferences, with a reported 560,000 members.
The GM Church released a statement on Wednesday announcing that its Transitional Leadership Council officially welcomed Nigerian Bishop Johnwesley Yohanna and the four annual conferences into membership with their denomination.
According to the conservative denomination, the Southern Nigeria, Central Nigeria, Northern Nigeria and Northeast Nigeria Conferences voted unanimously to end their affiliation with the UMC and join them.
However, days before the GM Church released its announcement, the UMC Council of Bishops issued a statement saying that Yohanna had resigned as bishop and the liberal denomination had appointed an interim leadership team for the Nigerian Episcopal Area.
