By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor

A Texas megachurch has voted to disaffiliate from The United Methodist Church due to the mainline Protestant denomination’s ongoing debate over homosexuality as over 200 churches in the Lone Star State are considering disaffiliation.

The Woodlands Methodist Church, a congregation with approximately 14,200 members located in Woodlands, Texas, voted on Sunday to leave the UMC Texas Annual Conference.

According to an announcement from the church, about 3,000 members gathered at the church on Sunday and about 2,678 members — or 96.3% of those voting — supported disaffiliation.

Senior Pastor Mark Sorensen posted a video on the church’s website saying that the vote affirmed that “we are united in one vision and one clear mission.”

“We are ready to move on past the division and the differences that have been an ongoing distraction in our denomination for far too long,” said Sorensen. “Remember, we are changing to stay the same. With this vote, we are preserving the ministry that we know and love.”

Sorensen “offered a blessing” to those who wanted to remain in the UMC, suggesting it is “time to bless one another, even as we go our separate ways.”

“In this there is no victory, in this there is no winner or loser,” he added. “We are called to pray for and lift up others in whatever ministry God has calling us to now and in the future.”

According to the UMC Texas Annual Conference, more than 210 member congregations are considering disaffiliation from the denomination as of late July.