The United Methodist Church has regained control of a now-empty building as a breakaway congregation in Pensacola has moved to a storefront and turned over control of the 300-seat sanctuary.

Four years ago, 80 members of Warrington United Methodist Church voted to leave the denomination, said the Rev. Ted Johnson, a former United Methodist minister who is now, like the congregation, affiliated with the Association of Independent Methodists.

“It was a unanimous thing,” Johnson said. “It was everybody in our congregation.”

The Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church announced this month it had taken back control of the property, crediting its legal team that has been fighting in court against dozens of breakaway congregations.

“The Board of Trustees of the Alabama-West Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church is pleased to announce that we have successfully regained possession of the Warrington United Methodist Church property, located on East Winthrop Avenue in Pensacola,” the conference said in a released statement. “This resolution comes after a period of unauthorized actions taken by the former pastor and members of the congregation, who attempted to separate from our conference in 2021 without following the proper procedures outlined by paragraph 2553 of The Book of Discipline.”

The congregation left improperly, the board said.

“Despite efforts to circumvent the official disaffiliation process, including an improper change of the church’s name and deed, the dedicated work of our legal team has ensured that this historic property remains within The United Methodist Church,” the board said.

Johnson said the congregation offered more than $100,000 for the property, but its offer was refused.

The congregation moved to a storefront about three miles away, Johnson said.

“We had put a lot of money into the facility,” he said, noting that it burned in 1968 and has since suffered hurricane damage multiple times.

“We don’t really have the money to fight, to invest in the court system,” Johnson said. “We went with the best advice we could, which was to walk away.”

The Alabama-West Florida Conference legal team didn’t win a court battle in this case, he said.

“They didn’t win anything,” Johnson said. “We gave it to them.”

Unlike other congregations that have filed lawsuits arguing their property was owned by the congregation and not owned by the Alabama-West Florida Conference, Warrington’s breakaway members never disputed the denomination’s trust clause that says the conference owns the property.

“Our church was put there as a missional church in 1947,” Johnson said. “There is no denying that there was a trust clause.”

There is a mortgage of more than $100,000 on the church property stemming from a $125,000 loan to make repairs on the sanctuary, which was in poor condition after Hurricane Sally tore up the roof in 2020, Johnson said.

The conference will have to take up that expense, he said. Insurance, utilities and maintenance had been costing the congregation about $100,000 or more a year, he said.

The conference didn’t offer financial help after the fire or the hurricanes and only took interest in the small congregation after it voted to leave, Johnson said.

“It’s the only time they expressed any interest in the property,” he said.

The congregation, now just called Warrington Church, began meeting in the storefront on Feb. 23.

“We’ve already moved on,” Johnson said. “We’re out on the main road now, so we can be seen. We’re not tucked away in a neighborhood.”

Some members of the congregation were sad about leaving a building that had many sentimental memories attached to it, but they have committed to decorating their new home and making it vibrant, he said.

“We converted a vape shop into a worship center,” Johnson said. “It’s been a pretty exciting experience.”

It also changed the mood from a declining church to a start-up with a solid core of members, he said.

“It has really given a breath of fresh air to our ministry,” Johnson said. “It’s all fresh. It’s a miracle of God. You don’t feel a shadow over top of you.”

Johnson said he feels like he’s now preaching to a full church.

“We’ve got 60 chairs in there,” he said of the storefront. “I see a full church. Before, I saw one that was mostly empty. It’s a matter of perspective. They feel loved, because they’re close to one another.”

Johnson said he expects that the conference will likely demolish the former Warrington United Methodist Church and sell it for more than it would have been worth as a church, perhaps more than $800,000.

“I think they’ll sell it to a developer,” Johnson said. “It’s worth more money without a church on it. They’ve got the building, and they can do whatever they want with it. But old buildings got old problems.”

And now there’s no congregation paying the bills on what had become an outdated building, he said. “It’s not user-friendly.”

But the conference is considering starting a new congregation in the building.

“The Warrington United Methodist Church property has been a place of worship, service, and spiritual growth since 1956,” said the Rev. Emily Kincaid, chair of the board of trustees for the Alabama-West Florida Conference. “Regaining this property ensures that we will be able to use, lease, or sell this property for the purposes of mission and ministry for the Alabama-West Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church.”

Several committees are working to determine the best use for the property, she said.

“As we move forward, we celebrate this opportunity to renew and revitalize ministry in this location,” Kincaid said. “The Board of Trustees, the Board of Congregational Development, and the Panhandle Board of District Location and Buildings are already discerning the best path forward for this church property.”

The Warrington congregation voted to leave in 2021 over what it felt was a denominational drift away from traditional theology, long before the United Methodist Church changed its official policy in 2024 to support same-sex marriage and openly LGBTQ clergy.

“It was not ever just about their viewpoint about sexual orientation,” Johnson said. “They don’t support Israel. That was a problem for our folks.”

As for the former congregation, the pastor of Warrington Church said the move to leasing has freed up funds that it can spend on ministry and outreach rather than building upkeep.

“Cost-wise, we’ll spend less money renting than being in that building,” Johnson said. “These folks are looking forward to Easter Sunday and a Resurrection morning.”

The Alabama-West Conference continues to fight numerous court battles against congregations that left the United Methodist Church and are trying to keep their historic church properties.

“We appreciate the prayers and support of United Methodists across our Conference as we remain committed to upholding the integrity of our church’s polity and theology,” the board of trustees said in its statement. “Together, we look forward to what God has in store for us as we take each faithful step, with God’s help.”