Pinopolis UMC Separation

Dear friends,

The Pinopolis United Methodist Church (PUMC) was founded in the “Village” of Pinopolis South Carolina in 1897 and is located about 36 miles inland from Charleston, SC and the Atlantic Ocean. Church membership is a little more than 200. The church’s vision is “Seeing lives transformed through a personal relationship with the living Christ.” To make this vision a reality, God is calling PUMC to Worship, Witness, Welcome, and Work. The church serves in the local community and beyond. Examples of local outreach include repairing homes of the needy, food distribution, fund raising for cancer research, and assistance to socially and medically challenged individuals. Beyond the local area, the church’s support outreach has been as far as Mississippi with hurricane relief and Kentucky’s Red Bird Mission work. International outreach has been as far as Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

To more effectively accomplish its vision and own its church facilities and property, the congregation of the PUMC is separating from the United Methodist Church (UMC) and creating the Pinopolis Community Church (PCC). To separate, the PUMC must complete what the UMC calls a “Separation Process” which ends on June 30, 2023 when the transaction will be closed. A part of that process is a requirement that PUMC pay certain costs including 10% of the church campus’s appraised value. The total cost to separate is approximately $140,000 which must be placed in escrow with the UMC South Carolina Conference by May 31, 2023. Pinopolis Community Church (PCC) has been incorporated as a 501 (c) 3 in SC and is trying to gather as much of the $140,000 through donations as is possible. To help with this cause, PCC has started a campaign called the Move Forward fund. If the total amount needed is not raised through donations, PCC will have to acquire a loan to cover the difference. As of May 14, 2023, approximately $30,000 had been raised. Thus far, donations have come from PUMC and other church members, frequent attendees, and others in the local area. The church is using the Go Fund Me page to help it complete its separation from the UMC and ask that all who can do so to please send a donation. For more information, donors can contact the PUMC office at [phone redacted] on Monday-Thursday 9 AM to 1 PM or by email at [email redacted]. The church’s website is pumc.churchtrac.com. If donations exceed the $140,000 needed to separate from the UMC, the church will use those funds for campus capital projects and operational costs that will further its vision accomplishment.

Thank you very much for your assistance.

Yours in Christ!

PUMC Organizational Team.