#2019 UMC Special Session of the General Conference

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Trudy Ring at The Advocate:

The United Methodist Church opened its General Conference Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C., and one of the key issues delegates are expected to vote on is whether to reverse anti-LGBTQ+ positions the denomination has taken over the years — and which many congregations are ignoring and church leaders are largely not enforcing.

Why have LGBTQ+ issues become a focus of the meeting?

Supporters of LGBTQ+ equality have been trying for years to get the church to rescind its homophobic policies, without success. Since 1972, the church’s Book of Discipline has included this language: “The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” It was added as the gay rights movement gathered steam. The church also does not officially condone same-sex marriages or ordain out LGBTQ+ clergy members — but such marriages have taken place in United Methodist congregations, and there are numerous LGBTQ+ people among Methodist ministers. Some LGBTQ+ clergy have been expelled when they came out, but many remain. The denomination failed to formally lift the anti-LGBTQ+ policies at its previous General Conference, held in 2016, at any earlier ones, or at a special conference called in 2019 specifically to address LGBTQ+ issues. The General Conference is usually held every four years, but the 2020 event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving it to the 2024 conference to deal with these matters.

[...]

What is the likelihood that these changes will be approved?

There has been resistance from conservative congregations, to the point that United Methodist leaders decided the differences were irreconcilable. In 2020, the church hierarchy unveiled a plan for disaffiliation from the denomination, and more than 7,600 of the church’s congregations around the world have left, either becoming independent or affiliating with the conservative Global Methodist Church. They represent about one-quarter of the church’s total. Given that many conservative congregations have left the denomination, it's likely that the church will move in a pro-LGBTQ+ direction is strong. But some observers warn that resistance remains. The Religion and Social Change Lab at Duke University in North Carolina recently surveyed clergy and congregations in the state and found that one-fourth of the remaining clergy did not want to allow LGBTQ+ ministers and a third were against same-sex marriage, NPR reports. “I’d also been left with the impression that this split would make the United Methodist Church a more progressive denomination, and in some ways, amongst the clergy, that has happened,” David Eagle, who runs the lab, told NPR. “But amongst congregations, congregations still remain very evenly divided both theologically and politically.”

[...]

Another possibility is that delegates will simply agree to disagree on LGBTQ+ issues. That “would essentially codify what’s already happening within the church: more liberal conferences such as those in southern California would continue to ordain LGBTQ clergy and allow ministers to perform same-sex weddings while more conservative conferences such as those in the southern U.S. or parts of Africa would not allow such ordinations or weddings,” according to NPR. Conference delegates took a step in this direction Thursday. They approved five of eight proposals to change the structure of the church, giving regional bodies greater control over policies. "The most critical of those five petitions was a constitutional amendment that effectively creates an entirely new system of regional authority worldwide, thereby putting regional bodies in both the U.S. and in other countries on equal footing," The Tennessean reports. U.S. regional bodies have usually had more power than those overseas. In this new structure, more progressive regions would likely be LGBTQ-affirming, while those in conservative areas would keep restrictions in place. Conservative delegates, however, tended to oppose regionalization largely because it would pave the way for greater acceptance of LGBTQ+ people.

The United Methodist Church has been facing a schism in recent years, and LGBTQ+ issues are the key driver. A sizable amount of the more conservative churches disaffiliated from the UMC in favor of either going independent or join the Global Methodist Church.

The General Conference is likely to repeal the denomination's anti-LGBTQ+ laws.

[viewwrangler]

Schism! ... sort of.

LGBTQ United Methodist leaders gutted by church's anti-gay decision (nbcnews.com)

The United Methodist Church recently strengthened its ban on openly gay clergy and same-sex marriages.  March 23, 2019, 11:45 AM CDT By James Michael Nichols 

When the Rev. Mark Thompson resolved to come out of the closet more than a decade ago, he was 50 years old.Thompson was a pastor of a United Methodist Church in Lansing, Michigan, with a wife and three adult children. But he had reached a spiritual impasse in which he could no longer deny his true identity. The year was 2008....

[...] Thompson [...] , and countless others, had previously hoped that a vote during a special session of the UMC’s general conference last month would change the course of the church’s relationship with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.The vote, however, not only strengthened the church’s ban on openly gay clergy and same-sex marriages, but also increased penalties for future violations. 

[...]  What passed at the special session of the conference is known as the “Traditional Plan.” Many progressive United Methodists were hoping for the “One Church Plan” to pass instead, which would have allowed individual religious institutions to make decisions about their own policies regarding LGBTQ issues. A third plan, the “Connectional Conference Plan,” received minimal support by comparison....

[...]   Some jurisdictions of the UMC, including the Western Jurisdiction, which covers a large swath of the western U.S., and Germany, have stated that they will pursue the “One Church Plan” and continue to ordain church leaders regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity...

So basically, the Methodists are in a geographical and philosophical schism. They just aren’t calling it that. Yet.

I wonder if the Methodists have interdict ... I mean, what happens to nonconforming congregations? If they were Catholic or Episcopal, the path would be fairly clear; if the churches failed to be called to heel, there would be a ceremony to formally expel the nonconforming churches -- and given the shape of this rebellion, entire countries -- from the communion. The path here may not be quite so clear. (England has been placed under interdict by the Catholic Church a few times: by Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, for some fairly complicated reasons having to do with the prerogatives of the church and the monarchy, continued by the pope for the murder of Becket thereafter; for King John’s refusal to accept a person appointed by the pope to be Archbishop of Canterbury [and religious leader of England], for Elizabeth I declaring England to be a protestant state -- I’m not sure that one has ever been repealed, actually. And, remarkably one, and only one, church in the US was placed under local interdict for refusing to accept a black bishop in a mostly white church.)

Presumably, the Western Jurisdiction may be expelled from the larger church, but with that sharp a disagreement over what constitutes someone worthy to be considered ... well, a person, with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereunto, it’s unclear how much that may matter to either side. That said, the One Church plan allowed for congregations to leave the Methodists while retaining their property; the Traditional Plan does not. So one would expect that the nonconforming congregations would not leave, officially, and that there will be several quite messy lawsuits in several countries as they figure out exactly how this schism thing works.

Meanwhile...

Arizona Methodist congregations double down on their acceptance of LGBTQ persons after church vote (azcentral.com)

[...]  "We've made it very clear that we can't abide by, really, the book of Discipline as it is now," Procter-Murphy said. "We will be resisting this, so what form that takes, I don't know at this point."

Yeah, that’s ... pretty much a textbook definition of schism. The beginnings, anyway.

[firstumcschenectady]

"God's Peace – In the Midst of the Storm” based on Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32 and Mark 4:35-41

Two years ago at the Upper New York Annual Conference, Bishop Sandra Steiner Ball guest preached for the ordination and commissioning service. She preached on this text, and what she said was memorable enough that I can no longer hear this passage without her interpretation of it.

You may remember that two years ago the United Methodist world was in turmoil over the passage of “The Traditional Plan” at the 2019 Special Session of General Conference. That is, our denomination has been explicitly homophobic since 1972. Thanks to the decades of work by organizers, activists, and people of conscience there was sufficient pressure to create change. A special session of our denomination's global legislative was called to respond to the church's continued exclusion of God's LGBTQIA+ people. There were several proposals on the table that brought positive change, and one that multiplied the harm already being done.

I still remember standing in shock after the final vote was taken, and watching my phone explode with the global news outlet alerts that – as the NYTimes put it “United Methodists Tighten Ban on Same-Sex Marriage and Gay Clergy.” The homophobia of this denomination had already been an abomination, yet people stayed knowing that the best way to bring change was from the inside. It was long, hard work, but we had felt confidence that God's Spirit of Love would win in the long run. The decision to pass the Traditional Plan changed all that, and made it clear that over the long run people of conscience CANNOT stay in a homophobic denomination.

That was February. We were still reeling, grieving, and furious when Annual Conference came. Thanks be to God, we'd also organized, and Upper New York will be sending a very different delegation to the next General Conference (whenever the pandemic allows that to happen). Nevertheless, the conviction remained for progressives and even many moderates: one way or another, we will NOT STAY in a homophobic denomination. One way or another, we will be part of a church that welcomes all of God's people, and soon.

It was into that reality that Bishop Steiner Ball preached. And she did so as a guest preacher in an Annual Conference whose Bishop had been a leader in writing and passing The Traditional plan. She took this passage and asked us to stay in the boat with Jesus. She acknowledged the storm raging around us, she named the reasons we would have to simply bail on the entire endeavor, she made space for hurt, anger, and fear. At the same time, she claimed that Jesus was in the boat with us, in the midst of the storm, and powerful enough to respond to the storm. She believed that Jesus could bring resolution, IF we just stayed in the boat. She offered that while the storm was raging so strongly it could be tempting to just jump into the sea, that the sea itself was not without its own issues. She urged us to stay long enough for Jesus to act, to bring resolution, to find a way forward for the people called Methodists.12

Here we are, two years later, still in that storm, and still with Jesus. The biggest change is that with the global pandemic, we are dealing with multiple storms at once. The storm that is the pandemic keeps United Methodists from gathering to split into different denominations that will be able to live their own faith with integrity. The storm that is the church's homophobia prevents the denomination from being able to speak with moral authority, even of issues of death and dying brought on by the pandemic.

So here we are, in a boat, in the midst of raging storms. But, Bishop Steiner Ball says that Jesus is in the boat with us. Further, she reminds us that Jesus is able to calm the storms.

I am aware that the global pandemic storms, and the global church storms are themselves far from the only storms attacking our boats.

In truth, I suspect that for many of us the storms raging most strongly are inside us. Narratives and traumas from our childhoods continue to attack within. Existential anxiety has its way with us, often in ways we don't even see. Assumptions about others, fear of the the unknown, and a tendency to see enemies were there are only people who are different also keep us on the defensive. The whole world turning upside down on us, not yet being righted, and likely to find a balance somewhere other than where it used to be obviously doesn't help either. People are comforted by the familiar, which means that the past 15 months have been particularly discomforting at exactly the time we've most needed comfort.

Which is all to say that I think there are storms raging within us, probably all of us to a greater or lesser extent.

To support this theory, mental health professionals have never been so busy. Now, I'd say that in an ideal world, we'd all get regular mental health care as a means of simply being healthy. But most of the time, most people don't seek mental health care until they're well into a crisis/storm and can't find their way out alone. So very busy mental health care professionals is a signal that many people are really struggling.

There isn't anything wrong with struggling. It is a human reality. The “Disciple Bible Study” curriculums call such things “the human condition.” There isn't actually anything wrong with being in a storm. It is also a human condition, and quite often it is well out of our control.

That said, being in the midst of a storm, particularly one like our scriptures talk about today are NOT comfortable. These are the sorts of storms that make it seem more likely that death is on the horizon than life.

And Jesus sleeps through it.

Either he was beyond exhaustion, or he was living non-anxious presence or both. Impressive, Jesus.

The story says Jesus awoke, rebuked the storm, and rebuked the disciples. I feel like it forgets to tell us that he then curled back up and went back to sleep. The storm was silenced. The disciples were awed.

I wonder if any of the storms that rage within us are ones that God would be happy to silence and bring to peace, if we were willing to let God do it. I suspect so. Some storms we are aren't ready to let go of. Some storms just aren't done yet. But some of them are only causing us harm, and are ready to be silenced.

Can you tell? Can you feel any of them that have run their course and would be response to “peace, be still!”? Can you even imagine what life would be like without that storm?

To go back to the storm we started with, I learned about the church's homophobia when I was 13, and started working against it then. I have worked for and dreamed of being a part of a big-C Church that welcomes, affirms, and loves all of God's people. You have too. This church has been explicitly committed to changing the UMC's life-denying policies for 25 years now, and was already committed to it before then too!

Yet, it boggles my mind to try to imagine life without this fight – or at least changing this fight from one fighting explicit policy to fighting implicit bias. My identity will need a reboot.

And I think that's often true of our internal storms too. We're used to them. They're familiar. They're a part of who we are, and we aren't entirely sure who we'd be without them.

But, friends, that's exactly what God is there for. God doesn't want to leave us in the pain of the past, or even the anxiety of the present. God is a source of healing, and energy of revival, a vision for wholeness, a hope for the future. Some of the things we're afraid to give up, God is ready to take away.

God's peace is stronger than the storms. God's peace can hold its own EVEN in the midst of the BIGGEST storms. It has a different kind of strength. It has a deeper kind of being.

So I invite you, to hear the words of Jesus resound in your soul. “Peace, be still.” And I invite you to listen to see what storms God has silenced. Because God is up to good in you, in us, in the world, and when we make space for it, God can transform even the most hurting parts of us. Thanks be to God!

Amen

1Please note that these are my memories of a sermon I heard 2 years ago. As memories are faulty, and tend to have holes filled in with one's own assumptions, this is likely a high bred of what she said and what I wanted to hear and remember.

2 I take no authority to tell anyone they need to stay in the UMC boat. There are good reasons to leave, all the more for people who are LGBTQIA+. I'm sharing that it was meaningful to me, knowing that I'm not the center.

[urbanchristiannews]

United Methodists Would've Met This Week to Consider a Split. What Are They Doing Instead?

United Methodists Would’ve Met This Week to Consider a Split. What Are They Doing Instead?

United Methodist delegates who advocated for LGBTQ inclusiveness gather to protest the adoption of the Traditional Plan on Feb. 26, 2019, during the special session of the UMC General Conference in St. Louis. RNS photo by Kit Doyle

Were 2020 going as planned, United Methodists from around the world would be wrapping up a two-week meeting in Minneapolis, where they were expected to discuss a…

[confessionsfromachristian]

Story time! It’s long, so my reflections are under the cut. 

TLDR: I’m hopeful but cautious. This may be what keeps the UMC a viable denomination, if it can pass General Conference 2020, because right now we’re a church of divided theology, and neither side is going to compromise their beliefs.

Long before I left my former church, back in 2015, I was at church preparing for the following week’s VBS when I got a news alert on my phone about the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges. At the time, I kept my elation mostly to myself - I didn’t know how the pastor at the time would feel about it, and I didn’t want anything to dampen my mood. Just over two months prior, I had defended my undergraduate thesis, which argued that bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional, and proposed one thread of reasoning that I thought the Court might reasonably adopt, and while my research advisor and my thesis advisor had both thought I was dead wrong, I was pleased to be proven right (and, of course, pleased that the Court was taking steps to fix what seemed to me to be an ongoing injustice in the United States).

See, I had left the Catholic church, in part, over the same-sex marriage issue. While I’m not LGBTQ+ myself, I felt that the issue was one of fundamental fairness and compassion - and it was important to me that it be resolved. The Methodist church also didn’t support LGBTQ+ rights, but it had always seemed less vehement about it than the Catholic church, so I always kind of just hoped that the change was coming. 

In 2016, with the same-sex marriage issue broiling in advance of General Conference, I took an interest in how the UMC underwent changes for the first time. My pastor’s encouragement of that interest started me on the path toward serving at Annual Conference in my area, but I read news from General Conference 2016 praying for a resolution. The debate, and the protests, left an impression on me, and I had real hope heading into my Annual Conference that year that the compromise - the Way Forward Commission - could actually work.

At Annual Conference, I heard the story of bishops meeting late at night, summoning people from both sides of the debate, to try and find a way to avoid a schism. And at the time, “schism” was a scary word - could the UMC survive a split? I also encountered the Reconciling Ministries Network for the first time. They gave me a rainbow stole; I wore it happily. I also saw my pastor wear one, and for the first time I really believed, not just hoped, that change was on the horizon.

Things stagnated, then, though I had the pleasure of getting to really know a woman who brought their adopted daughter to Children’s Church every Sunday, and occasionally her former foster daughter as well. She was in a lesbian relationship, and especially after I started law school she opened up to me frequently about how frustrating it was for her and her partner to constantly be viewed with more suspicion than an average straight couple. It was one of the reasons, she implied, that her partner didn’t regularly attend church.

In came a new pastor. He was friends with our former pastor, so I had high hopes for him. As my previous posts will display, the hopes were misplaced on a personal level, but we actually had somewhat compatible politics. The Way Forward Commission came out with their three plans.

The Traditional Plan would retain anti-LGBTQ+ language in the Book of Discipline, and strengthen disciplinary measures against gay and lesbian clergy members.

The Connectional Conference Plan would form three sub-churches: one for traditionalists, one for progressives, and one for “unity”-minded churches and clergy. 

The One Church Plan would remove the anti-LGBTQ+ language and permit local churches and clergy to express their conscience on the matter.

And in February of 2019, a special session of the General Conference voted on the Traditional and One Church Plans. I had school obligations those days; I ignored a good chunk of my classes to follow the news. I knew - I just knew - that the One Church Plan would succeed. I had already formulated my arguments to my local church as to why we should embrace our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters. It was the perfect compromise; I never expected it to fail.

But General Conference 2019 voted it down. At the time, this is what I wrote, and I stand by it today when I think back on it:

“I cannot fathom a church that would choose divisiveness and alienation over compromise and compassion. We waited three years in the hope of progress. The delegates gave us nothing but regression.

The United Methodist Church is dying, at least in the United States. Fewer and fewer people are joining. More are leaving. I don’t understand the reasoning behind choosing to alienate and reject people who are begging for inclusion and acceptance.”

The next day, Reconciling Ministries tweeted that they had been informed by the General Conference staff that the area now had “police with their guns and security with pepper spray (or similar) roaming and ready for action.” What it sounded like - and sometimes appearances are everything - was a violent precautionary measure, aimed at intimidating those who had supported the One Church Plan, and who vehemently opposed the Traditional plan, so that those who wanted inclusion and compassion would sit down, shut up, and take what was coming quietly. I felt sick at the time, and still feel sick thinking about it now.

I was in class during the vote on the Traditional Plan, ignoring my professor as I watched Twitter and Facebook for the news. And by the time I got home, I had recognized why passing the Traditional Plan bothered me so much: John 8:3-11. 

For those who aren’t Bible buffs, John 8:3-11 recounts the story of the Pharisees bringing Jesus a woman caught in the act of adultery, then punishable by stoning. When the Pharisees demand that Jesus tell them what to do, he famously responds: “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Of course, no one could live up to Jesus’s standard. Those hoping to stone the woman disperse and, when the woman observes that her accusers have left, Jesus sends her on her way: “Neither do I condemn you.”

Back in February, I summed it up like this, and I can’t really think of a better way to phrase it now:

“To declare that clergy members who do their earnest best to live the life God calls them to live should be punished because we disagree with their moral determinations is arrogant. We allow liars to be clergy. We allow those who speak unkindly to be clergy. We allow it, even if these sins happen more than once.

Why is the sin of loving the wrong person worse than lying? Worse than being unkind? And even if you believe that the sin is worse, who are we as humans to overrule what Jesus said about justice and mercy?

In my heart of hearts, I can find no rationale for pushing to increase enforcement of the anti-LGBT language in the Book of Discipline other than hatred for that which the Traditional Plan’s supporters do not understand. Jesus calls for compassion; and, as a church, we have no right to ignore that call.”

As time wore on, I observed one more thing: if God calls a lesbian woman, or a gay man, or anyone else, to the clergy, who are we as humans to deny that calling? Who are we to tell God that he called the wrong person? How arrogant and presumptuous must we be under the Traditional Plan?

In February, things were drawing toward the end at my church. But in the days following General Conference 2019, I found myself heartened by the message on the marquee sign outside: “ALL MEANS ALL.” My pastor signed an open letter to the church condemning the Traditional Plan, and one of the women in the church whom I’d thought was genuinely a good friend told me that she, too, was broken over the decision, but had resolved to fight for something better.

My co-teacher and I made the decision on Sunday to talk to the kids about the decision of the General Conference. It was difficult - remember, one of our students had lesbian parents - but, we felt, it was necessary. And I have never been more inspired than when our little kids expressed their confusion and outrage over a decision that, to them, made no sense. One little girl expressed confusion at how something as basic as the freedom to love someone and get married to them could be controversial.

The little acts of resistance, the outrage from the kids, it all came together to reignite my own hope.

In the months that followed, just about everyone expressed their opinions. In the Washington Post, a queer clergywoman summed it up: “We queer clergy begged our fellow Methodists to love us. They voted no.” On Facebook groups, on Reddit, and in person, the heretofore forbidden s-words became more common: splitting. separation. schism.

A prominent minister on the traditionalist side, less than a month after “winning” at General Conference 2019, made clear that unity, compromise, and compassion were never an option. Mainstream UMC posted his e-mail in full - in summary, he gloated over the traditionalist win at General Conference 2019, and suggested that those who opposed it should leave, as their continued presence in the UMC is an embarrassment. 

And talk of schism, and of separation, has continued to simmer, until now. Now, the water’s reached its boiling point. We have a plan. We have the Way Forward we were promised. And at General Conference 2020, at least the way I see it, the delegates have two options: stop the pot from boiling over, or ignore the problem and hope we can clean up the mess in 2024. 

Membership in the Methodist Church in the United States has been dropping for years. Increasingly, young adults looking for churches veer away from churches that preach or even merely accept exclusion and intolerance. Splitting the church, accepting that we cannot compromise on issues of love and compassion, seems to me to be the only way to prove that we mean it when we say “Jesus is Love.” It seems to me that this is the only way to prove that we’re convinced of our own beliefs, that we’re serious about welcoming everyone, that we’re a church of love, and inclusion, and protection of human dignity.

So long as it passes. 

[intlchristianherald]

Here We Go: LGBT Group Proposes Splitting the United Methodist Church Into 4 Separate Denominations

Here We Go: LGBT Group Proposes Splitting the United Methodist Church Into 4 Separate Denominations

View of the stage during the United Methodist Church’s special session General Conference inside the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019. | United Methodist News Service/Kathleen Barry

An LGBT advocacy group has introduced a proposal for the United Methodist Church’s General Conference aimed at splitting the UMC into a four new denominations.

UM-Forward…

[bcnn5]

Kenyan Methodists Pray for Unity in Their Denomination as They Oppose Allowing Homosexual Clergy in Upcoming Vote

Kenyan Methodists Pray for Unity in Their Denomination as They Oppose Allowing Homosexual Clergy in Upcoming Vote

A lay leader delivers announcements about the upcoming special session of the UMC General Conference at Kayole St. John’s United Methodist Church in Nairobi, Kenya, on Jan. 13, 2019. RNS photo by Gad Maiga

During a recent prayer service here at the Kayole St. John’s United Methodist Church, more than a hundred worshippers followed Rev. Wilton Odongo, one of the church’s head pastors, as he led…

[revnicole]

Thoughts on General Conference

Dear Valencia UMC Friends – We are part of the United Methodist Church – a worldwide denomination that meets regularly to discuss issues that matter to its members and to the mission of Christ.  

The issue of human sexuality continues to be a place for thoughtful conversation and on February 23-26, 2019 a special session of General Conference will happen in St…

[blackchristiannewswire]

Here We Go: United Methodist Church Leadership Endorses Plan to Soften Stance Against Homosexuality

The United Methodist Church Council of Bishops has endorsed a proposal to soften the denomination's stance against homosexuality in order to prevent schism. Over the past couple of years, the UMC has sought a resolution to the debate over its official position against homosexuality, gay marriage, and the ordination of openly gay individuals. In February 2019, the denomination will hold a special session of General Conference to determine what, if any, changes they will make to their official position on LGBT issues. Ahead of that meeting, the Council of Bishops released a statement last Friday, noting that a majority of their members supported what is called the "One Church Plan." This plan calls for changing the Book of Discipline to remove language labeling homosexuality "incompatible with Christian teaching," allowing churches in the United States to permit same-sex weddings and gay ordination while letting clergy and some overseas conferences retain their official opposition. "The One Church Plan allows for contextualization of language about human sexuality in support of the mission; and allows for central conferences, especially those in Africa, to retain their disciplinary authority to adapt the Book of Discipline and continue to include traditional language and values while fulfilling the vision of a global and multicultural church," stated the Council. "This plan also encourages a generous unity by giving United Methodists the ability to address different missional contexts in ways that reflect their theological convictions." The Council stressed that while a majority of their members supported the "One Church Plan," there are still two other possible plans to be voted on at next year's General Conference. There is the "Traditionalist Plan," which maintains UMC's current stance on LGBT issues, and the "Connectional-Conference Plan," which allows regional conferences to determine what stance they will take. Click here to read more. Source: Christian Post

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Laura Bullard at Vox:

Last week, hundreds of United Methodist Church (UMC) delegates from around the world sat down to vote on whether or not to reverse a longstanding ban on the ordination of LGBTQ clergy. The decision would also determine whether or not to strike a rule that prohibited clergy from presiding over “homosexual unions.” The room was uncharacteristically hushed as delegates logged their votes. They’d gathered to participate in a quadrennial General Conference, where an elected group of clergy and laypeople review and edit the rules and social stances of the church on a variety of subjects. When the results were announced, the room erupted in loud sobs and cheering. With this vote — and several others — over 50 years of church law, doctrine, and social stances aimed at restricting the full inclusion of LGBTQ methodists were reversed. In a dramatic deviation from the staid (remarkably congressional) proceedings, the Methodists began to sing. Church historian Ashley Boggan told Today, Explained’s Noel King that the UMC’s schism should matter to Methodists and non-Methodists alike. “If you look at Methodist history within the United States, it’s a great lens for looking at American history,” she said.

How did we get here?

For the last five years, the United Methodist Church has been fighting over its stance on LGBTQ members. In a one-off special session in 2019, the UMC had voted to tighten its prohibitions on LGBTQ members — a decision that nearly half of all UMC congregations across the country went on to publicly reject in the following years. So, in 2022, a splinter denomination was born: the Global Methodist Church. Traditionalist congregations had seen the writing on the wall: Change was coming, and they didn’t want to be part of it. Conservative churches began leaving the denomination in droves, and by the time the General Conference convened this year, a quarter of US congregations had jumped ship. It was this newly slimmed-down UMC that voted to reverse the church’s anti-LGBTQ positions earlier this month.

This Vox article on the United Methodist Church’s recent split over LGBTQ+ issues represents the microcosm of America.

[urbanchristiannews]

What Happened at the United Methodist General Conference, and What Happens Now?

What Happened at the United Methodist General Conference, and What Happens Now?

Some United Methodist delegates gather to pray before a key vote on church policies about homosexuality on Feb. 26, 2019, during the special session of the UMC General Conference in St. Louis. RNS photo by Kit Doyle

A recent meeting of United Methodists in St. Louis caught the attention of everyone from Westboro Baptist Church, which picketed outside the meeting, to the presiding bishop of the…

[urbanchristiannews]

United Methodist Church Passes Traditional Plan, Keeping Denomination’s Ban on LGBT Clergy and Same-Sex Marriage

United Methodist Church Passes Traditional Plan, Keeping Denomination’s Ban on LGBT Clergy and Same-Sex Marriage

LGBTQ advocates react to the Traditional Plan being adopted at the UMC General Conference on Feb. 26, 2019, in St. Louis, Mo. RNS photo by Kit Doyle

A special session of the United Methodist Church decided Tuesday (Feb. 26) to strengthen the denomination’s ban on the ordination and marriage of LGBTQ people.

Delegates to the General Conference, the global denomination’s decision-making body,…

[urbanchristiannews]

United Methodist Leaders Predict What Will Happen at the Special Session on LGBT Policy

United Methodist Leaders Predict What Will Happen at the Special Session on LGBT Policy

People predict what will happen at the 2019 UMC General Conference in St. Louis. Courtesy photos

A few months ago, United Methodist Bishop Karen Oliveto predicted that 2019 will be the year her denomination decides “all are necessary members” amid a long-running dispute over sexuality.

By engaging Scripture, tradition, experience and reason together, she predicted, United Methodists will “provide…

[intlchristianherald]

Kenyan Methodists Pray for Unity in Their Denomination as They Oppose Allowing Homosexual Clergy in Upcoming Vote

Kenyan Methodists Pray for Unity in Their Denomination as They Oppose Allowing Homosexual Clergy in Upcoming Vote

A lay leader delivers announcements about the upcoming special session of the UMC General Conference at Kayole St. John’s United Methodist Church in Nairobi, Kenya, on Jan. 13, 2019. RNS photo by Gad Maiga

During a recent prayer service here at the Kayole St. John’s United Methodist Church, more than a hundred worshippers followed Rev. Wilton Odongo, one of the church’s head pastors, as he led…

[urbanchristiannews]

1,600-member South Carolina Church Asks to Leave United Methodist Church Over Homosexuality Debate; Pastor Says They Don't Want to Be Seen as Condoning or Condemning Homosexuals

1,600-member South Carolina Church Asks to Leave United Methodist Church Over Homosexuality Debate; Pastor Says They Don’t Want to Be Seen as Condoning or Condemning Homosexuals

A large congregation in South Carolina has requested to leave the United Methodist Church over the mainline Protestant denomination’s debate over homosexuality.

In February 2019, the UMC will hold a special session of its General Conference to determine if the denomination will maintain its official position against homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

Christ United Methodist Church of Myrtle…

[firstumcschenectady]

“What IS this baptism thing?” based on  Acts 19:1-7 and Mark 1:4-11

This week, statements were made that said that some people are more important than other people, and some places have people that matter while others don't. The statements made this week were a moral atrocity. While this was exceptionally direct and overt, unfortunately, such statements are made on a regular basis, most often in budgets.

This past Tuesday I went to the NY statehouse to advocate for fair funding of New York State schools. New York state schools are THE most segregated in the United States (you heard me correctly). While New York spends rather a lot on its public school systems, it does not spend that money equitably. Because of the hard work of education advocates (and multiple lawsuits), in 2007 New York State created a “foundation aid formula”. The formula was meant to counter two pieces of inequality: the reality that school district's primary funding comes from property taxes which can vary GREATLY between wealthy and impoverished communities; and that the needs of students can vary greatly between wealthy and impoverished communities.

The formula, carefully created, has never actually been funded. Instead, already wealthy (and usually white) school districts get a higher percentage of the money than average, while already impoverished (and particularly schools with many minority students) get a lower PERCENTAGE of the money than average. To get to particulars, the Schenectady City School District is underfunded by $44 MILLION according to the foundation aid formula, like many upstate cities' schools are. That is, the New York government has an education budget that is as offensive as the language spoken in the Whitehouse this week.

Similarly, the United Methodist Church also FUNCTIONS as if some people matter more than others. I'm not just talking about the history of the Central Jurisdiction (if this is news to most of you, we'll do a second hour on it later), or pay gaps for clergy on the basis of race and gender, or any of the other multitude of issues within the United States.  I'm not even ONLY talking about the discrimination of LGBTQIA+ people in the church. There are ALSO issues with how the church functions as a global church. Namely, our constitution differentiates power between churches and conferences in the United States and those in the rest of the world, and the church as a whole functions as if the churches outside the United States are our colonies. While we do have some United Methodists in Europe, the vast majority of United Methodists outside of the United States are in Africa and the Philippines. This means that global colonization history AND racism continue to impact our church in every day of its life, and the colonization AND racism are WRITTEN INTO OUR CONSTITUTION.

To put it bluntly, we are not yet living the dream that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. offered us.

But, we are still dreaming it. Within the church, the dream is powerfully held and advocated for by the Love Your Neighbor Coalition, methodized as “LYNC.” LYNC consists of: all of the racial ethnic caucuses in the United Methodist Church, 4 groups organizing around LGBTQIA+ rights in the church, MFSA, Fossil Free UMC, and the UM association of ministers with disabilities. It is an amazing, profound, and inspiring group! LYNC looks and feels like the church as it should be – it is still messy with a lot of view points – but it is loving, respectful, and capable of growth. LYNC has JUST released a statement about the church it dreams of being a part of. LYNC's current work is centered on the African concept of “ubuntu, and early in the statement, it explains “ubuntu” by quoting Achbishop Desmond Tutu:

The first law of our being is that we are in a delicate network of interdependence with our fellow human beings and with the rest of God's creation… [Ubuntu] is the essence of being human. It speaks of the fact that my humanity is caught up and inextricably bound up in yours. I am human because I belong. It speaks about wholeness: it speaks about compassion. A person with ubuntu is welcoming, hospitable, warm and generous, willing to share. Such people are open and available to others, willing to be vulnerable, affirming of others, do not feel threatened that others are able and good, for they have a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that they belong in a greater whole. They know that they are diminished when others are humiliated, diminished when others are oppressed, diminished when others are treated as if they were less than who they are.1

I want to read you the abstract of LYNC's statement, because I think it is profound, because I think it dreams the church as God does, and because I think it contains truth beyond the bounds of the United Methodist Church. It isn't short, exactly, but it is as concise as a dream can be:

The United Methodist Church is in the midst of a once-in-a-generation opportunity. A harm has been named within the body and brought to light. How we respond will define our future. There are responses that will promote healing, restore relationships, restore our ubuntu, and lead to this struggle being remembered as a restorative struggle. And there are other responses that will amplify the pain. It is time to banish this period of legislated discrimination to the dustbins of our history.

Therefore, the Love Your Neighbor Coalition calls upon the Commission on a Way Forward and the Council of Bishops to develop a plan that maintains the UM connection and removes all forms of language that discriminates against LGBTQ persons from the Book of Discipline.

We call upon the delegates to the 2019 special session of General Conference to act to maintain the UM connection and remove all forms of language that discriminates against LGBTQ persons from the Book of Discipline.

Furthermore, we call upon all United Methodists to join together in love, grace, and compassion, to recognize “us” reflected in each other, and to work to strengthen our relationships and our United Methodist connection and restore our ubuntu, regardless of where we stand on the theological or political spectrums.

Finally, as we look beyond the 2019 General Conference, we call upon those who become delegates to the 2020 General Conference and upon all United Methodists to careful examination of other ways in which we harm our ubuntu, other ways in which we perpetuate new and historic injustices against one another such as sexism, racism, misogyny and colonialism, and to join together to work toward our continuing restoration and sanctification in those regards as well.

(Amen) It is a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere, to dream and work with LYNC. In fact, I think it is a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere, to dream with God and work towards the kindom.

The good news is, our baptisms calls us to seek a just (and anti-racist) world. Baptism not only welcomes us into the church, with its radical love and inclusion, but it welcomes us into the work of creating the kindom and working with God to fulfill God's dreams.

In our Acts passage, the newly baptized are said to prophesy. As Rev. Dr. Ruthanna B. Hooke, explains, “in Luke's gospel and Acts, to prophesy is to speak about the present; it is to speak God's name on behalf of God's work in the world.”2 She goes on to say, “The gift of prophesy calls us to proclaim what God is doing even now in our world, and to do so with boldness. This Spirit moves us to proclaim God's good news to the poor and liberation to the captives. This gift empowers us to 'speak truth to power,' confronting the 'rules and authorities' of this world with the revolutionary message of the gospel, and trusting that when we are called up on to offer this witness the Holy Spirit will gives us the words to say.”3 From that definition, the baptized are CALLED to prophesy, even when the truth we speak is uncomfortable for others to hear. We are CALLED to seek justice, including with our words. Of course, the more difficult part is finding the words, and the time, and the way to speak. Those are the struggles of day to day life of faith. The blessing here is the promise that God is working with us and through us to help us find the ways to speak!

In Mark, we hear a story of Jesus's baptism. The New Oxford Annotated Bible says of the passage, “Jesus himself is baptized into the renewal movement that began before him.”4 This is a very important statement! First of all, Jesus was a Jewish man baptized by a Jewish man, and the first meaning of the ritual was found in their shared Jewish routes. Secondly, John the Baptist was leading a renewal movement in hopes of helping the people be freed from oppression. By the best work of scholars, we think that Jesus was baptized by John as a ritual of becoming a disciple of John's. It is so helpful to remember that he was learning from a person already in the movement, even as he eventually became the teacher. In that way, Jesus is like the rest of us: both a learner in and a teacher in the movement we're a part of.

This baptism thing is an entrance into the work of the Body of Christ – the work of dreaming with God and building God's kindom. It is work that decries racism, sexism, homophobia, and all other claims that one human is more important than another. The final statement of our Gospel passage is, “This is my child, the beloved, with whom I am well-pleased.” We, as disciples of Jesus, believe those to be INHERENT to God's nature – a blessing God has spoken over each and every human being. It is our life-long goal to learn to treat each other as such – both individually as as parts of our society and church.

As LYNC says, may we remember that we are called to “careful examination of other ways in which we harm our ubuntu, other ways in which we perpetuate new and historic injustices against one another such as sexism, racism, misogyny and colonialism, and to join together to work toward our continuing restoration and sanctification in those regards as well.” May we use our voices to prophesy whenever a statement is made – directly or indirectly – that fasley claims that some people aren't beloved by God. Because, dear ones, we are ALL God's children, and as such, beloved. Thanks be to God. Amen

1Archbishop Desmond Tutu, God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope For Our Time (Doubleday, 2005).

2Ruthanna B. Hooke, “Pastoral Perspective on Acts 19:1-7” in Feasting on the Word Year B Volume 1 edited by David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor (Louisville and London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008) 230.

3Hooke, 234.

4Richard A. Horsely, “Mark” in The New Oxford Annotated Bible, Third Edition, edited by Michael D. Coogan (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 58 New Testament.

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Rev. Sara E. Baron

First United Methodist Church of Schenectady

603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305

Pronouns: she/her/hers

http://fumcschenectady.org/

https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

January 14. 2018