The day after a historic plenary session that saw General Conference delegates end the church’s prohibition on ordaining “self-avowed practicing homosexuals,” the church’s top legislative body on May 2 voted to remove the denominational stance that declares homosexuality to be “incompatible with Christian teaching.” That language has been in place since 1972.
Church ends 52-year-old anti-gay stance
The United Methodist Church’s condemnation of homosexuality — which sparked a half-century of conflict — is now no more.
By a vote of 523 to 161 after about an hour and a half of debate, General Conference delegates eliminated the 52-year-old assertion in the denomination’s Social Principles that “the practice of homosexuality… is incompatible with Christian teaching.”
In the same vote, delegates affirmed “marriage as a sacred, lifelong covenant that brings two people of faith (adult man and adult woman of consenting age or two adult persons of consenting age) into a union of one another and into deeper relationship with God and the religious community.”
The historic decision follows days of delegates voting on the consent calendar —without debate — to reverse multiple denominational constraints on ministry with and by LGBTQ members. It marks the beginning of what many see as a new day for The United Methodist Church after decades of rancor over the place of LGBTQ people in the church.
With the vote, delegates have adopted the entire slate of revised Social Principles submitted by the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, the denomination’s social witness agency.
The Social Principles represent the denomination’s public stance on issues of the day and are not church law.
Though those in favor of the decision found it a great cause for celebration, not everyone at General Conference agreed with the vote.
After the marriage language decision, about 65 Africans and a smattering of others sang hymns and prayed together, while also making clear their view that the Bible does not sanction same-sex marriage and The United Methodist Church shouldn’t either.
“We do not believe we know better than the Bible,” said the Rev. Jerry Kulah, a delegate from Liberia, coordinator of the traditionalist Africa Initiative and leader at the rally.
Bishop John Wesley Yohanna of Nigeria predicted that the new language on marriage “will affect the membership of the church in Africa.”
At the opposite end of a plaza outside the Charlotte Convention Center, members of the Queer Delegate Caucus and allies celebrated the same decision.
Justice Mitchell, a graduate student studying for a divinity degree, said, “I’ve been a Methodist my whole life, and I’ve been in the ordination track for the past three or four years. A lot of the stuff that we’re voting on has very huge impacts for my future in the next three or four years.”
United Methodist bishops famously have neither voice nor vote in General Conference decision-making, but they have had plenty to say about these landmark decisions.
“This is a historic day that has been decades in the making,” said Iowa Conference Bishop Kennetha Bigham-Tsai. “We have finally beaten our swords into ploughshares.”
Other bishops acknowledged that the actions of this General Conference will have a mixed reaction in the churches they oversee.
“I know that some of you are celebrating, some are mourning and some are uncertain about what your future holds — for the denomination, for your local church and perhaps even for yourselves as followers of Jesus Christ,” said South Carolina Conference Bishop L. Jonathan Holston.
North Katanga Area Bishop Mande Muyombo said that African United Methodists will continue in a traditional understanding of marriage as between one man and one woman. But he said that this General Conference’s passage of regionalization legislation will enhance Africans’ ability to be “authentic” in their faith while remaining in connection with United Methodists who see things differently.
“I see a great future for The United Methodist Church in Africa,” he said.
Bishop: ‘Get out of silos and break down walls’
As the General Conference neared its final day, Bishop Ruby-Nell M. Estrella of the Manila Episcopal Area urged the top legislative body to continue to move The United Methodist Church forward and transform the world.
“Get out of the silos we have created and break down the walls we have built,” she said. “Put behind the false narratives and the lies that have trapped us into hurtful debates and theological discourses.”
The bishop challenged the body to “leave behind all our doubts and fears and shake off the self-limiting attitudes and the labels that we have attached to one another.”
The May 2 morning worship also marked the commissioning of 16 Global Ministries missionaries. Twenty-two missionaries were trained for service to attend this commissioning, but six were unable to obtain a visa for travel to the U.S. They will be commissioned at a later time.
Sarah Mae Gabuyo, Wisconsin Conference, will serve as pastor of an English-speaking church for the Methodist Church in Rome.
Gabuyo, a fourth-generation United Methodist from the Philippines, said, “I am a Methodist because of the first mission that came in the Philippines. When I answered the call to the ministry, I felt like (it was) a circle of being with God and with Christ.”
Korean United Methodists commit to support missionaries
The Korean Association of The United Methodist Church announced a bold commitment to adopt and support 140 global missionaries through the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries with at least $100 per month per missionary for at least three years, including the 16 newly commissioned during General Conference on May 2.
This idea to adopt and support the missionaries came from the Korean Association's executive leaders' meeting on May 1, right after the morning plenary session of General Conference.
The leaders of the Korean Association discussed how to navigate the future and direction of Korean churches’ ministry and mission. The Korean Churches will provide financial gifts totaling more than $500,000 for at least three years.
Deacons can preside at sacraments in their appointments
In what presiding Bishop David Graves called a “historic moment,” General Conference on May 2 passed new legislation granting authority to deacons to preside at the sacraments in their ministry settings.
This means deacons can now offer Holy Communion and conduct baptisms where they have been appointed to serve, whether that is a church, outreach ministry or mission.
Deacons and elders are considered clergy in The United Methodist Church, but deacons are ordained for ministries of word, service, compassion and justice — serving as a bridge between the church and the world. Elders are ordained for ministries of word, sacrament, order and service.
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“It’s hard to express what it means to me to be able to offer the sacraments with a full heart, free and open hands not bound by the former restrictions,” said the Rev. Teresa Edwards, a deacon who serves as an associate pastor at Vineville United Methodist Church in Macon, Georgia.
Judicial Council voids change to bishop expenses
The United Methodist Church’s top court released two decisions related to bishops. One decision struck down a petition that General Conference passed earlier this week on retired bishops’ travel expenses. The other ruling dealt with the retirement of central conference bishops.
General Conference elects commission members, others
General Conference has elected more than 175 people to a variety of commissions and councils, including the Commission on the General Conference, University Senate, John Street Church trustees and Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters. Delegates also elected 650-27 on one simple yes ballot a slate of people nominated by the Council of Bishops for the denomination’s general boards and agencies.
Delegates began elections in the afternoon of May 1 and concluded May 2, adding a host of new faces to the groups that make important decisions for The United Methodist Church.
In other news
- General Conference delegates have relied on an army of translators and interpreters to do the business of the church for the April 23-May 3 assembly. The event is conducted in 10 languages: English, French, Portuguese, Kiswahili, Korean, German, Russian, Tagalog, Spanish and American Sign Language. About 180 translators were required in week one to ensure all the legislative committees, with up to five languages per committee, were staffed. That number dropped to 70 once the work moved to the plenary floor. In addition, a team of volunteers diligently translates the daily proceedings’ written material into French, Portuguese and Kiswahili — sometimes working till midnight.
- A center devoted to the heritage of LGBTQ United Methodists will open at the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History, located at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. The center was announced May 2 during a General Conference press conference by Ashley Boggan D., the top executive at Archives and History. “Earlier this week … the ban on funding for LGBTQ education and preservation was lifted (at General Conference),” Boggan said. “This center will allow us to intentionally seek out, preserve and tell the stories of those whose voices and ministries and witness have for far too long been cast aside and silenced.”
Butler is a multimedia producer/editor for UM News. Contact him at newsdesk@umcom.org or 615-742-5470. UM News staff and South Carolina United Methodist Advocate editor Jessica Brodie contributed to this report.
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