In mid-May, demonstrators wearing rainbow-patterned stoles marched into the room where thousands of United Methodists had gathered for their much-anticipated denominational meeting in Portland, Ore. They chanted slogans calling for unity. During another meeting, gay-rights supporters, some lying on the floor with their hands and feet bound, called on bishops to change the denomination’s policies on homosexuality.
But the 864 delegates attending this year’s meeting of the United
Methodist Church won’t have the opportunity to vote on the controversial
topics of homosexual clergy and same-sex marriage. Instead—in an
unprecedented move—they decided to allow the Council of Bishops to
appoint a special commission to address those decisions sometime before
the denomination’s next big meeting in 2020.
Those celebrating the decision said the bishops’ plan, developed at
least in part as a response to pleas from the LGBTQ community, offered
just the kind of leadership needed to move the nation’s largest mainline
Protestant denomination forward.
But many delegates who voted against the bishops’ proposal, including
some who traveled from as far as Africa and Russia to participate in
the conference, expressed strong disappointment and frustration that
their voices would not be heard on sexuality-related issues, especially
since it isn’t clear who will be appointed to the commission.
“Why put off until tomorrow something we can do today?” asked Maurice
Ngongo, a delegate from central Congo. “Today we are ready to speak to
these issues.”
Disagreement on sexuality and marriage have caused a deep divide
between conservatives and liberals in the 12.3 million-member United
Methodist Church. Pro-gay rights supporters want approval for clergy to
live an openly homosexual lifestyle and for clergy to officiate same-sex
marriages. As of now, the church condones sexual relations only within
the covenant of monogamous, heterosexual marriage.
“I have a broken heart and, collectively, we have a broken heart,” said
Bishop Bruce Ough, president of the Council of Bishops. “Our hearts
break over the pain, anger, anxiety, and disunity we have experienced in
our beloved United Methodist Church and, quite frankly, in our
council.”
Ough said the brokenness stems from differences in interpretation of
Scripture fueled by “despair over the decline of the (United Methodist)
church in America. We have risked exploring what many would consider to
be radical ideas, ideas brought to the attention of the council by
persons more conservative and more progressive among us.”
People with strong views, both conservatives and liberals, were vocal
at the conference, but most church members are “in the middle,” said Jay
Voorhees, a United Methodist pastor from Tennessee. The general
conference request to the bishops, asking them to call for a special
meeting, was unusual, he said. Voorhees acknowledged views embraced in
Portland might be a “tougher sell” in Nashville.
Many on social media and at the conference questioned whether the
church could remain united. Ough admitted “many believe we are out of
time.”
Speaking about the commission, Ough said leaders are “deeply committed
to making sure all the voices are at the table.” Asked whether those
voices would include clergy who were removed from leadership after
“coming out” as gay or lesbian, Ough re-emphasized that “all voices”
would be heard.
United Methodists convene every four years to consider revisions to
church law and approve plans and budgets. This year, about 1,000
legislative petitions were slated for consideration by the increasingly
global church. Membership rose from 4.4 million to 5.1 million in
Africa, Europe, and Asia between 2009 and 2014, while U.S. membership
declined during the same period from nearly 7.7 million to 7.2 million.
Bishops have come under fire for not providing enough leadership, but
Ough said the Council of Bishops is in an “interesting position” within
the church because bishops can’t vote at the general conference and
cannot speak without permission from the delegates.
“Everyone wants us to lead, provided we’re leading in their direction,”
Ough said. “At the same time, our authority to lead in some direction
is actually limited by our polity.”
Despite Ough’s claim of limitations, Adam Hamilton, pastor of the
20,000-member United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood,
Kan., pleaded with the bishops to do something.
“We in theory could find ourselves leaving on Friday still stuck and wounded,” he said.
In a blog post written just before the conference began, Hamilton said
he hoped the denomination could be persuaded to remove all references to
homosexuality from The Book of Discipline, returning it to the language
used prior to 1972.
“Imagine the United Methodist Church without the incessant fighting over homosexuality,” he wrote.
Courtesy: WORLD News Service
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