Dear Saints of St. Paul’s,
This has been a tumultuous week for United Methodists, during which international delegates to a special General Conference passed (by a 438-384 margin) a Traditional Plan retaining language in our Discipline (first approved in 1972) that states: “The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Therefore self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church.” (2016 Book of Discipline, paragraph 304.3). This plan also upholds paragraph 341.6, which states: “Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches.” The General Conference alone speaks for The United Methodist Church. When the lay and clergy delegates to General Conference approve a statement at General Conferences (typically held every four years – the next one is in 2020) it is published in the Book of Discipline.
This Traditional Plan includes an augmented definition of “self-avowed practicing homosexual,” to say it includes people “living in a same-sex marriage, domestic partnership or civil union or is a person who publicly states she or he is a practicing homosexual.” The plan also sets a minimum penalty for clergy performing a same-sex wedding of one year’s suspension without pay for the first offense and loss of credentials for the second. Other punitive parts of the Traditional Plan are under review by our Judicial Council, which has already ruled unconstitutional a requirement for annual conferences to certify they would uphold the marriage and ordination prohibitions or leave the denomination, and the creation of a Global Episcopacy Committee to hold our Bishops accountable to these marriage and ordination prohibitions. (See February 27, 2019 UM News story, GC2019 maps uncertain way forward.)
The plan approved does not alter our official stance that “…all persons are of sacred worth. All persons without regard to race, color, national origin, status, or economic condition, shall be eligible to attend its worship services, participate in its programs, receive the sacraments, upon baptism be admitted as baptized members, and upon taking vows declaring the Christian faith, become professing members in any local church in the connection.” This has been our official United Methodist stance since 1972.
So in one sense, nothing really changed this week.
Yet this special session of General Conference (there has only been one other special session, in 1970) had been organized to find a way forward through the impasse of contentious votes every General Conference since 1972 (much like this one) that do not honor the very real differences among United Methodists on the issues of marriage and ordination. At the 2016 General Conference, delegates stepped away from voting to divide the church over these issues and invited our Bishops to find another way forward for the church.
Their answer was a Commission on a Way Forward, which created a plan (called the One Church Plan) the majority of our Council of Bishops endorsed that would have allowed (but not required) pastors and churches to offer the covenant of marriage to all persons, regardless of sexual orientation, and which would have allowed (but not required) annual conference Boards of Ordained Ministry to recognize all marriage covenants when examining candidates for ordination. We will ordain an LGBTQ Christian who commits to lifelong celibacy, as we do not officially recognize the same-sex marriage of a candidate for ordination, or of one of our ordained pastors, as valid.
The delegates rejected this One Church Plan, instead upholding (and strengthening) the Disciplinary stance that led the Church to the 2016 crisis. The delegates also approved two plans that allow churches, with certain limitations, to leave the denomination with their property, according to a UM News report.
Few delegates seemed pleased with the results of the General Conference.
From a Feb. 27, 2019 UM News story, Conflict defines General Conference aimed at unity:
“Patricia Miller served on the Commission on a Way Forward that bishops appointed to help come up with legislative options for addressing the denomination’s impasse on homosexuality, and the Traditionalist Plan she supported prevailed. ‘There is no joy for any of us in this whole debate,’ said Miller. ‘It’s painful for all of us.’”
“The Rev. Forbes Matonga, a delegate from the West Zimbabwe Conference, supported the Traditional Plan. He said the Bible demands that marriage be limited to one man and one woman. But Matonga called for a new approach to United Methodist governance. ‘As long as it’s parliamentary, it’s about winning and losing, and naturally it creates some cracks,’ he said.
According to a February 27, 2019 UN News story, GC2019 maps uncertain way forward:
“The Rev. Jeff Greenway, chair of the Wesleyan Covenant Association that lobbied hard for the Traditional and Modified Traditional plans, worried that the plan as it stands “has no teeth.” “There’s little likelihood of accountability, which means people all around the church are increasingly frustrated,” he said. The Wesleyan Covenant Association’s leadership council is holding a meeting Feb. 27-28 to determine next steps, which could include calling an April 25-26 Convening Conference that would potentially start a new denomination.”
These quotes are from the delegates who won.
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According to the same article, Bishop Kenneth H. Carter, president of the Council of Bishops, said in a press conference following the adjournment of the Special General Conference: “It was our aspiration that we would find a way forward beyond our impasse. That was to try to really listen to people and listen to their values and understand them as people, rather than issue. I will simply say we have work to do. We did not accomplish that.”
United Methodist pastors and lay persons who had hoped and prayed for a plan that would have allowed “fuller inclusion of LGBTQ people in the United Methodist Church are anguished and disappointed by this outcome. Many feel rejected personally by the United Methodist Church.
A Feb. 25, 2019 UM News article, Key GC2019 votes prompt anguish, satisfaction, reported:
Progressives did have a big moment thanks to floor remarks by [22-year-old] Jeffrey “J.J.” Warren, an openly gay reserve delegate from the Upper New York Conference. He got a standing ovation as he spoke of his evangelism work with LGBTQ students at Sarah Lawrence College, and his dream of continuing his ministry. ‘They didn’t know God could love them because their churches said God didn’t, and so if we can be a church which brings Jesus to people who are told (they) can’t be loved, then that’s what I want our church to be, and that’s the Methodist Church that I love and that I want to be a pastor in one day,’ Warren said.
For the Rev. Jay Williams, pastor of Union United Methodist Church in Boston, Warren’s talk was a balm. ‘Amazing,’ Williams said. ‘That is the word of God being preached — a word of love and justice. It absolutely gave hope amidst what’s been a devastating day.’”
Finally, a Feb. 26, 2019 UM News article, 2019 General Conference passes Traditional Plan, quotes two of our Bishops on the subject of ministry to and with LGBTQ and progressive United Methodists:
“Bishop Carter said after this General Conference, bishops will have to do a lot of outreach, especially to progressives who feel hurt by what transpired. ‘We are going to do a lot of outreach to progressives to say we see you,’ he said during a press conference after General Conference adjourned. Carter is also the leader of the Florida Conference, which has congregations across the theological spectrum.
Bishop Scott Jones of the Texas Conference said the vote resolves a long-standing debate about how the church ‘can best accomplish our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. This decision is consistent with our denomination’s historic stance on human sexuality, outlined in the Book of Discipline since 1972,’ Jones said.
‘We will continue to welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and queer persons to our churches and affirm their sacred worth. I pray we, as a denomination, can now move forward, working with each other in the spirit of Christian love and joining together as one. We are stronger together in serving God’s mission as a diverse body of Christ,’ Jones said.”
I have quoted these United Methodist News articles at length in order to present a balanced account of an important moment in the life of our United Methodist Church. But I am not an objective observer. I have long worked and prayed for a more open and affirming United Methodist Church for all people.
Christ has convicted me, since I was a candidate for ordination as a United Methodist pastor at the Divinity School at Duke University in 1992, that sexual orientation is not a sin, through relationships with followers of Christ who are gay and lesbian, and through a Spirit-led interpretation of scripture. Yet I respect the movement of God’s Holy Spirit in the United Methodist Church, and though I disagree with the United Methodist restriction prohibiting me from offering the covenant of marriage to all members and friends of the church, I have abided by the letter of this law for 25 years, and will continue to abide by it, even as I pray and work to change it.
This summer, I attended the wedding of one of my former youth members and watched, not for the first time, a Unitarian pastor offer the grace of a covenant love my church forbids me to offer her and her partner. When she joyfully shared her engagement with me, this young woman told me that while she wanted me to perform the ceremony, she and her partner did not want me to sacrifice my calling to preach the Gospel of Christ. Then she told me that because of the way the United Methodist Church, her church, has treated her, she no longer believes in that Gospel. Oh, how I long to do better. One day, with God’s help, I believe we will cross this river, but not today.
Though I am personally disheartened by this outcome, I continue to follow Jesus Christ in grace, righteousness, and justice, serving as a United Methodist pastor in the Kingdom of God in the power of the Holy Spirit, not alone, but together with you, my sisters and brothers in Christ. With all of you.
Your Brother and Partner in Christ,
Pastor Bo
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