CHARLOTTE, N.C. (RNS) — United Methodists meeting at their quadrennial General Conference began shedding some of the contentious rules restricting gays and lesbians that have torn apart the global denomination in recent years.
In an orderly morning meeting Tuesday (April 30), a series of rules were dissolved as part of a packet of agenda items with no debate on the floor of the Charlotte Convention Center.
They were part of a long-awaited motions that over the course of the conference which concludes on Friday (May 3), may result in the nation’s second largest Protestant group officially dropping some, or all, its LGBTQ restrictions.
Those restrictions have been at the forefront of a schism in the United Methodist Church that has led to the departure of some 7,600 traditionalist churches across the United States — about 25% of the total number of US churches.
Among the items that fell away Tuesday was a ban on bishops ordaining LGBTQ candidates for ministry, a ban and a series of mandatory minimum penalties for clergy that officiate same-sex weddings. Both items were adopted by the General Conference in 2019. Another ban on funding for LGBTQ affinity groups or ministries is much older. It too was eliminated.
On Wednesday, more bans may be eliminated, including a ban on ordaining gay clergy as well as passages from the rule book, the Book of Discipline, which views homosexuality as “incompatible with Christian teaching.”
“Today, I feel like for the first time in 43 years of ministry in the United Methodist Church where I’ve sought to be faithful in everything that I do, that the church is not out to get me.” said the Rev. David Meredith, a gay Cinncinati pastor and chairman of the Reconciling Ministries Network’s board.
Many delegates to the General Conference also felt confident for the first time in decades that they may have the votes to rid the denomination of all or most of restrictive LGBTQ language in on the church books.
“We know we have a simple majority to overturn the rest,” said the Rev. Andy Oliver, pastor of Allendale United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, Florida. Oliver is straight man but has officiated at numerous same-sex weddings. He has been charged with disobedience, a charge that will likely be dropped now.
Despite the restrictions, a growing group of gay clergy have been ordained over the past decade, including two openly gay bishops. These LGBTQ ministers were able to overcome church law because some local church leaders have been willing to advance their calling to ministry in defiance of church rules.
According to the Reconciling Ministries Network, an advocacy group for LGBTQ people, there are 324 gay clergy in the U.S., including candidates for ordination. Of those, about 160 clergy are in same-sex marriages.
But the denomination has charged many LGBTQ and straight clergy with disobedience and put them before church trials for violating the ban. Others have been censured while being allowed to be ordained.
“We’re hoping that what will happen this week is that the precarious situation will disappear,” said Helen Ryde, a member of the steering committee of the first-ever United Methodist Queer Delegate Caucus, before Tuesday’s vote.
Now a smaller, but still theologically diverse, denomination is testing the waters once again.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
