Methodists debate and worry in advance of LGBT decision
At a recent gathering of United Methodists, organizers sold purple T-shirts quoting the Methodist founder John Wesley’s instruction: “Do Not Rashly Tear Asunder.”
In Methodist circles these days, citing the founder’s admonition can be understood only as a plea for an amicable solution to the denomination’s coming showdown over homosexuality.
A special session of the General Conference, to be held in February in St. Louis, will decide whether, how and which churches within United Methodism will allow openly gay clergy and same-sex marriage rites, and whether homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching.” No matter which of three ways forward is adopted at the meeting, it’s expected that some congregations will choose to sunder their ties to United Methodism.
But if schism is at hand, nobody can accuse United Methodists of rashness.
Since the denomination’s 2016 General Conference, church leaders have hashed out the question in forums and blogs. Advocacy groups already are gathering to strategize for the special conference and to lobby delegates and educate people in the pews.
Some of these groups say unity is still possible — and advisable, given the denomination’s mission “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”
“Jesus’ prayer for unity in John 17 is one we hold as a very high value,” said the Rev. Tom Berlin, lead pastor of Floris United Methodist Church in Herndon, Va., who served on the Commission on a Way Forward, a panel that narrowed the decision facing the special conference to three plans.
“Marriage and ordination of homosexual persons is not a church-dividing issue,” he said. “It’s a difficult conversation, but we’ve had those in the past with other issues, such as divorce and alcohol use. I believe we have the muscle strength to show the world we can have unity with diverse opinions.”
Others assert that it’s time to move forward separately.
“We are hurting and harming each other,” said the Rev. Rob Renfroe, president of Good News, an unofficial evangelical ministry within the church. “What kind of unity is worth the damage we are doing? We can’t quit fighting and we can’t escape each other. It’s time to quit the cage match.”
Whichever path they espouse, everyone seems to agree that the United Methodists have to move beyond the bitter debate that has paralyzed the denomination for decades.
“We’re in a place of crisis,” said the Rev. Keith Boyette, president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, a group of about 300 theologically conservative United Methodist churches. “The organization is no longer functioning.”