‘Statement of dissent’
2 churches reject United Methodists’ bans on gay clergy, same-sex marriage
Two United Methodist churches in Columbussay they will continue to marry same-sex couples and welcome LGBTQ clergy members despite a recent vote to uphold both bans within the denomination.
Short North Church and North Broadway United Methodist Church are rejectingthe Traditionalist plan, which was affirmed at the denomination’s general conference last month, defeating a proposal that would have let regional and local church bodies decide for themselves on gay-friendly policies.
The Rev. Amy Aspey, pastor at the Short North Church, and the Rev. Marcus Atha, senior pastor at North Broadway on the North Side, spoke about the decision at Sunday services at their churches and shared a statement for interested attendees to sign. As of Monday afternoon, more than 200 people had signed the petition,both on paper and online.
Atha called the document, which wascrafted BYLGBTQ churchmembers and approved by the leadership of both churches, a “statement of dissent.”
“This is coming from a biblical basis, not just a social and cultural basis,” Atha said. “There are Bible verses to support slavery, but we’ve done away with that ... We use experience and reason and tradition to evolve, to let people know the context of 2,000 years ago is not the context of now.”
Copies of the signedstatement will be blessed on Palm Sunday, April 14, and hung up in the two churches. The general conference’s decision is not yet final, as it needs the approval of the denomination’s judicial body. It is on the body’s docket for its meetings April 23-26 in Evanston, Illinois.
“Should the Traditionalist plan be upheld by the Judicial Council, we shall not comply,” the statement reads. “We will continue to be the loving, welcoming church for ALL that God has called us to be. We will not be moved.”
The Rev. Brian Straub,president of the conservative West Ohio Wesleyan Covenant Association, which supported the Traditional plan, was not
surprised by the churches’ action.
“I think that shows how our church is seriously divided, that we cannot agree to abide by our general-conference ruling,” he said. “I’m sorry to hear about that, particularly because, when we are ordained pastors, we take a vow to abide by the Book of Discipline, and apparently for some pastors, that vow does not mean anything to them right now.”
Atha said the goal of the statement is not to “create greater strife.” The churches want to have relationships with people who “understand the Bible like we do,” but also those who don’t, he said.
Both of the Columbus churches are part of the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church. The Rev. Linda Middelberg, who is the executive assistant to West Ohio Bishop Gregory V. Palmer and the superintendent of the Capitol Area North District, said churches are called to focus on their mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ, even in uncertain times.
“Individuals and congregations are expressing their faith in different ways,” Middelberg said in a statement.