What’s happening in United Methodism?
Over the last few weeks, several church members have asked me about what’s going on within the larger United Methodist Church. Questions like:
What is the divide really about?
Is the denomination dividing already?
What is the Global Methodist Church?
Will our church stay United Methodist?
These are big questions that do not have simple answers. However, I will do my best to address each one and provide a resource for further reading.
What is the divide really about?
The simple answer to this question is the place of LGBTQ persons in the life of the church. A debate that is over 50 years old.
The United Methodist Church was formed in 1968 by the merger of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the United Brethren. The uniting of these two traditions brought together a diverse group of people under the umbrella of one denomination. Each tradition had members we might call “conservative” and “liberal.” Every denomination contains a theological spectrum, meaning that while all identify as Christian, there are some aspects of the faith in which there is disagreement.
One aspect of faith that came up at the 1972 General Conference was the place of LGBTQ individuals in the life of the church. A commission that was tasked with studying the issue proposed “naming homosexuals as people of sacred worth, welcome in the fellowship of the church, and persons whose rights should be protected.”1 What this language failed to do was outline the specific behavior that was right or wrong. After much debate on the conference floor, an amendment was proposed and adopted which stated, “we do not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.”2 This is the language that still exists today.
With the passage of time, Americans have drastically shifted their views on the practice of homosexuality. A study by Pew Research in 2019 revealed that 61% of Americans supported same-sex marriage.3 This shift has also taken place within churches as can be seen by the division of the Presbyterian Church, the Episcopal Church, and the Mennonite Church USA, to name a few.
At the 2016 General Conference, the question of LGBTQ inclusion came to a head and a new commission was formed. This time it was not language that was studied, but the commission was tasked with finding a way forward for the denomination. At a special called General Conference in 2019, the commission presented three proposals for moving forward: the One Church Plan, the Connectional Conference Plan, and the Traditional Plan.4
1) One Church Plan – giving clergy the right to perform same-sex weddings and changing the “incompatibility” language in the Book of Discipline.
2) Connectional Conference Plan – this proposal would allow regions to decide for themselves what to change or not change while maintaining the umbrella of the United Methodist Church.
3) Traditional Plan – maintains the current language in the Book of Discipline and offers a mandatory and generous off-ramp for those conferences, congregations, and clergy who do not agree.
At the 2019 Called General Conference, a Modified Traditional Plan passed by a vote of 438 to 384 (53% to 47%), upholding the historic language and practice of the United Methodist Church.5 This surprised many in attendance and advocates for full LGBTQ inclusion were hurt and dismayed. For many years, there were clergy and congregations who did not follow the church’s stance on inclusion; clergy conducted same-sex weddings, practicing LGBTQ persons were ordained as clergy and even as bishop. After GC2019 many more followed suit stating that they simply could not follow rules that went against their conscience.
In 2020, a regularly scheduled General Conference was to meet and a new proposal was going to be presented to move the denomination forward. The Protocol for Grace and Reconciliation through Separation was a compromise reached by leaders representing each side of the debate. The main provision of the protocol was a gracious exit for any congregation wishing to leave the United Methodist Church and join an alternative denomination in the Methodist tradition. There was great hope around the passing of the protocol in 2020, but COVID-19 has effectively cancelled that General Conference and some of the original support for the protocol has been withdrawn.
So, is the divide really about the inclusion of LGBTQ persons? Yes and no. There are many in the United Methodist Church who disagree about same-sex marriage, LGBTQ clergy, and whether or not the practice of homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching.” But these disagreements are rooted in each person’s reading and interpretation of Scripture. Therefore, the divide is less about LGBTQ inclusion and more about differences in biblical interpretation and theological reasoning. When discussing this, we should be careful about using terms like “conservative,” “liberal,” “orthodox,” or “progressive.” These are broad categories used to define groups of people, but rarely clearly articulate a person’s beliefs. The divide is also about whether or not we can be in denominational connection with those with which we deeply disagree.
Footnotes:
1 UPDATED: The Fifty-Year Fight over Scripture & Sexuality in the #UMC (People Need Jesus blog)
2 The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, 2016 (Nashville, Tenn.: United Methodist Publishing House, 2016), ¶116.
3 Attitude on Same-Sex Marriage, Pew Research
4 First Read: The Way Forward Report (People Need Jesus blog)
5 #GC2019: Update 5 (People Need Jesus blog)