“Do
not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you
will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do
you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own
eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your
eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out
of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your
neighbor’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5)
As many of you already know, yesterday
(May 1) our United Methodist Church’s General Conference (the top
decision-making body of our denomination) overwhelmingly passed a historic vote
to remove the 40-year old ban in our Book of Discipline prohibiting the
ordination of “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals”, and to allow clergy
the right to perform same-sex weddings if desired (read the full news HERE). And on May 2 it also adopted a revised set of Social Principles that eliminate harmful language related to the LGBTQ community, such as the phrase “the practice of homosexuality… is incompatible with Christian teaching” (read that article HERE).
While these decisions are not
really a surprise, it does represent a significant shift in the way we do our church
business. Now, individual persons, local
churches, and Conference Boards of Ordained Ministry throughout our
denomination have the authority to allow the Holy Spirit to help them determine
for themselves the readiness of all clergy for ordination, and of all couples
for marriage, regardless of their sexual identity. This is a decision, I should
note, that is similar to a vote in the 1920s to allow divorced persons in our
denomination to become clergy, and a similar vote in 1956 to allow women to
become fully ordained clergy.
While I recognize that not all
will agree with these decisions, I, for one, celebrate these changes, and believe
it will enable us to truly become a more inclusive church and denomination than
we’ve been in our past.
Several
Clarifications
Still, there are several
things I think are important to clarify about these decisions:
(1) These decisions do NOT mean
that the U.M.C. now officially endorses the practice of homosexuality. To the contrary: rather than prohibiting it outright (as
before), it now neither prohibits nor endorses either gay ordination or
same-sex marriages. Instead, we now officially recognize that Christians of deep
faith and conviction interpret scripture differently regarding this subject. Some of our members (including some of you) still hold more "traditional/conservative" views on these subjects, while others (including others of you) hold more "progressive/liberal" views on these, while still others (including others of you) hold to a more middle-ground/"centrist" view. And that is okay. We can be a church that welcomes all of these views. But regardless of where we find ourselves personally, this change recognizes that as Christians of God's grace, we can afford to “think and let think” about this and other non-essential subjects, since it is not at the heart of our faith or doctrine.
(2) To my point above, these changes do not in any way alter any part of our Book of Discipline referencing essential
Christian beliefs or doctrines (what are called our “Doctrinal Standards and
Theological Task”, which include our “Articles of Religion,” all of which
are the backbone of our belief and doctrine – read these HERE.) Again, since these subjects fall under parts
of our beliefs which are not fundamental to our belief or doctrine, United Methodist Christians are allowed to think, believe, interpret scripture,
and practice faith differently about this subject (and many others) as
long as they hold to the essential orthodox teachings found in these Doctrinal
Standards and Articles of Religion. As one
who -- for the past eight years -- has been a member of our own North Georgia
Conference’s “Board of Ordained Ministry”, I can attest that these
essential standards and doctrines are what our ordination interviews and process
are focused on when we interview potential clergy for ordination. This change now means that our Conference
Boards of Ordained Ministry (such as ours in North Georgia) will no longer need
to consider a person’s sexual identity (by itself) to be a prohibiting factor
in their ordination – if they are orthodox in their beliefs and practices, and they
otherwise pass the interview process, then they will be eligible to be ordained
in our tradition.
(3) As anticipated, the
secular press only reported the sensational part of these stories, rather than their fullness, potentially leaving readers with only a partially true version of what was decided (read the USAToday version HERE and the FoxNews version HERE). I find it fascinating that these failed to
report the passing of legislation which explicitly protects the right of clergy
and churches not to officiate at or host same-sex weddings if they do
not wish to, and that our supervisor (what we call our District Superintendents
and Bishops) can not penalize clergy or churches for holding — or
refraining from holding — same-sex weddings.
These are important pieces of this decision, because (as mentioned
above) it further decentralizes the authority over this subject and gives individual
laity, clergy, churches, and Conferences the authority to decide for
themselves the readiness of a person for marriage and/or ordination (rather
than being mandated “from above”). As
our own Bishop Robin Dease put it in her response to these votes, “Local
churches can continue to serve and operate the way they have always done. There
is no move to force the local church or clergy to do anything they are not
prepared or willing to do” (Read her full response HERE). The lack of this information in the
secular news articles I believe gives a slanted view of the decisions and can
potentially cause harm by enticing readers to conclude that these decisions were more
radical than they actually was (yes, they were historic, but not radical!)
(4) Finally, three additional sets
of legislation were also passed that rarely got reported in the secular press,
either:
(a) One
is the fact that the disaffiliation clause (Paragraph 2553 from the
2019 Book of Discipline that allows for local churches to leave -- or “disaffiliate” -- from our denomination) was deleted from this year’s Discipline. This means that churches are no longer allowed to disaffiliate under this policy -- the rationale being that the time for misinformation, division, hurt, and distraction from the cause of Christ caused by this provision is over; and the time for healing and once again focusing on the work and call of Jesus in the world is now.
(b) In
its place is a new policy describing how churches may RE-affiliate
with the U.M.C. who had previously left because the denomination was too
restrictive and non-inclusive in its practice.
(c) Also
adopted is a series of policies that decentralizes our whole denomination into
world regions (aka the “Regionalization Plan”). Under this, assuming 2/3 of our Conferences ratify this change at their meetings this summer, each U.M.C. region
throughout the world (i.e., North America, Africa, Europe, Asia, etc.) will have the authority to set its own guidelines and laws regarding non-doctrinal subjects (such
as same-sex weddings and ordination), while at the same time being united
under our common Doctrinal Standards and Articles of Religion. This legislation, in effect, recognizes and protects world United
Methodism from being centrally controlled or dictated to from the United States, with each
region now allowed to set its own guidelines regarding things not central
to our doctrine.
Read more about all three of these decisions HERE .
Where
Does That Leave Us?
Again, I recognize that we have
church members (perhaps some/many of you reading this) and also local churches who
still hold more traditional views and interpretations of scripture on this subject. And we also have church members and local
churches who are even more progressive on this subject than what General Conference
decided.
However, my aim in sharing this news (and, I
believe, the aim of the General Conference decisions) is/was NOT to change your
mind or say that you are wrong in those views, but merely to encourage,
invite, and allow us as a God’s people to be open to being able to “agree to disagree”
on subjects like these, while still doing ministry together as a body of
Christ.
Yes, these changes are
certainly historic, but at the same time I believe they represent a new opportunity
for us to be the church that Jesus established 2000 years ago – a church not
defined by who is worthy enough to get in or not, but by how we include and invite ALL to a life-changing
experience with Jesus. As such, my goal
is to be Pastor to everyone here at Cornerstone U.M.C., regardless of
where you find yourself politically or theologically on this (or any other) subject. Whether you are “traditional/conservative” “progressive/liberal”,
“centrist/moderate”, Republican, Democrat, Independent… I value being and want
to be your Pastor, if you will allow me to do so. The only thing I ask is that we
all work together (challenging though it may be at times) to love and include
all people, regardless of their beliefs, politics, practices, or sexual identity – to fulfill
our church’s purpose of “building a Christian community that reflects the
love of Jesus.”
In the end, as my scripture at the beginning of this article points out, we all are imperfect,
broken humans (i.e., sinners) saved only by God’s free and inclusive grace – a grace
that we ALL need (regardless of our sexual identity or practice), and towards
which we are all called to claim and live in!
God bless you as you serve Him through our church!
Always remember that God loves
you and I do, too!
In Christ,
Brian
.jpg)
.jpg)
