The United Methodist Church

December 2023 marks the end of a five-year window during which the United Methodist Church (UMC) has authorized congregations to depart the denomination over its LGBTQ+ policies. From 2019-2022, over 2,000 churches received permission to depart. According to the Associated Press, an additional 5,641 have left so far in 2023, bringing the total to 7,658.

What Changed?

In February 2019 a special session of the UMC General Conference, the legislative body of UMC governance, was held in St. Louis, MO. During four days, UMC members from around the world gathered to act on a report from the “Commission on a Way Forward,” authorized by the church to examine UMC’s The Book of Discipline, address church policies on human sexuality, and explore options to strengthen church unity.

Three plans were introduced as options for the future of the UMC (detailed at bit.ly/3UMCplan).
Progressive members introduced a “One Church Plan,” which would have changed the church’s Social Principles by replacing “heterosexual marriage” with “marriage between two adults,” and removing the sentence “The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.”

Conservatives countered, proposing a “Traditional Plan,” with an expanded definition of homosexuality, explicit banning of LGBTQ+ people from marriage or being ordained as clergy, stricter handling of violations, and banning church funds being given to any “gay caucus or group, or otherwise use such funds to promote the acceptance of homosexuality.”

A third plan, the “Connectional Conference Plan,” proposed removing hot-button issues from the general Book of Discipline, replacing the five geographic U.S. regions with three “values-based” conferences, and authorizing each to adapt its own policies on LGBTQ+ marriage, standards for clergy, sexism, and racism.

The Traditional Plan narrowly prevailed, passing with just over 53 percent of conference votes, indicative of a progressive trend despite the results. In an apparent compromise, the updated language also bans using church funds to “violate the expressed commitment of The UMC ‘not to reject or condemn lesbian and gay members and friends,’” and to ensure HIV outreach programs would be unaffected. The plan also included language allowing churches to leave the denomination and become self-governing, disagree but remain with the UMC, or to form new denominations in groups of 50 or more.

So… What Now?

Many progressive UMC congregations have defied church doctrine over recent years, starting with 111 UMC clergy coming out in “A Love Letter to Our Church” on the eve of the 2016 General Conference. Most UMC congregations in our area now recognize and affirm LGBTQ+ people (and their relationships) completely.

The next regular UMC General Conference (held every four years) was scheduled for 2020, at which LGBTQ+ activists were hopeful that majority support for reform would allow changes from the One Church Plan to succeed. The global pandemic shut plans for the meeting down — in 2020, and again in 2021, 2022, and 2023 — the UMC will hold their next General Conference next year in Charlotte, NC, from April 23 to May 3.

The Pope Allows Blessing of Gay Relationships

On Monday, Pope Francis granted formal approval for priests across the international Catholic church to bless the relationships between same-sex couples. Just two years ago, the Vatican declared that God “cannot bless sin,” making this a major departure from previous policy.

What didn’t change, though, is that the Catholic church still does not support same-sex marriage, and still views homosexuality as a sin.

For years, Francis has hinted at some fundamental changes in views on LGBTQ+ people in recent months. When the now 87-year-old’s papacy began in 2013, he promoted the decriminalization of homosexuality, and indicated a welcome stance towards LGBTQ+ people within the church, notably saying “if someone is gay and searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”

In August, Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica Francis released a transcript from a private meeting between Francis and Portugese church leaders, in which he severely criticized the “backwardsness” of conservatives within the U.S. Catholic Church, who he says have replaced faith with ideology, especially when it comes to abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, environment issues, and treatment of the poor. He said that Catholic doctrine is meant to change over time, which he called “a correct evolution in the understanding of questions of faith and morals.”

My Brief Take

I will continue to write about this topic. As I mentioned last week, I changed schools — a lot — when I was young. What I didn’t mention is that I was largely raised in a church. My church, St. Matthews UMC in Annandale, was a huge part of my life growing up: I was extremely active in the church’s youth group, vocal choir, Sunday school, and handbell program, and by the time my Senior year of high school came around, I was there at least three days per week for various rehearsals, meetings, or services.

Church is where I was never excluded for being gay (in fact, the church kept my sexuality confidential until I was ready to tell my parents). It’s where I formed my strongest friendships, and learned the importance of humility, inclusion, charity, and kindness.

I have, as readers can probably imagine, extremely strong views when it comes to how religion treats the marginalized — which won’t fit at the tail-end of a short column. For now I’d like to wish everybody reading this, no matter who you are, what you believe, or how you love or identify, a safe, happy, and warm week.