Methodists from across the world gathered for the United Methodist Church General Conference from April 23 to May 3 in Charlotte, N.C. Typically, the conference is held every four years, but church leaders delayed the 2020 gathering until now due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This delayed conference follows much inner turmoil over how the UMC should welcome LGBTQ+ ministers and congregants. Since 2019, more than 7,000 congregations have received approval to disaffiliate and form a new Global Methodist Church. The UMC is a worldwide church – and one of the largest Protestant denominations – with more than 10 million members, 5.4 million of which are in the United States.
Going into the conference, Methodists were facing a number of issues, as some 1,100 petitions were put forward. However, it was four key issues that took up much of the deliberations: how to deal with the disaffiliated churches, LGBTQ+ inclusion, a proposed “regionalization” plan and the possibility of full communion with the Episcopal Church USA.
The UMC also took the opportunity to formally apologize to all victims of sexual misconduct, saying, “The UMC apologizes for the times we allowed our desire to protect the church to outweigh our desire to care for victims and survivors of sexual misconduct. We have allowed the polity and protection of the institutional church to prevent us from holding persons accountable. We apologize for the times we have not listened to you, doubted your stories, ignored your wounds and have not tended to your pain. We believe this has contributed to allowing an unsafe culture to exist.”
For more than 50 years, the UMC condemned homosexuality, an issue that of late has divided Methodists. But on May 2, by a vote of 523 to 161 and after about an hour-and-a-half of debate, Methodists eliminated the 52-year-old rule in the denomination’s Social Principles that “the practice of homosexuality … is incompatible with Christian teaching.” In the same statement, Methodists affirmed “marriage as a sacred, lifelong covenant that brings two people of faith (adult man and adult woman of consenting age or two adult persons of consenting age) into a union of one another and into deeper relationship with God and the religious community.”
They also decided without debate to reverse multiple denominational constraints on ministry with and by LGBTQ+ members. United Methodist pastors no longer face any penalties for being in a same-sex relationship or officiating at same-sex weddings, nor can they be compelled to officiate one. “This is a historic day that has been decades in the making,” Iowa Conference Bishop Kennetha Bigham-Tsai said. “We have finally beaten our swords into ploughshares.”
The General Conference also approved a proposal to “regionalize” the worldwide denomination structure, granting more autonomy to international regions. This was the compromise so that UMC members can remain united despite having different views, and delegates created a path for churches that have left the denomination to return in the future, if they so desire. Tracy S. Malone, UMC Council of Bishops president, asked delegates to imagine a UMC “where hope is reborn, and where people are reconciled to one another and committed to build God’s beloved community.” She added, “Let us imagine a church where no one, nobody, is marginalized. Let us imagine a church that transcends geography and cultures and languages and borders and barriers and differences. I am talking about a beautiful mosaic that reflects the kingdom, the kingdom of God!”
Near the end of the conference, the UMC agreed by 95% to accept a proposed full-communion agreement with the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church’s General Convention must also approve the agreement before full communion becomes a reality. The Episcopal Church is now a full communion partner of six churches: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Moravian Church, the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht, the Philippine Independent Church and the Church of Sweden.
Father Joseph D. Wallace is diocesan director of Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs and pastor of Christ the Redeemer Parish, Atco.
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