United methodist church gay rights
LGBTQ Rights
The United Methodist Church is in a moment of deep discernment over how to recognize and welcome LGBTQ (lesbian, lgbtq+, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning) people as part of the life and ministry of the Church. The General Conference — the top legislative body of the denomination — adopted a motion that deferred consideration of all legislation related to human sexuality and led to the creation of the Commission on the Way Forward.
We affirm all persons as equally valuable in the sight of God. We therefore work toward societies in which each person’s value is recognized, maintained, and strengthened.
United Methodist Social Principles, ¶In the midst of these debates and disagreements over internal polity, the Church remains firm in support for laws in civil society that uphold the rights of LGBTQ people.
“Certain basic human rights and civil liberties are due all persons. We are committed to supporting those rights and liberties for all persons, regardless of sexual orientation.” (Social Principles, ¶J) We support “the rights of all persons to identical
United Methodists remove anti-gay language from official teachings on societal issues
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — United Methodist delegates on Thursday removed a year-old declaration from their official social teachings that deemed “the practice of homosexuality incompatible with Christian teaching” — part of a wider series of historic reversals of the denomination’s long-standing disapproval of LGBTQ activity.
The historic vote came as delegates also approved a new definition of marriage as a covenant between “two people of faith” while recognizing the couple may or may not involve a dude and a woman. That replaces an exclusively heterosexual definition of marriage and followed a debate that exposed tensions between some U.S. and international delegates.
The vote to approve a section of the church’s Revised Social Principles took place at the General Conference of the Together Methodist Church in the penultimate day of their day legislative gathering in Charlotte.
It came a evening after the General Conference removed its long-standing ban on “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from organism o
On 3 May , the General Conference of the Joined Methodist Church (UMC) — the largest Methodist denomination in the world — removed the language of restriction on so-called “practising homosexuals” from church regulation. In effect, this lifts the forbid on queer clergy and same-sex marriages in the UMC. The approach taken allows liberty of conscience at the local level, and is an endeavor to keep progressives, centrists, and traditionalists in the matching tent. It is essentially the equal approach that the Uniting Church in Australia has taken.
This decision was made possible only after around a quarter of its congregations with a more traditional stance had disaffiliated. Some of these became part of a recent denomination, the Global Methodist Church (GMC), which was launched in May , after decades of acrimonious debate. Others joined smaller Methodist churches, such as the Free Methodist Church and the Wesleyan Church. A few simply became independent.
Learning to dwell together with difference has been a challenge for the church since Brand-new Testament times, and compromise solutions such as this wi
Sexuality and the United Methodists
Others, like the Episcopals, Presbyterians (PCUSA), and Lutherans (ELCA) have taken explicit stances in support of LGBTQ inclusion. Of course, individual members of these institutions will have diverse views on the topic, and the stance of an institution does not always reflect the stance of an individual member; The United Method Church (UMC) is a perfect example of this complexity.
The UMC is a global Protestant denomination which has significant membership in North America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. While historically originating in the United Kingdom, the largest population of Methodists now lives in the Merged States, where it is the third largest religious group after Catholics and Baptists.
Every four years, the UMC meets at what they call the Methodist General Conference—a democratic body of representatives from across the world which gathers to make church decisions. In , the Conference voted to add language to the church’s law, stating “the apply of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching,” and that male lover