It Doesn’t Work: United Methodist Church

by Aaron Vriesman

LGBTQ ideology has divided one church after another:
Episcopal Church USA, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), Mennonite Church USA, United Methodist Church, Church of the Brethren, Reformed Church in America.

In this series, we will look at some of their stories. Each one shows how legitimizing alternative sexualities in the church is a mix of oil and water. It simply does not work. We will begin with the United Methodist Church (UMC).

As the name would suggest, the UMC was founded on the principle of unity.  They have pursued unity as passionately as any other denomination in the world.  What follows is a chronology of some of the major milestones in their struggle for unity particularly as they confronted diametrically opposed views of human sexuality.  It didn’t work—their founding principle simply could not survive these disagreements.

Unity

On April 23, 1968, a uniting conference was held in Dallas. 10,000 people joined hands and repeated together: “Lord of the church, we are united in thee, in thy church, and now in The United Methodist Church. Amen.” Thus merged the 750,000-member Evangelical United Brethren Church and the 10.3 million-member Methodist Church. Both denominations were themselves mergers now culminating in another union of God’s people. The uniting conference also marked desegregation. The Methodist Church’s racially segregated Central Jurisdiction was now dissolved. “It felt like the restoration of the Methodist movement,” said Methodist delegate Rev. Joseph Evers.

Mergers always come with compromises and factions that do not agree. Methodists who rejected the compromises inherent in the 1968 merger formed the Association of Independent Methodists while the Brethren rejecting the merger organized The Evangelical Church of North America. With the inflexible elements gone, the United Methodist Church (UMC) was founded on the principle of unity. They believed that sacrificing distinctives for togetherness in Christ was worth it.  United Brethren Bishop Susan W. Hassinger was ordained upon the merger. “People had to listen to each other across differences and learn how to value the other,” she said on the uniting conference’s 50th anniversary.

The founding priority of unity would prove to be no match for the divisiveness of new sexualities. The 1972 General Conference added language to the Book of Discipline: “The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.” Homosexuality would be debated at every UMC general conference thereafter. The next fifty years would be a struggle of protests and power plays.

Unravelling

In 1980, Bishop Melvin E Wheatley Jr announced that he would reject church teaching on homosexuality. In an emotional speech, he said he knew and cherished several gay people whose lives were “as close to authentic Christian living as we perceive ourselves to be.” One of those was his own son who came out in 1973. In 1982, he would appoint openly gay pastor Julian Rush to a Denver church with many gay congregants. Wheatley was accused of heresy but was absolved by a national church panel even though he refused to back down. “Homosexuality is a mysterious gift of God’s grace,” he said.

Rogue individuals coalesced at the 1984 General Conference, launching “Reconciling Congregations” for identifying “open and affirming” congregations. By March 1987, 22 churches joined the coalition of Reconciling Congregations.

By 2000, the debates were getting ugly. Archbishop of Canterbury Rt. Rev. George Carey came to address the 2000 General Conference about unity. He found a group of protesters surrounding the building and blocking entrances. “We are not here to disrupt or cause trouble,” protester Rev. Mel White said. “We are here to raise, to escalate and to make aware that God’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered children will no longer sit in the balcony and grieve.” White said his group blocked the exits to the convention center so church delegates would have “no exit without justice.” He said, “You’ve been in there for 32 years, and don’t come out until you get it right.” Over 180 were arrested. Delegates tried to emphasize the UMC founding principles of unity. “I think we are focused on a point where our church is in disagreement, but there are many more issues where we are in agreement than in disagreement,” said Bishop Woodie White.

Protests intensified the next day as delegates voted overwhelmingly to affirm the incompatibility of homosexual practice with Christian teaching, to bar practicing homosexuals from ordination and to retain the prohibition against performing same-sex union ceremonies. Demonstrators crowded the platform and disrupted proceedings. About 30 were arrested.

Still, the founding principle of unity prevailed. Bishop Robert Morgan, Louisville, KY, said, “We do not believe this will divide the church – our commitment is to stay together.” Bishop Kenneth Carder, Nashville, TN, agreed: “We will continue to seek ways of remaining together.”

The UMC struggled on, determined to make it work. The 2004 General Conference reaffirmed the 2000 stance on sexuality but joined hands and sang the hymn “Blest Be the Tie That Binds” before approving a resolution affirming the unity of the church.

Conflict Escalates

The 2008 General Conference had a delegate from the Democratic Republic of Congo declaring homosexual practice as among the things “that come from the devil.” After the vote to keep the current stance, some delegates, bishops and visitors draped a black cloth over the altar and their faces, and everyone left the center to find chalk outlines of bodies on the sidewalks. Two lesbians celebrated a marriage across the street from the convention center.  

2011 saw a war of petitions. “We do! Methodists Living Marriage Equality” announced a covenant signed by more than 1,000 United Methodist clergy promising to perform gay marriages. Meanwhile, more than 2,500 clergy & 11,500 laity sign an online petition to the Council of Bishops urging strong penalties for those violating UMC restrictions on such ceremonies. On November 11, the Council of Bishops promised to uphold church law banning same-sex unions.

General Conference 2012 saw activists flood the assembly floor and refuse to stop singing after two proposals to water down the homosexuality language fail.

The Book of Discipline was failing. In March 2004, openly gay pastor Karen Dammann was acquitted of being in violation of UMC laws by a church jury, saying the Book of Discipline is unclear when it says, “Homosexual practice is incompatible with church teaching.” In 2011, Minnesota Annual Conference clergy meeting in St. Cloud issues a declaration with 70 clergy signatures saying they would offer the church's blessing to any couples desiring a same-sex marriage. In 2013, Central Pennsylvania District defrocks Rev. Frank Schaefer for performing his son’s gay wedding and refusing to promise not to do another. Schaefer would appeal and be reinstated in 2014. Schaefer became the public face of changing UMC policies, but he was not the only one.

In 2016, protesters stood with tape over their mouths while others writhed on the convention floor hog-tied to claim their captivity to church disapproval. Rev. Jerry Kulah of Liberia said, “The church has taken on strangely a new direction. People from the country that brought the Gospel to us are now preaching a different Gospel.”¹ The opening sermon from Bishop Warner H. Brown Jr. continued to stress unity: “As we discuss our different opinions about same-gender relationships, may we remember our dueling points of view are anchored in our desire to be faithful. We hold our respective positions as firmly as our conscience and experience dictates, but can we not also seek the path of unity among Christians with different views on this issue as we have on other disputed matters?” But a speaker to protesters called out UMC bishops on LGBTQ suicides: “It’s no longer suicide; it’s homicide. I ask them, ‘How do you sleep at night knowing you are killing our children?’”

Not two months later, progressives upped the ante by electing married lesbian Karen Oliveto to the office of bishop. Oliveto’s preaching record included criticism of Jesus’ distinction of sheep and goats for privileging Christians over others. In another sermon she condemned Paul’s exorcism of the demon-possessed girl in Acts 16.

The Council of Bishops president said Oliveto’s election “raises significant concerns” but “The Council continues to place our hope in Jesus Christ. … We affirm that our unity is not defined by our uniformity, but by our compassionate and Spirit-led faithfulness to our covenant with God, Christ’s Church and one another.” The UMC highest court would rule Oliveto’s consecration to be against church law but that Oliveto “remains in good standing.”

Meanwhile, congregations began to trickle out under the weight of the internal struggle.

In 2018, the Council of Bishops came up with a final settlement called the One Church Plan. The plan to keep unity would allow pastors and regional bodies to make their own decisions on same-sex marriage or LGBTQ ordination. A special General Conference was held in 2019 just to settle this dispute once for all.

Liberia’s Jerry Kulah said, "You cannot be performing Christianity differently in America and Africa and suggest that we are one church." Cara Nicklas from Oklahoma said she’s received numerous messages calling her "mean-spirited and unloving" for supporting the UMC’s historical stance. "Surely you don't want to be united with me if I am as mean and unloving as you say," she said.

The bishops’ plan was voted down by 55% of delegates. Instead, delegates adopted the Traditional Plan, which would maintain the current position and increase clergy accountability. For anyone who disagreed, a plan for gracious disaffiliation was adopted. Progressives called one another to act like the Book of Discipline does not exist and vowed not to leave.

Accepting the Inevitable

After over 40 years of power struggles and dramatic displays, on January 3, 2020 a UMC mediation team unveiled, “A Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation.” New York Conference Bishop Thomas Bickerton said, “It became clear that the line in the sand had turned into a canyon. The impasse is such that we have come to the realization that we just can’t stay that way any longer.”

In the end, the UMC founding principle of unity could not withstand the diametrically opposed views on sexuality. It simply doesn’t work.

  Footnotes

[1] While many Episcopalians, Lutherans, and Presbyterians have successfully made their denominations more LGBTQ-friendly, these church bodies were within the USA only. UMC is a worldwide organization, consistently declining in the USA and growing around the world. Compared to 2008, 2012 has 100 fewer delegates from USA and 100 more from abroad, with 40% outside the USA.