General Conference 2008

Christian Century: Methodists retain policies on homosexuality

According to the Christian Century:

In what is almost an every-four-years ritual, the United Methodist Church has upheld traditional rules on homosexuality, refusing to support or celebrate same-sex unions and maintaining language that calls homosexual activity "incompatible with Christian teaching."

Many Methodists who gathered in Fort Worth, Texas, wanted to see the church's official stance acknowledge the continuing sharp disagreement over sexuality and biblical interpretation within the largest mainline denomination. But delegates narrowly rejected efforts to remove the "incompatible" phrase at the ten-day quadrennial General Conference that ended May 2.

Defeated by a 517 to 416 margin was a measure to adopt a mandate to "refrain from judgment regarding homosexual persons and practices as the Spirit leads us to new insight." Delegates spent almost all of April 30 debating Methodist policies on homosexual issues, continuing a contentious discussion that the church has pursued for almost 40 years.

Many Methodists declared from the floor that a clear continuation of traditional teachings is essential, especially for evangelism in a world they said is beset by moral confusion. "Friends, this is serious business," said H. Eddie Fox, director of evangelism for the World Methodist Council. "It matters what we believe and what we practice, and we do not meet here in isolation."

Indeed, several delegates warned that actions taken by the General Conference directly affect Methodists in Africa and Asia, many of whom are conservative and whose churches are experiencing explosive growth. About 30 percent of the church's 11.5-million members now live outside the U.S., and some conservative activists credited the rising proportion of overseas delegates for keeping traditional policies in place.

The resolution calling for the church to refrain from judgment until a wider consensus is reached was defended by, among others, Will Green, a lay delegate from New England. "It allows gay and lesbian people like myself to stay in the church in a safe way that doesn't cause us to be sacrificed for the sake of church unity," he said.

Earlier in the day, a solid majority— more than 65 percent—rejected an attempt to change the church's constitution, the Book of Discipline, to recognize same-sex civil unions.

The ban "reflects the sentiment of most [church] members and the majority of citizens in the U.S. and many other countries," said the committee that handled the resolution. "Sanctioning homosexual unions would give the church's approval to homosexual behavior and relationships, which would be inconsistent" with church teaching.

Delegates also refused to commit to support civil unions in the wider society. They did agree to open educational opportunities to all persons regardless of sexual orientation. And after an emotional debate, a slim majority of Methodists agreed to strengthen the church's advocacy against sexism by "opposing all forms of violence or discrimination based on gender, gender identity, sexual practice or sexual orientation."

The measure also commits the church's General Board of Church and Society to develop resources and materials for local churches to fight homophobia. Nevertheless, two clergy delegates from the Democratic Republic of the Congo forcefully spoke out against the antihomophobia resolution.

Speaking in French with the aid of a translator, one pastor said that it's "very sad that the Methodist Church continues to advocate for things that come from the devil. . . . It is time for us as church to get on our knees and proclaim that we have made a mistake."

But Judy Stevens, a delegate from New York, said, "It's time for us to stand together with people who, although their orientation may be different from ours, still need to be protected from violent actions that are brought upon them on the basis of who they are."

Studies have shown that Methodists' disagreements over homosexuality mirror U.S. regional and generational divisions. Slightly more than half of Methodist clergy and laity "agree somewhat" with their church's refusal to condone homosexual acts, according to a "state of the church" report issued last year. But nearly one-third—30 percent of clergy and 28 percent of laity—"disagree strongly" with the church's position on homosexuality. Like other Americans, younger Methodists and those who live in the West and Northeast tend to be more tolerant of homosexuality.

Some 300 supporters of gay Methodists were allowed to stage a 15-minute protest in which they put black cloths over the communion table at a business session May 1—the day after delegates had declined to eliminate the "incompatible with Christian teaching" statement. A retired bishop, Melvin Talbert, said at the protest: "I can do no other than to say what's on my heart. General Conference, General Conference, this is wrong."

Afterward, 16 bishops met with the protesters to acknowledge the pain felt by some church members. Troy Plummer, executive director of the gay-supportive Reconciling Ministries Network, credited the official responses for preventing a possible civil disobedience move, according to United Methodist News Service.

Plummer told the news service that he was "most troubled" about delegates' inability to reverse a 2005 decision by the United Methodist Judicial Council to uphold the denial of church membership by a Virginia pastor to an applicant who was in an openly homosexual relationship. The denomination's Council of Bishops had condemned the ruling.

Delegates debated long into the night April 30 about whether to allow pastors to turn away candidates—or at least delay membership—until they're sure an applicant is serious about Methodism. Amid talk of following Jesus, who welcomed all comers, and Methodist founder John Wesley, the famous circuit-riding evangelist, there was discussion about the painful segregation of the church in the 1930s and a not-so-hidden subtext: the exclusion of gays and lesbians.

Gay rights activists hoped to counter the Methodist high court ruling by passing a law requiring pastors to receive all adults who affirm the church's membership vows. That measure failed by just 12 votes—one of the closest tallies at the General Conference.

Other delegates had different ideas. Pastor Bob Moon of South Georgia warned of "unintended consequences" should the doors to membership be flung wide open. "As pastors, we need to see this not from the perspective of restriction, but of responsibility to care for the flock," he said. Two women delegates cited examples of membership applicants who wanted to join the church to avoid the wedding fee for nonmembers.

But others said allowing pastors to discriminate contradicts the tenets of Christianity and Methodism—not to mention the denomination's motto of "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors."

Albert Shuler, a minister from Greenville, North Carolina, said that church membership based solely on pastoral interpretations should not be the guideline. "If the pastor were to use the teachings of Jesus on money as a litmus test, there wouldn't be any Americans left in our churches," he said.

The exhausting debates on homosexuality were seen as contributing to delegate disinterest in dealing with a less familiar question—whether a clergyperson who has a sex change may continue in the ministry.

Conservative Methodists had proposed a handful of resolutions that would bar transgender men and women from the pulpit, but those proposals were defeated in legislative committees. One resolution that did make it to the floor stated that transgenderism denies "the sacred integrity of God's good creation." It was trounced by a tally of 699 to 175. One conservative activist said the issue was not high on his group's agenda because transgender persons are such a small minority in the church.

The Methodist Judicial Council had passed on the case of Drew Phoenix, 49, a pastor in Baltimore who entered the ministry as Ann Gordon. The panel said there was no language in church legislation that deals with the question. Only the General Conference can introduce such rules, leaving that matter until 2012.

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Methodists retain policies on homosexuality
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Actions of General Conference marginalize some people, delegate says

Ralph Williams, an RMN Board Member, wrote the following article for the Baltimore Washington Conference:

It may be too soon for me to fairly reflect on the recently concluded 2008 General Conference. The hundreds of petitions that were acted upon at General Conference will do a lot of good in the church and in the world.

The General Conference recommitted itself to Africa University and expanded service in the world in fighting AIDS and malaria -- especially in Africa. It continues to fund the United Methodist Committee on Relief, which has been doing much good work in Mississippi and Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina. These are all good things that I believe the Church should be involved in and support.

However, despite Christ's invitation for all to come into God's Kingdom, most of our churches continue to be fixated on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a kind of pariah and continue to close their doors to us. As a result, the experience of attending General Conference is a deeply wounding experience for LGBT people, their families and friends.

As a delegate on the floor of General Conference, I sat as my brothers and sisters in Christ called us "children of Satan." LGBT people, their parents and friends and brothers and sisters were further wounded when there was no attempt by the presiding bishop to halt this type of speech on the plenary floor.

Unfortunately, since the norm in many churches is to hurl cruel jokes and ridicule at LGBT folks, church leaders often see nothing wrong with such wounding words.

Shortly after hearing such a speech, delegates to General Conference overturned the recommendation of a legislative committee to remove from the Social Principles the statement "homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching" and replace it with language stating that faithful Christians differ on this issue.

Still, later in the day, delegates approved legislation that allows a pastor to exclude from church membership anyone they believe is not worthy. This issue came before the General Conference because the Judicial Council had previously upheld a pastor's decision to deny church membership to a man solely because he is gay.

It appears that to enable pastors to screen out LGBT people from our churches we would reverse the Methodist Church's historic welcome to all who commit to follow Christ and take the vows of membership.

How does one respond to this continuing violation of our humanity as well as our baptismal vows?

It was with both sorrow and a sense of conviction that I participated in the protest "witness" with other LGBT people, their families and friends at General Conference. I joined this witness to declare my opposition to this injustice and oppression within the church that is fueled by both bigotry and ignorance.

I was pleased to hear the supporting words of Bishop Melvin Talbert who broke from the general silence of our bishops. Bishop Talbert spoke out prophetically against this General Conference's marginalization of LGBT people, drawing on linkages to the church's past role in fostering segregation and racial oppression.

He declared that the decision of this General Conference to marginalize LGBT people is as wrong as the previous decision to segregate black members in a Central Jurisdiction.

The good news is that the General Conference is not of one mind in its decision to marginalize LGBT people. Twelve bishops agreed to be in dialogue with us over the next four years; legislation was passed to work for civil rights protections for LGBT people; and proposed legislation to increase discrimination against transgender people failed to pass.

Even where the General Conference was successful in adopting legislation to continue the marginalization of LGBT people, the 55 to 45 percent majorities in one instance and 51 to 49 percent majorities in another hardly indicate that the United Methodist Church is unified on these actions.

Our United Methodist baptismal vow calls us to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves. These anti-gay policies and practices of the United Methodist Church are unjust and oppressive and I am committed to doing what I can to change them.

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Actions of General Conference marginalize some people, delegates says
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A Letter to the Faithful

Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell wrote this Letter to the Faithful after the Nonviolent protests/witnesses that occurred on Thursday, May 1 (Plenary Witness and Walking Over The Wounded). Earlier in the week, Rev. Caldwell addressed the General Conference on the ongoing struggle with racism and heterosexism in the United Methodist Church.

A Letter to the Faithful

Beloved Friends,

Congratulations to all of you who waged such a significant nonviolent struggle against those who in their distorted definition of "scriptural authority", worked to retain the "incompatibility with the Christian faith" language in the Book of Discipline.

Martin Luther King once said of segregation; "Segregation is dead, it is just a question of how long and expensive some folk want to make the funeral." It has been impossible to calculate the cost in spirituality, credibility, mission, ministry, finances and emotional well-being the long night of racial segregation/racism that we have experienced as a church and as a nation has cost us. As I read the words of Bishop Mel Talbert as he made the comparison between the Central Jurisdiction and the un-named "Jurisdiction" in which we have placed our sister/brother LGBT persons, I wept! How long O Lord, how long?

We are saddened because by a vote margin of 84 persons, the General Conference continued the charade of pretending that there is not a growing number of persons who found the incompatibility phrase, "incompatible" with their understanding of Scripture, the Wesleyan tradition and the mission and ministry of the Church. The church chose to extend and finance the funeral of heterosexism even though we know that it is on its deathbed or even now dead and some do not know it.

But, let us not despair or give up. Rather, let us press on in our diverse ways. Some can no longer accept the lie that God does not call LGBT persons into ordained ministry. Thus, they will respond in their own ways. Others, at the sessions of the annual conferences this spring and summer, conference after conference will pass legislation that proclaims at the conference level what General Conference could not proclaim at its level. And all of us will embrace our LGBT colleagues and ourselves, as we day after day walk and talk the fact that "WE ARE FAMILY", even though the legislation of the United Methodist Church does not understand that.

The Scriptures reminds us; "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning". I pray that many of you as tears were streaming down your faces saw the morning joy that is coming despite 30 plus years of violating the integrity of Scripture and the meaning of God's presence in Jesus Christ.

Gil Caldwell

P.S.   I have not found words nor the emotional strength to respond to my African brother who spoke the awful words that he spoke. Does he not know nor remember that there was a time and still is, when all of us of African descent were/are thought to be less than; in worth, value, humanity, spirituality, intelligence and integrity? Why is it that those whose history is that of being demonized and demeaned by those who think themselves superior, dare to turn around and demonize and demean LGBT persons? I will seek to pray for him and for those who told him about a God and a Bible who condones this blasphemy. This is neither my God nor my Bible, why is it his?

Initial Thoughts in the Wake of General Conference

From Rev. Eric Folkerth (Northaven UMC)

Summary:

I have never been in an earthquake. But I have heard those who have describe it as an unsettling event that rattles your knees, makes you queasy, and leaves you with the sense that the ground has be pulled out from under you. For many who participated in General Conference, this is exactly how we feel this morning.

There are many ways to measure success or failure at General Conference. But there is only ONE way that changes things for all of the United Methodists: changes to our Book of Discipline. And on that baseline metric, the truth is that our denomination took a step backwards this week in inclusion of gay and lesbian persons.

I say this because of the defeat of two proposals that seemed to have broad initially support. The first was a re-writing of what is known was Paragraph 161G, or the paragraph in the Social Principles that deals with human sexuality. This re-writing was somewhat unexpected. You may remember that this is the statement which includes the infamous “incompatibility clause.”

The committee responsible for this section of the Discipline voted out new language that eliminated that clause completely. Here’s is a snippet of that language:

“We believe that the Spirit has brought our collective conscience to acknowledge this mystery more honestly, and to make our claims with greater humility before God and our neighbors. We therefore ask the Church, United Methodist and others, and the world, to refrain from judgment regarding homosexual persons and practices until the Spirit leads us to new insight. In the meantime, let us seek to welcome, know, forgive, and love one another as Christ has accepted us, that God may be glorified through everything in our lives.”

Let me say, as an aside, several of our delegates from the North Texas Conference played a crucial committee role in crafting this language, including a conservative delegate who confided in me that “our current language is not working...we need to try something new.”
Many people seemed to believe this. It took a great deal of "holy conferencing" to craft this "third way" language.

But, on the floor --before the entire General Conference-- this legislation was defeated, in favor of the “minority report.” Even more stunning that the defeat of that sensitive and profound majority report, is the fact that the minority report is actually a less helpful statement than what we had previously. This is the main sense in which we have taken a step backwards. This regressive minority report was approved by a vote of 55-45, or a margin of 84 votes out of 998 total.

On the other great matter, legislation to overturn Decision 1032, the situation is also disappointing. The Conference basically rejected both the minority report and the majority committee reports on this matter; effectively leaving Decision 1032 in place. The majority report, which would have clearly repudiated Decision 1032, failed by a scant 6 vote swing: six votes out of 998 voters!!! This one, on the heels of the first loss, and considering the close margin, was very hard to take.

There were several major victories, however. A new, more moderate Judicial Council was elected, which seems to have broad support from many. There is a new definition of “family” as being “two parents,” and not just “mother and father.” Actions against a transgendered clergyperson were completely dropped, leaving him appointed in good standing. There is a new, strongly worded statement condemning homophobia.

Finally, there is a Constitutional Amendment which would have the affect of repealing Decision 1032, if ratified by 2/3rds of all Annual Conferences over the next year. Let me read a part of that ammendment briefly:

“All persons who seek relationship in Jesus Christ shall be eligible to attend its worship services, participate in its programs, receive the sacraments, upon baptism be admitted as baptized members, and upon taking vows declaring the Christian faith, become professing members in any local church in the connection.”

I can’t explaining to you why this Constitution Amendment would pass, and the petition to overturn 1032 would fail. It makes no logical sense on the face of it. But there it is.

But I can also not speak with assurance that it will pass 2/3rds of each Annual Conference. I say this because of my own personal, major learning from this Conference. It is a learning that will come to shape my thinking about our denomination for a long time to come:

International delegates --now more than one-quarter of all voting delegates-- are in a clear alliance with the most conservative elements of the American United Methodist Church.

We have feared this for years. You may recall that I mentioned this issue last week. But it is now a crystal-clear truth to all of us. This is a development that should be a concern for everyone in United Methodism. Friends, as some of us heard in speeches from the floor from some of these international delegates, they are far more conservative than even the average American conservatives, on a wide range of social issues.

This first truth reveals another truth that we learned clearly at this General Conference and that, in our confusion and hurt, we should not miss:

The hearts of American United Methodist delegates have been converted on GLBT issues.

I truly believe that. But it is not simply a faith statement to say such things. It’s easily provable, simply by analyzing the vote, and knowing what we know about the international vote. If you factor out the international votes, both the issues I mentioned would above have passed, and one (repudiating Decision 1032) would have passed overwhelmingly. There can be no denying this. (In fact, a well-placed person in the North Texas Conference believes the issues would have gone our way, even with “mix” of delegates from four years ago!)

But the voice of the American Church was thwarted by the alliance between conservative American delegates and international delegates.

And this makes the issue of restructuring an even more pressing concern than ever.

If we cannot restructure to allow regional autonomy to every part of our global church, then we literally risk losing the moral voice of the American United Methodist Church, not just on GLBT issues, but on a wide range of crucial social issues.

This will be a pressing concern for the general church in these next four years.
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But friends, all of what I have just said is far removed from how we are feeling this day. As your pastor, I want to address that the most. First, I want to thank the many people from Northaven who made their witness at General Conference...

Those who served on the Reconciling Initiatives Committee for more than a year ahead of conference...
Those who attended the Reconciling Worship, as our Youth Group and forty other members did...
Those who sat in the gallery each day during plenary...
Those who served as an official observers of legislative committees...
Those who participated in the non-violent protest on Thursday morning, or attending the wedding of Sue Laurie and Julie Bruno on Friday.

Whatever your role, you each made a powerful witness. Every single day, somebody from the Reconciling Movement came up and said to me “Wow...you Northaven people are everywhere!”

I am deeply honored and moved by your commitment, and your witness to faith.

But while we are grateful for our particular “haven” here at Northaven and Preston --and while technically nothing about how we do ministry here has changed-- I think I can speak for many of us when I say that this morning it does not feel like enough.
Despite the fact that our “haven” remains unmoved, our denomination has. It has moved in ways that are deeply hurtful. And such hurtful conduct is not easily overcome by the fact that we have this faith community here. In fact, it makes our compassion for GLBT persons who are excluded in other parts of the country all the more deep and painful.

Our Reconciling Initiatives Committee constantly reminded us that this struggle is not a sprint, but a marathon. I will note that it was perhaps easier to say this a week ago than it is this morning. Perhaps it feels like we have hit the dreaded 18-mile “wall.” Perhaps we are questioning how we go forward....either as a church, or as individuals. I want you to know that I understand that.

My hope is that, despite our anger, pain, and hurt at the United Methodist Church, we might still find “haven” among this community and each other and see our continuing witness as important.

In the coming weeks and months, my pastoral hope is that whatever our individual decisions will be on how we feel about Northaven or the UMC, we can lean on each other, as we have in the past.

Northaven Church proves the truth that we are stronger together than we are divided.

And I hope we can cling to that truth.
Perhaps we do not feel as if we have the strength to go on. At this exact moment, I cannot argue with such feelings, although I suppose my sincere hope is that we find a way to move forward together. Maybe it is time for edgier non-violent actions of some kind that make a statement to the greater church. I have heard several suggest this in the past few days. If so, let us have that conversation together, and hope that we can move forward with a unified witness.

Our witness has changed lives in the past....it clearly did change lives at this General Conference. And I believe it will continue to change lives in the future.

Whatever your feelings about the United Methodist Church, I hope you can allow this faith community to be your haven, and I hope we can spend some time considering what our next steps, as a faith community, might be.

Many of you remember Alicia Dean, a faithful member of our staff for many years. Alicia and I have been emailing this week, and she sent me this beautiful prayer, which I’d like use to close out these initial comments. close these initial comments. There will be more to say about what Northaven does next as a church. There will be more to say about the issue of restructuring, and how we might protest what has happened at this conference.

But this morning, let us end by praying this prayer:

O God of unfathomable depths and mysterious ways, when we think about it, there is really so little that we understand. Whether it’s a storm that passes one house and destroys another, a war that seemingly has no end, or a church that sanctions exclusion, we are left shaking our heads and wondering what it all means. Wondering how we can possibly find you in the midst of the mess. How long must we wander in this wilderness, O God? How long must we ask to serve you and be told NO? God who moved over the face of the waters and who hovers still over the chaos of our lives, we are weary of the noise. We are tired of the cacophony of rattling sabers, the endless distractions that shift our gaze to lines drawn in the sand, to distinctions of mine and yours, and to legal language of right and wrong instead of words of love and grace and justice and mercy. God who breathed life into fashioned clay, breathe into us now that we may be formed into your people once again. Quiet the storm within our denomination that the wave of your grace may roll over us. Heal us and all those who suffer from oppressive measures that we may find hope in this despair, pride in the shame of it all, courage in our fear, and resolution in defeat. Shift our eyes from a downward glance to stars outshining the darkest nights. Let us find water in the rock and life in dry bones. Raise us once more to new life and make of us something strong and full of grace. Free within us the courage to be vulnerable enough to offer a hand to clasp. Heal us that we may be bread to eat, wine to share, and mortal fools for your kin-dom. Fill us that we might be bold enough to take a stand, or speak a word, or shed a tear, or to make again the decision to follow you and, in so doing, that we will, by grace, come to life abundant and come to dare, and come to hope and love your future in.
Amen.

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Initial Thoughts in the Wake of General Conference
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