United Methodist Church Announces Plan to Split Over Same-Sex Marriage

[thackney]

United Methodist Church Announces Plan to Split Over Same-Sex Marriage
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/us/methodist-split-gay-marriage.html
Jan. 3, 2020

A group of leaders of the United Methodist Church, the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States, announced on Friday a plan that would formally split the church, citing “fundamental differences” over same-sex marriage after years of division.

The plan would sunder a denomination with 13 million members globally — roughly half of them in the United States — and create at least one new “traditionalist Methodist” denomination that would continue to ban same-sex marriage as well as the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy.

It seems likely that the majority of the denomination’s churches in the United States would remain in the existing United Methodist Church, which would become a more liberal-leaning institution as conservative congregations worldwide depart.

A separation in the Methodist church, a denomination long home to a varied mix of left and right, had been brewing for years, if not decades. It had become widely seen as likely after a contentious general conference in St. Louis last February, when 53 percent of church leaders and lay members voted to tighten the ban on same-sex marriage, declaring that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.”

“We tried to look for ways that we could gracefully live together with all our differences,” Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey of Louisiana said. After last year’s conference, she said, “it just didn’t look like that was even possible anymore.”

In the months following, Bishop Harvey and 15 other church representatives came together in an informal committee that determined separation was “the best means to resolve our differences, allowing each part of the church to remain true to its theological understanding.”...

[The_Reader_David]

So will either of the pieces retain the soon-to-be-ironic name of "United Methodist Church"?

[thackney]

So will either of the pieces retain the soon-to-be-ironic name of "United Methodist Church"?

The name "United" came from the merger with Evangelical United Brethren Church, which was had previous mergers of their own.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_United_Brethren_in_Christ

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Once you compromise your values (in this case the words of the Bible) in order to accommodate estranged peoples, you have lost your way.

Better to die a martyr preserving your values than to prostitute your beliefs.

[Polly Ticks]

I wonder which faction will "own" the Emmaus Walk.

[thackney]

I wonder which faction will "own" the Emmaus Walk.

Lots of activities outside the basic church that would leave a hole for one side or the other.  UM Army and UMCOR as other examples.

[Cyber Liberty]

I wonder which faction will "own" the Emmaus Walk.

I had to Goggle that.  I haven't heard the term "The Upper Room" since I was a kid.

[The_Reader_David]

The name "United" came from the merger with Evangelical United Brethren Church, which was had previous mergers of their own.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_United_Brethren_in_Christ

I know that.  It, will, however, soon be, as I noted, ironic for either of the parts to retain the name, that history notwithstanding.

[thackney]

I know that.  It, will, however, soon be, as I noted, ironic for either of the parts to retain the name, that history notwithstanding.

 

[verga]

One of the UMC churches near me openly welcomes homosexuals and has a female pastor. This could get ugly fast.

[thackney]

One of the UMC churches near me openly welcomes homosexuals and has a female pastor. This could get ugly fast.

In talking about it with my pastor this weekend, he felt it was telling that first they voted on resolving pensions and church property ownership.  It told where the priorities really were at.

[Polly Ticks]

I had to Goggle that.  I haven't heard the term "The Upper Room" since I was a kid.

It's a great program, and also feeds volunteers into the Residents Encounter Christ prison ministry.

[jmyrlefuller]

In talking about it with my pastor this weekend, he felt it was telling that first they voted on resolving pensions and church property ownership.  It told where the priorities really were at.

As @mountaineer has, in the past, discussed in regard to the Presbyterians who have gone through a schism, the money and property issue is indeed one of the first things that needs to be sorted out in a schism. That's because a lot of these denominations—the UMC included—own most of their communities' church buildings centrally. So if there's a schism, the congregations that split all of a sudden end up homeless and the buildings end up empty.

As a member of a UMC congregation, albeit a more conservative congregation that was historically United Brethren and still has the old EUB sign on the bell tower, we've been paying close attention to this. The UMC has long been fast and loose with regard to letting its local congregations set policy, so a schism at this point isn't all that surprising. I am glad they're not going to be jerks about it and are going to allow a split as equals instead of leaving denominations like ours in the dust.

[thackney]

I suspect, they cannot afford to have larger churches split away and leave the UMC with an empty building and hundred of thousands in debt.

[mountaineer]

One of the UMC churches near me openly welcomes homosexuals and has a female pastor. This could get ugly fast.

One of my college roommates is married to a UMC pastor. They have a homosexual son and I suspect Dad conducted his "marriage" ceremony a year or so ago, without letting the bishop know (because it was verboten). It will be a surprise if this particular UMC pastor doesn't reject the "traditionalist" route.