What’s Going on in the UMC? – Article 2: The History of the Sexuality Debate”

This series of articles is meant to update you on the current status of the debate within the United Methodist Church over human sexuality, specifically, the ordination of homosexual persons and the performing of same-sex marriages.  In my last article, I set three ground rules for myself in writing these articles and for all of us in discussing them: First, let us be upfront about our own position and do our best to understand the positions of others and to represent them fairly.  There are people we love on both sides.  Second, let us stop trying to convince each other that we are right, and they are wrong.  Instead, let us focus on the future of the church.  Third, let us confine this discussion to the United Methodist Church, and not discuss the issue as it relates to the rest of society.  I always welcome discussion on my blog at https://pastorbrianoliver.blogspot.com/, or you can always call, write, or just talk to me in person.

Today, I want to briefly trace the history of the human sexuality debate within the United Methodist Church.  At General Conference in 1972, in response to growing questions about homosexuality in the church and in society, a statement was added to the Book of Discipline which prohibited “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals” from becoming members of the clergy (304.3).  Later, a paragraph stating, “Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches (341.6) was added.  One should not think that these things used to be allowed and then were forbidden, rather General Conference saw itself as clarifying what the Church had always believed in the face of new questions.

The Book of Discipline is the global rule book for the United Methodist Church and can only be changed by General Conference, the official rule-making body which meets every four years with delegates from all over the world.  You may from time to time hear that the Iowa Annual Conference, or another United Methodist group, has voted one thing or another.  Those votes and statements have no authority whatsoever, only General Conference can make those changes.

The church has continued to debate this issue ever since.  At every General Conference, petitions have been brought forward to remove these restrictions and, amid emotional debate and demonstration, those petitions have failed to pass.  This debate continues to divide our Church and disrupt our ministry.

Fast forward to General Conference 2016.  Facing yet another set of petitions to change the rules that promised to be hotly debated and yet again defeated, delegates called upon the bishops to form a “Commission on a Way Forward” to develop a plan to bring this decades-long debate to an end.  The Commission has met, and continues to meet, and has published some models for the Church to consider.  We will look at those models, and where we go from there, next time.