This
is the last of a series of articles dealing with the debate over human
sexuality, specifically the ordination of homosexual persons and the
celebration of same-sex weddings, within the United Methodist Church. As I have said before, I have chosen to set
aside the debate about the rightness or wrongness of the issues themselves in
favor of focusing on how, or even if, we can continue to be one denomination that
does not agree on these practices.
To
review, General Conference 2016 asked the Council of Bishops to appoint a
Commission on a Way Forward to make recommendations to be presented to a
special General Conference which has since been scheduled for February 23-26,
2019 in St. Louis. So far, the
Commission has recommended three different “models.” The first model would be to retain the
current restrictions on homosexual ordination and same-sex marriage. The second model, now called the one church
model, would remove the restrictions and allow individual annual conferences to
make decisions about homosexual ordination and individual local churches and
clergy make decisions about performing same-sex weddings. The third model, now called the multi-branch model,
provides for the division of the church into three branches, traditionalist,
centrist, and progressive, which would each be able to make its own decision
about homosexual ordination and same-sex marriage. I described these models in more detail, and
outlined their pros and cons, in previous articles.
At
their November meeting, the Council of Bishops offered feedback and requested
more work and discussion by the Bishops, by the Commission on a Way Forward,
and throughout the Church, around the last two models. The Commission on a Way Forward is expected
to make a final report to the Council of Bishops at their meeting April 29-May
4. The Council of Bishops will then
finalize a proposal to be voted on at a special General Conference in St. Louis. That proposal will be announced sometime in
July. The proposal will be able to be
debated and amended by the delegates at the special General Conference. As of now, the Church is waiting for word for
the Judicial Council, the Church’s “Supreme Court” if other proposals will be
allowed to be submitted to the special General Conference. If the special General Conference does not
pass any new proposal the rules will remain as they are and the restrictions on
homosexual ordination and same-sex marriage will remain in place. The next regular General Conference is scheduled
for spring of 2020 in Minneapolis.
As I
said before, this is my last article in this series. I encourage all of you, no matter your
position on these issues, to continue to stick together and to pray for our
Church and our leaders.
