United Methodists to allow LGBTQ clergy

BBRex

10:22a, 5/1/24

I thought they already allowed them.

Quote:
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) United Methodist delegates repealed their church's longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy with no debate on Wednesday, removing a rule forbidding "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from being ordained or appointed as ministers.

https://apnews.com/article/acabe18fe22b6838e3005ad8895534fa

ds00

10:28a, 5/1/24

Finally

Tramp96

10:28a, 5/1/24

I think officially they didn't allow them if they were practicing.

This was coming as soon as the big split happened. Previously, the African delegates stopped it from happening, and then as soon as that was followed up with the big split, you knew this was about to happen next.

DeSantis 2024

Shoe97

10:29a, 5/1/24

The church has basically looked the other way for many years regarding LGBTQ clergy. Now the ban will has been formally repealed.

Yale

10:31a, 5/1/24

I pray for the souls of those that continue to follow false doctrine. Have mercy on them.

Gigem314

10:33a, 5/1/24

UMC leaders are also openly supporting the Palestinians. As in, not being impartial...but flat out choosing a side. Sadly I'm not surprised. They are more of a political organization than a group of churches at this point. God is secondary to their focus. They worship social justice ideology.
https://www.umnews.org/en/news/bishops-delegates-join-rally-for-palestine

I'm glad the church split. Though I hope the new GMC won't make the same mistakes the UMC did by allowing the virtue signaling leftists to get control and take the focus off the gospel of Jesus Christ to pursue political activism.

Every denomination has its problems - because humans will always fall short of God's design. I get so tired of denominational bickering getting in the way of authentic community. But the minute the focus turns away from showing the world salvation through Jesus Christ - that's when things can go off the rails very quickly.

Teslag

10:34a, 5/1/24

The methodist church split the past couple of years with the UMC being left to be more like a Unitarian church that doesn't really follow Christ or the Bible. It's more of a spiritual social club than Christian church in practice.

WBBQ74

10:34a, 5/1/24

Our 6K member formally UMC disaffiliated last year by a 85% vote. Staying independent for a bit until it all shakes out. The UMC will dry up financially and be pruned off the vine. Alphabet stuff is partly to blame but not all of it. Ham handed conference poohbahs are part of it, too. A Great Awakening is coming.

OldArmy71

10:34a, 5/1/24

One issue causing the split (there were others) was that a number of churches and conferences were not following the Book of Discipline's guidance on ordaining gays.

As noted above, the more conservative churches in Africa were instrumental in preventing changes to the B of D for a number of years, but the vote was closer and closer each time.

My church voted to leave and now just calls itself a Methodist Church, not "United" Methodist. I don't know if we will join the more conservative group or stay independent.

AgNav93

10:42a, 5/1/24

In reply to BBRex

BBRex said:
I thought they already allowed them.

Quote:
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) United Methodist delegates repealed their church's longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy with no debate on Wednesday, removing a rule forbidding "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from being ordained or appointed as ministers.

https://apnews.com/article/acabe18fe22b6838e3005ad8895534fa

I don't think they ever enforced it. I was once a methodist and I remember in the 80s we had a lesbian pastor. I think this was one of the main issues for the split recently. The methodist church has been very liberal for a while. I left it in early 2000 because I couldn't take it anymore.

They're about the feel good social justice and not the teachings of Christ anymore. They are more unitarian in their beliefs now.

Shoe97

10:43a, 5/1/24

In reply to Gigem314

The article states that "100 delegates" attended the rally and says nothing about the official position of the UMC and Palestine.

Your opening statement is incorrect about the UMC supporting Palestine. There are 862 voting delegates assigned to mothers UMC General Conference.

MouthBQ98

10:43a, 5/1/24

Well that is just fabulous.

Gigem314

10:45a, 5/1/24

In reply to Teslag

Teslag said:
The methodist church split the past couple of years with the UMC being left to be more like a Unitarian church that doesn't really follow Christ or the Bible. It's more of a spiritual social club than Christian church in practice.

Exactly.

But sadly, the original non-woke UMC stood by and allowed it to happen by fostering a culture that felt more like a 'spiritual club' than a church whose purpose was sharing the gospel of Christ. Lots of focus on tradition and passive faith - even for the conservative churches. Outward spirituality was frowned up on as 'too Baptist' in some places I experienced. It was sad. And to no surprise, the progressives in the church seized on this culture and began shifting the focus to social justice.

I genuinely hope for the best with the GMC. There are still many good Methodist churches out there that have shifted to being more evangelical and aren't resting on tradition - while at the same time staying true to the Bible and not resting on the social flavor of the times.

Martin Cash

10:46a, 5/1/24

The next vote will be to allow same sex marriages, and it will pass. I'm so glad we disaffiliated last year and went GMC.

The Global Methodist Church is being called 'conservative,' but it is exactly what the UMC was until today, at least on paper.

Ag_0112358132134

10:49a, 5/1/24

Satan is like "hell yeah! Got em again!!"

Gigem314

10:49a, 5/1/24

In reply to Shoe97

Shoe97 said:
The article states that "100 delegates" attended the rally and says nothing about the official position of the UMC and Palestine.

Your opening statement is incorrect about the UMC supporting Palestine. There are 862 voting delegates assigned to mothers UMC General Conference.

Semantics.

I never said anything about an official position. But 100 delegates rallying for Palestine is no small display - and certainly not something you would have seen 10 or 20 years ago from leaders in the church. Given the other positions the modern UMC has taken, it would not surprise me to see a lot of people that agree with the stance. It's become nothing more than an organization that worships social justice causes. God is no longer their primary focus.

Shoe97

10:55a, 5/1/24

In reply to Gigem314

You have edited your post now to say otherwise, but your initial post said the UMC supports Palestine. Maybe you did not mean it to be the entirety of the United Methodist Church, but that is how it read, and the follow-on information you provided also supported you assertion of it being the official stance of the UMC.

Gigem314

10:58a, 5/1/24

In reply to Shoe97

Shoe97 said:
You have edited your post now to say otherwise, but your initial post said the UMC supports Palestine. Maybe you did not mean it to be the entirety of the United Methodist Church, but that is how it read, and the follow-on information you provided also supported you assertion of it being the official stance of the UMC.

I never stated it was the official position of the UMC, you're just trying to make that assumption because it seems my comments offended you. Tough.

I would hope you'd be more concerned about the actions and causes being supported by more and more leaders in the UMC than trying to deflect based on someone's post you misread on a message board.

BoDog

11:06a, 5/1/24

I didnt leave the UMC. The UMC left me.

Thankfully God has opened an amazing door to my family having found a Methodist church that went off on their own a few years ago. The difference is like night and day!

P.H. Dexippus

11:14a, 5/1/24

What a shame. I have fond memories of attending a rural UMC church as a kid, a place where the Sunday morning message was still delivered in German up until WW2. They were sent a divorced female pastor in the mid 90s, which should have been the writing on the wall. I guess the one silver lining is all those elders I knew when I was a child did not live to see what it has become.

Teslag

11:16a, 5/1/24

In reply to P.H. Dexippus

There's a decent chance that rural church has left the UMC and gone independent.

Burdizzo

11:33a, 5/1/24

The UMC rides shotgun with the ELCA on the road to decline.

At the end of that cul-de-sac they will be welcomed by the Univeralist-Unitarians. One of my former parishioners used to call it the Church of the Orange County Hot Tub where the Gospel is "I'm Ok, You're OK. Let's all jump in and be Christian".

ABATTBQ11

11:39a, 5/1/24

In reply to Gigem314

John Wesley is spinning in his grave

Sharpshooter

11:42a, 5/1/24

In reply to Teslag

Teslag said:
The methodist church split the past couple of years with the UMC being left to be more like a Unitarian church that doesn't really follow Christ or the Bible. It's more of a spiritual social club than Christian church in practice.

Ala, Joel Osteen.

txwxman

12:46p, 5/1/24

In reply to Yale

Yale said:
I pray for the souls of those that continue to follow false doctrine. Have mercy on them.

Perhaps instead of judging your neighbors, you could pray for peace or somesuch?

Funky Winkerbean

12:48p, 5/1/24

Drag shows and Jesus

Teslag

12:48p, 5/1/24

In reply to txwxman

txwxman said:
Yale said:
I pray for the souls of those that continue to follow false doctrine. Have mercy on them.

Perhaps instead of judging your neighbors, you could pray for peace or somesuch?

You do realize rejection of sin asking for forgiveness is kinda the big point of the Bible right?

No Spin Ag

12:55p, 5/1/24

In reply to Sharpshooter

Sharpshooter said:
Teslag said:
The methodist church split the past couple of years with the UMC being left to be more like a Unitarian church that doesn't really follow Christ or the Bible. It's more of a spiritual social club than Christian church in practice.
Ala, Joel Osteen.

There has never been a greater smoke and mirrors "Christian" leader than him.

The Shank Ag

12:55p, 5/1/24

Left the UMC early in 2023 after my church decided to stay instead of go GMC. Had always been a Methodist. Our preacher saying the Bible has to be reasoned with
modern times sealed the deal.

My wife had us try the Baptist church as that's what she grew up. I'm happier and feel like the Bible is finally front and center which I haven't seen since I was a kid in the UMC.

This is a huge vote and swing left and away from the Bible for the UMC, but be prepared, there will be many more. They just weren't going to railroad all through at one time. Next general conference may be even more off the rails.

txwxman

12:59p, 5/1/24

In reply to Teslag

Teslag said:
txwxman said:
Yale said:
I pray for the souls of those that continue to follow false doctrine. Have mercy on them.

Perhaps instead of judging your neighbors, you could pray for peace or somesuch?

You do realize rejection of sin asking for forgiveness is kinda the big point of the Bible right?

Not sure what role third party rejection of sin plays. The church has made specific treatment of sin dependent on the sinner's power to influence the secular environment.

Teslag

1:01p, 5/1/24

In reply to txwxman

Because if the leaders of the "church" are not rejecting sin, but embracing it and quite literally ordaining it then how can they be expected to tell others to reject that sin and repent?

frenchtoast

1:07p, 5/1/24

How long do you have to practice before you get it down?

Muy

1:12p, 5/1/24

Methodists… Christian Lite

Evanhue

1:19p, 5/1/24

In reply to BBRex

People need to flee these type churches. There are many other good options out there.

"Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit." Matt 15:14

counter subconscious espionage

Nanomachines son

1:23p, 5/1/24

Gotta be honest, I thought they had already done this and had written off the denomination as a cultural Marxist satanic infused group of degenerates.

I give it 10 years tops before no churches within that denomination exist.