NEWS STORY: Methodist bishops reject calls for special General Conference on gay issues

c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ The bishops of the United Methodist Church have rejected calls for a special meeting of the church’s General Conference _ the denomination’s top legislative body _ to deal with the potentially schismatic issue of same-sex marriages. In a pastoral letter issued Thursday (April 30) in Lincoln, Neb., during […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ The bishops of the United Methodist Church have rejected calls for a special meeting of the church’s General Conference _ the denomination’s top legislative body _ to deal with the potentially schismatic issue of same-sex marriages.

In a pastoral letter issued Thursday (April 30) in Lincoln, Neb., during the Council of Bishops’ weeklong meeting, the bishops said a special session of the General Conference would distract the church.”We acknowledge the desire to resolve current conflicts around issues of homosexuality,”the bishops said.”We have prayerfully considered the appeal to resolve legislatively the tensions through a called session of the General Conference.” But they said because the denomination’s Judicial Council, its supreme court, has scheduled a special session in August to deal with the issue and because there is a”need for continuing discernment”on the issue”the calling of a special session does not seem wise at this time.”Further, as we respond to the crises in the world, especially among children and the impoverished and those who desperately need the gospel, a special called session might further distract us from our central mission.” The 8.5 million-member denomination has been in turmoil since March 13 when Omaha, Neb., pastor Jimmy Creech was narrowly acquitted by a jury of his peers of being disobedient to church law by performing a same-sex union ceremony at First United Methodist Church in Omaha.


After the verdict, a number of conservative groups who oppose homosexuality asked the bishops to call a special session of the General Conference to make the church’s policy against approving same-sex unions enforceable law. The General Conference, which typically brings 1,000 delegates together every four years, is next scheduled to meet in 2000.

In 1996, delegates to the General Conference added language to the denomination’s Social Principles barring United Methodist clergy from performing same-sex unions. But the weight of the ban is uncertain because it was placed in the Social Principles rather than the Book of Discipline, which is the church’s legal code, and there are questions as to whether the Social Principles carry the weight of church law.

United Methodists have been divided over the issue of the role of gays in the church since 1972.

Current church teaching says that”homosexual persons no less than heterosexual persons are individuals of sacred worth”but that the”practice of homosexuality”is”incompatible with Christian teaching.” The church bars the ordination of openly gay and lesbian people and forbids the use of any church funds to advocate for the acceptance of homosexuality.

At the opening of the bishops’ meeting, a group of 300 sign-waving demonstrators greeted the prelates urging them to support current church teaching. The demonstrators carried signs reading”God’s law, not man’s law”and”The laity uphold the Bible.” Since the acquittal of Creech, a group of pastors and laity in the church’s California-Nevada Annual Conference _ a regional jurisdiction similar to a diocese or synod _ have said they will separate from the denomination and three large churches in Georgia have announced their intention of withholding a total of more than $100,000 in funds for the national church.

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Meanwhile, a more moderate conservative group _ calling itself the Confessing Movement _ urged the bishops”to hear carefully and respond compassionately to the agony experienced by evangelical pastors and laity”who oppose acceptance of homosexuality within the church.

Meeting in Tulsa, Okla., April 16-18, the group issued a statement calling on the denomination to”retrieve its classical, doctrinal identity and to live it out as disciples of Jesus Christ.””We are convinced,”the statement said,”that both Scripture and the Book of Discipline are quite clear in rejecting the practice of homosexuality and the (performance) of same-sex unions.” The statement, issued before the Council of Bishops rejected the idea, also called for a special session of the General Conference to deal with the same-sex union issue.”To postpone resolution of this crisis until the year 2000 is completely unacceptable,”they said.


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For their part, the bishops’ pastoral letter said that they”recognize and hear the pain within our church surrounding the recent church trial … and the response to the verdict.”We acknowledge the concerns regarding the United Methodist Church’s stand on issues, particularly homosexuality and homosexual unions, and the church’s ability to maintain discipline, order and unity.” But the bishops urged the church”to remain focused on the mission of God and our unity in Christ and to set its priorities accordingly.”Issues within the church must not be allowed to distract us from the missional needs of the world and our call to make disciples of Jesus Christ,”they said.

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