(RNS) — As the United Methodist Church has spent decades wrestling over the inclusion of its LGBTQ members, the Rev. Adam Hamilton, pastor of the largest United Methodist church in the United States, has emerged, as one local radio station put it, as ‘the Pied Piper for Methodists in the middle.’

(RNS) — “There are people, left and right, who just say, ‘This is it. We’ve waited. We’ve watched. We’ve tried. And now we can’t stay,'” said the retired bishop. “To me, that’s the story, more than which plan passes.”

ST. LOUIS (RNS) — The plan recommended by the United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops will ‘almost certainly still come up’ as a minority report during Tuesday’s plenary session, according to one LGBTQ advocacy group.

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — United Methodist bishops in Africa want to keep the denomination’s ban of LGBT clergy in place. But they also want the United Methodist Church to stay together no matter what happens at the upcoming General Conference in St. Louis. Delegates at that meeting will discuss possible changes to the denomination’s rules.

LEXINGTON, S.C. (RNS) — Mt. Horeb, a conservative evangelical church in the heart of South Carolina, is one of many congregations considering cutting the cord if the denomination relaxes its LGBT rules.

(RNS) — Court documents are giving United Methodists the first peek at proposed plans to avoid a split in the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States.

CHICAGO (RNS) — United Methodist bishops endorsed a plan that would allow individual pastors and regional bodies to decide whether to perform same-sex weddings and ordain or call LGBT people as clergy.