The United Methodist Church (UMC) and homosexuality: An overview
Topics covered in this essay:
About the United Methodist ChurchThe Methodist movement traces its history in the U.S. back to the first
conference of Methodist preachers in Philadelphia, PA, in 1760. By 1801, The
Methodist Episcopal Church in America was organized, with its first "Discipline,"
publishing house, General Conference and constitution. Conflicts arose about the
role of lay representation, the role and status of women and human slavery. The Methodist movement split in 1844 after long, heated discussions over
slavery and the power of bishops. History may repeat itself over the homosexuality in the future. The Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Protestant Church merged in 1939 to become
the Methodist Church. It was a racist group, racially segregated into five white
jurisdictions and a Central Jurisdiction for the black Methodist conferences. During the period from 1939 to 1968, five Methodist churches merged to form the United
Methodist Church (UMC). They were the Evangelical Association; Methodist Episcopal
Church; Methodist Episcopal Church, South; Methodist Protestant Church, and the United
Brethren in Christ. The church has
been a strong supporter of the ecumenical movement. Although predecessor
denominations to the UMC did ordain women, it was not until 1956 the UMC ceased
being sexist. In that year, Maud K. Jensen became the first woman to receive full
clergy rights and conference membership in the UMC. 2 In 1964, the Methodist General Conference added a statement
about "Sex in Christian Life" to the denomination's Social Creed (after 1972 the Social Principles). It read in part:
"We believe that sexual intercourse within holy
matrimony with fidelity and love is a sacred experience and constitutes a
needed expression of affection. We also believe that sexual intercourse
outside the bonds of matrimony is contrary to the will God..." 3
At the time "matrimony" meant the marriage of one wman and one man. Very few people in the U.S. had actively considered gay marriage or marriage equality. 
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Current UMC beliefs and practices concerning the LGBT community:In 1983, they denomination reported 9.4 million members and over 38,000 churches. Membership has
remained relatively stable over the past 15 years. By 2005, their membership had declined to 9 million strong. The decline continues, with "fewer than 7.6 members" in 2010, and 7.3 million in 2015. 4,5 These declines are in spite of the gradual increase in the total U.S. population. They remain the
second largest Protestant denomination in the United States. (The largest is the Southern
Baptist Convention, a fundamentalist faith group). Having abandoned its racist and sexist policies, the UMC is now attempting to
deal with its homophobic beliefs and practices. However, its progress is very slow. The UMC members' beliefs about homosexuality are split along the
same liberal/conservative lines as are present in other denominations. Most
members fall into one of two groups:
- Liberals within the UMC generally look upon gay/lesbian ordination and same-sex
marriage as civil rights issues -- fundamental human rights issues that should be available to persons of all sexual
orientations. They also typically believe that a homosexuality is a
normal, natural, unchosen, and fixed sexual orientation for a minority of adults.
- Conservatives feel that homosexual behavior is a sin, hated by God
and condemned throughout the Bible. Allowing a homosexual to be
ordained would be a massive attack on historical church standards. Marriage is
for one man and one woman only. Homosexuality is abnormal, unnatural
behavior. It is a chosen lifestyle. In the past, most believed that homosexuality can be changed through therapy and
prayer. However, with the collapse of Exodus Internatonal in mid-2013, -- the main agency promoting reparative therapy to change homosexuals into heterosexuals -- many conservatives are accepting that a homosexual orientation is fixed.
Progress towards racial, gender and sexual orientation inclusiveness in the Methodist
Church has historically played major role in influencing change in other denominations. One reason
for this is their membership size; another is that they are often referred to as the most
"mainline" of Christian denominations. Where they go, other
denominations often follow.
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The UMC's Book of Discipline:The Methodist denomination is primarily American; there are about 33,000 congregations
in the US and about 5,200 elsewhere in the world. "The Book of Discipline of the United
Methodist Church" regulates the activities of the denomination world-wide. It is
updated periodically by the General Conference of Methodist Churches which
held every four years and is attended by
delegates from around the world. The Book currently contains a number of clauses relating to
homosexuality:
-
"Since the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching,
self-avowed practicing homosexuals* are not to be accepted as candidates, ordained as
ministers or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church."
*Footnote –- "'Self-avowed practicing homosexual' is understood to mean that a
person openly acknowledges to a bishop, district superintendent, district committee of ordained
ministry, board of ordained
-
"Homosexual persons no less than heterosexual persons are individuals of sacred
worth. All persons need the ministry and guidance of the church in their struggles for
human fulfillment, as well as the spiritual and emotional care of a fellowship that
enables reconciling relationships with God, with others, and with self. Although we do not
condone the practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with
Christian teaching, we affirm that God's grace is available to all. We commit ourselves to
be in ministry for and with all persons." (From "The Nurturing
Community," a section of the church's Social Principles, Par. 65G).
-
"The council on [Finance and Administration] shall be responsible for ensuring
that no board, agency, committee, commission, or council shall give United Methodist funds
to any gay caucus or group, or otherwise use such funds to promote the acceptance of
homosexuality. The council shall have the right to stop such expenditures.* This
restriction shall not limit the church's ministry in response to the HIV epidemic."
"*Reference is made to a Judicial Council Decision (491) that authorized the
right of an annual conference to use funds to study homophobia and another (592) that gave
the General Conference the right to create and fund a study of homosexuality."
(Book of Discipline, Par. 806.12)
-
"We affirm the sanctity of the marriage covenant that is expressed in love,
mutual support, personal commitment, and shared fidelity between a man and a woman...Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and
shall not be conducted in our churches." (From Social Principles, Par. 65C).
- "Equal Rights Regardless of Sexual Orientation -– Certain basic human
rights and civil liberties are due all persons. We are committed to supporting those
rights and liberties for homosexual persons. We see a clear issue of simple justice in
protecting their rightful claims where they have shared material resources, pensions,
guardian relationships, mutual powers of attorney, and other such lawful claims typically
attendant to contractual relationships that involve shared contributions,
responsibilities, and liabilities, and equal protection before the law. Moreover, we
support efforts to stop violence and other forms of coercion against gays and lesbians. We
also commit ourselves to social witness against the coercion and marginalization of former
homosexuals." (Social Principles, Par. 66H)
Marrying same-sex couples, blessing gay and lesbian unions, and accepting non-celibate homosexuals as pastors, are
matters that are not open to simple compromise. There only appear to be two methods of resolving the
homosexual ordination question:
-
Local option: The decision whether or not to recommend sexually active gays and
lesbians for ordination could be delegated to individual congregations or regional conferences.
This would not be an optimum decision for religious liberals within
the denomination; they feel that all members of any gender or sexual
orientation should be eligible for consideration for the ministry
throughout the denomination. It would also be not easily acceptable to conservatives within the
denomination; gays and
lesbians could then simply travel to a congregation or region that would accept
them. Both sides look upon these as moral questions, backed by their basic
beliefs about homosexual orientation, and their interpretation of key Biblical passages.
-
Denominational split: Another obvious alternative is for the denomination to split into two organizations: one in favor
of equal rights for persons of all sexual orientations; the other opposed. The United Methodist
Reporter newspaper chain posed the question in early 1999:
"Can we agree to
disagree and still live in the same ecclesiastical 'house,' but in different 'rooms'? Or
do we need to be planning wisely for the division of the house, preparing to become two
denominations that share a common history?''
There have been past splits in the Methodist movement over human rights. In the
mid-19th century the church was in conflict over slavery. As described in our essay on Christianity and Slavery:
-
1844: The General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church split into two conferences because of tensions over slavery and the power of bishops in
the denomination. The two General Conferences, the Methodist Episcopal Church (North) and Methodist Episcopal church, South remained separate until a merger in 1939.
-
1860: Ministers and laity of the Methodist Episcopal Church's Genesee Conference in western New York state were expelled from the church for
insubordination. They left to form the Free Methodist Church of North America.
They split over a variety of factors, including theological disagreements, the perceived
worldliness of the original church, and slavery. Their leader
"...Roberts and
most of his followers were radical abolitionists in the years immediately prior to the
Civil War, at a time when many within the Methodist Episcopal church were hesitant in
their condemnation of the practice of slavery." 1
The Methodist's historical record is mixed on whether any split over human rights could
be healed in the future, when homosexuality is expected to be more fully accepted as a normal and natural
sexual orientation. The denomination may, or may not be able to reunite in the
future. The extension of equal rights to lesbians and
gays is gradually traveling throughout North American religious institutions, starting
with the most liberal denominations and extending towards the most conservative.
Previous ethical issues (e.g. the abolition of slavery,
extension of equal status and rights to women, ordination of women, and
abolition of laws preventing mixed-race marriages) have shown that when a
discriminated-against group organizes and demands equal rights, that they will
eventually achieve them. I had hoped that the church would choose a compromise position,
perhaps:
-
Acknowledging that the church membership is divided over
the homosexual issue.
-
Adopting a local option plan which would allow individual congregations to choose whether to
recommend gay and lesbian candidates for ordination. A bishop, as
advised by a Board of Ordained Ministry, would then be given the authority
to ordain gay and lesbian candidates.
- Blessing same-sex couples who have been previously married in a civil ceremony.
However, there are an indications that such compromise is
impossible. The resolution at the year 2000 conference which acknowledged
differences in the beliefs about homosexuality within the denomination was
soundly rejected.
A Methodist
split happened over 150 years ago -- largely fueled by angry debate over
another ethical, civil rights issue -- slavery. Another church split appears
inevitable. It may well be the least damaging route for the future. The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- US News article, "Methodist church weighs homosexual marriage"
at: http://www.cnn.com/
- "Historical firsts for women clergy, Part 2," The General
Commission on Archives and History for The United Methodist Church, at: http://www.gcah.org/
- "Timeline: History of the UM Stance on Homosexuality" at: http://www.whystayum.org/
-
"2011 numbers show U.S. members still sliding," United Methodist Church, 2011, at: http://www.umc.org/
-
"Data Services," United Methodist Church, 2015, at: http://www.umc.org/
- Rev. Drew Phoenix and the United Methodist Church," Transfaith, 20
-
Stephanie Simon, "Transgender pastor's new test of faith," Los Angeles Times, 2007-SEP-09, at: http://articles.latimes.com/
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Daniel Burke, "Transgender pastor prompts uneasy questions for Methodists," USA Today, 2007-OCT-18, at: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/
Copyright © 1997 to 2015 by Ontario Consultants
on Religious Tolerance
Last update: 2015-JUL-04
Author: B.A. Robinson 
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