David Gura speaks wh Rev. Kimberly Stt about last week's meetg of the Uned Methodist Church's Council of Bishops and s impedg vote on whether to orda gay pastors.
Contents:
- THE UNED METHODIST QUEER CLERGY CC (UMQCC) IS MA UP OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, QUEER, AND TERSEX PEOPLE WHO ARE LLED, MISSNED, AND ORDAED CLERGY THE UNED METHODIST CHURCH.
- 500 CLERGY SUPPORT GAY UNED METHODIST CLERGY WHO ME OUT
- SR OF NGREGATNS QU UNED METHODIST CHURCH OVER GAY CLERGY, SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
- UNED METHODIST CHURCH MOV TO ALLOW LGBT CLERGY AND GAY MARRIAGE
- UNED METHODIST NSERVATIV TAIL BREAKAWAY PLANS OVER GAY CLN
- DEFYG CHURCH BAN, DOZENS OF METHODIST CLERGY E OUT AS GAY AND LBIAN
- UNED METHODIST CHURCH ANNOUNC PROPOSAL TO SPL OVER GAY MARRIAGE
THE UNED METHODIST QUEER CLERGY CC (UMQCC) IS MA UP OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, QUEER, AND TERSEX PEOPLE WHO ARE LLED, MISSNED, AND ORDAED CLERGY THE UNED METHODIST CHURCH.
* umc gay clergy *
The Uned Methodist Queer Clergy Cc (UMQCC) is ma up of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer, and tersex people who are lled, missned, and ordaed clergy the Uned Methodist Church. Kimberly Stt about last week's meetg of the Uned Methodist Church's Council of Bishops and s impedg vote on whether to orda gay pastors.
The Uned Methodist nomatn has over 6 ln members the Uned Stat, and they're divid over the qutn of ordag gay misters.
500 CLERGY SUPPORT GAY UNED METHODIST CLERGY WHO ME OUT
A mtee wh the Uned Methodist Church has affirmed a proposal on acceptg LGBT clergy and gay marriage. Ron Cogswell/Flickr Gay clergy and same-sex marriage may be allowed at Uned Methodist Church thanks to a proposal drafted by the Connectnal Table, a rpected ternatnal body of clergy members and lay people the church. On Tuday, the mtee * umc gay clergy *
She left the church for seven years and me back to be s first Black, female, openly gay pastor, and she jos now om Phoenix. KIMBERLY SCOTT: Thank you, So this bate over ordag gay clergy has been gog on for a while, sce the late '60s. And then the other part was always send-gusg myself - whether or not I was supposed to be open about my sexual orientatn, whether or not I was supposed to play the game of don't ask, don't Jt so that I'm clear, is the church's official stance on homosexualy today ambiguo or is pretty clearly fed and you'd like to see changed?
It clearly stat that you nnot be an openly-practicg homosexual and be ordaed the Uned Methodist Church. It also stat that although all human begs are of sacred worth, homosexualy is patible wh Christian teachg. S., church have gone beyond what the Book of Disciple says to make the church open and accsible to gay and lbian clergy like Do you know other pastors who aren't as open as you or haven't been able to be as open as you - have ma this choice to keep this important si of their liv quiet or secret om their ngregatns?
The bate around homosexualy is not somethg that most Ain and third-world untri are - really re about. A letter om 500 openly LGBTQ clergy, future pastors and fah lear a number of different nomatns offered “much love and light” to the 111 Uned Methodist clergy and ndidat who me out as gay on May 9.
SR OF NGREGATNS QU UNED METHODIST CHURCH OVER GAY CLERGY, SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
Dozens of Uned Methodist clergy me out as lbian, gay or bisexual on Monday, fyg their church’s ban on “self-avowed practicg homosexuals” servg mistry. * umc gay clergy *
“Though we e om different tradns, you are our fay Christ and our siblgs the mon stggle to live fully and thentilly to our God-given inti and llgs, ” stat the letter posted on the webse Believe Out Loud, an onle muny that empowers Christians to work for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer or qutng (LGBTQ) equaly. They intify themselv as “Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Qutng, and Intersex” the letter. The majory of legat at the 2012 General Conference voted agast a proposal to say Uned Methodists disagree whether homosexualy is agast God’s will.
Gregory Gross, a an and legate om the Northern Illois Conference, said often when Uned Methodists “talk about homosexualy, we talk about as an issue. Gross, whose homels mistry clus servg gay and lbian teens who have been kicked out of their hom, said he signed the letter also to provi a wns that the teens are not alone.
The Book of Disciple, the nomatn's erng document, has stated sce 1972 that all dividuals are of sacred worth but the practice of homosexualy “is patible wh Christian teachg. It lists beg a “self-avowed practicg” gay clergy member as well as officiatg at same-sex unns as chargeable offens unr church law. He announced that he is gay durg a church panel on sexualy last year, and he is unr appotment to Rencilg Mistri Network.
UNED METHODIST CHURCH MOV TO ALLOW LGBT CLERGY AND GAY MARRIAGE
The Uned Methodist Church, wh an timated 10.4 ln members, has current polici that are strongly agast the LGBTQ muny. However, many church lears, cludg lol pastors, wele gays and lbians as church members and support their basic human rights. * umc gay clergy *
Alvaran strsed that the mistry of gay and lbian dividuals is not jt a ncern the Uned Stat. At least 130 ngregatns have quietly walked away om the Uned Methodist Church a schism over the nomatn’s planned acceptance of same-sex marriage and homosexual clergy.
The Uned Methodist Church General Conference, the church’s erng body, is expected this year to approve a separatn plan that would create two nomatns: one affirmg bans on gay clergy and same-sex marriage, and one permtg homosexual clergy and same-sex marriage. A mtee wh the Uned Methodist Church has affirmed a proposal on acceptg LGBT clergy and gay marriage.
Gay clergy and same-sex marriage may be allowed at Uned Methodist Church thanks to a proposal drafted by the Connectnal Table, a rpected ternatnal body of clergy members and lay people the church. On Tuday, the mtee affirmed the proposal to remove church legislatn that punish clergy for beg “self-avowed practicg homosexuals” or officiatg gay weddgs, the Uned Methodist Church News Service reported.
UNED METHODIST NSERVATIV TAIL BREAKAWAY PLANS OVER GAY CLN
If passed, clergy members would not face punishment, church trials or be ocked if they officiated same-sex weddgs or me out as gay. This was the realy for Uned Methodist pastor Frank Schaefer, who was ocked November 2013 and restated last October after officiatg the weddg of his gay son.
DEFYG CHURCH BAN, DOZENS OF METHODIST CLERGY E OUT AS GAY AND LBIAN
While the church reversed s cisn on technil grounds, rather than those related to s posn on homosexualy, church lears saw the reversal as a signal toward full cln of s LGBT members. However, remas a small step until the church pletely remov s negative language on homosexualy. " LGBT people who are “self-avowed” and “practicg” homosexualy also are forbidn om beg ordaed.
Homosexualy has been bated by church lears for more than four s.
In January, a Methodist mister om Alabama told his 560-member ngregatn that homosexualy is not a s. Uned Methodists have long bated LGBTQ rights the church, cludg the ordatn of LGBTQ clergy and a clergy's thory to marry same-sex upl, for bate reached an flectn pot 2016 after hundreds of Uned Methodist clergy me out as gay and when a regnal nference elected the first openly lbian bishop. Ultimately, legat approved a proposal that did not fundamentally change the nomatn's stance on sexualy, which ntu to say "the practice of homosexualy is patible wh Christian teachg.
UNED METHODIST CHURCH ANNOUNC PROPOSAL TO SPL OVER GAY MARRIAGE
Church l bar "self-avowed, practicg homosexuals" om mistry.
Dozens of Uned Methodist clergy members me out as lbian, gay or bisexual on Monday, fyg their church’s ban on “self-avowed practicg homosexuals” servg mistry and sentially darg their supervisors to disciple them.
This is the first Methodist General Conference sce the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage 2015. In addn to gay and lbian clergy, the letter was also signed by tersex and transgenr pastors, who are not technilly exclud om mistry.