From coast to coast, United Methodists are doing the math.<\/p>\n\n
America\u2019s third-largest flock just survived another quadrennial General Conference rocked by media-friendly fighting over sex. Now it\u2019s time to dissect the numbers.<\/p>\n\n
Delegates voted 570-334 to affirm the historic doctrines of the Christian faith.<\/p>\n\n
Efforts to back laws defining \u201cmarriage as the union of one man and one woman\u201d passed on a 624-184 vote. Same-sex union rites fell \u2014 756-159. Should the church delete its \u201cfaithfulness in marriage and celibacy in singleness\u201d standard for clergy? Delegates voted 806-95 to say \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The big news was a 579-376 vote against weakening the Book of Discipline\u2019s law that self-avowed, practicing homosexuals cannot be clergy because homosexuality is \u201cincompatible with Christian teaching.\u201d Delegates also rejected a resolution from gay-rights supporters that said: \u201cWe recognize that Christians disagree on the compatibility of homosexual practice with Christian teaching.\u201d That vote was 527-423.<\/p>\n\n
After three decades of pain, it seemed the numbers were stacking up for United Methodist conservatives, whose churches are thriving in the American Sunbelt and the Third World.<\/p>\n\n
But a final plot twist remained in Pittsburgh. A key leader caused fireworks by saying it\u2019s time to end the war over the Bible and sex \u2014 by separating the armies.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cOur culture alone confronts us with more challenges than we can humanly speaking confront and challenge. That struggle, combined with the continuous struggle in the church, is more than we can bear. Our people, who have been faithful and patient, should not have to continue to endure our endless conflict,\u201d said the Rev. William Hinson, retired pastor of the 12,000-member First United Methodist Church of Houston, at a breakfast for conservatives.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI believe the time has come when we must begin to explore an amicable and just separation that will free us both from our cycle of pain and conflict. Such a just separation will protect the property rights of churches and the pension rights of clergy. It will also free us to reclaim our high calling and to fulfill our mission in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
To understand the roots of this move \u2014 which parallels divisions looming in other oldline Protestant churches \u2014 it helps to dig a little deeper into the United Methodist numbers.<\/p>\n\n
Hinson is president of the \u201cConfessing Movement,\u201d with 1,400 churches with 650,000 members. Gay-rights supporters have a Reconciling Ministries Network of 192 churches, with 17,000 members.<\/p>\n\n
But there are 35,000 congregations in all, with 8.3 million members. Sickened by decades of decline \u2014 membership was 11 million in 1970 \u2014 the last thing Methodists in the institutional middle wanted to hear was the word \u201cschism.\u201d Before the conference closed, delegates linked hands, sang a hymn and passed a symbolic call for unity, 869 to 41.<\/p>\n\n
And there was another number that deserved study. General Conference voted by a narrow 455-445 to clarify which Discipline violations can lead to a trial. The list of chargeable offenses now includes failing to be \u201ccelibate in singleness or being unfaithful in a heterosexual marriage; being a self-avowed practicing homosexual; conducting ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions or performing same-sex wedding ceremonies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
But leaders on both sides noted that about 20 percent of the delegates this year came from Africa, Asia and Latin America \u2014 where churches are more conservative. Efforts to enforce the Discipline\u2019s teachings might fall short, if left to delegates from North American churches. United Methodist progressives also continue to dominate the church\u2019s bureaucracies and seminaries.<\/p>\n\n
So be it, said theologian Thomas Oden, a former United Methodist liberal who now is a conservative strategist. The key during the next four years is for local church leaders to weigh options for how to end the national warfare over the Bible and sex.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t particularly care about the powers that be. What we care about is the doctrine and the Discipline in our church,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s were our focus is and that\u2019s where it will stay. \u2026 But the actual enforcement of those teachings remains a problem for us, as it is for most Protestant churches today.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe know that we will be struggling with that issue for decades. That\u2019s the question: We know what our church teaches, but do we have the will to enforce it?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From coast to coast, United Methodists are doing the math. America\u2019s third-largest flock just survived another quadrennial General Conference rocked by media-friendly fighting over sex. Now it\u2019s time to dissect the numbers. Delegates voted 570-334 to affirm the historic doctrines of the Christian faith. Efforts to back laws defining \u201cmarriage as the union of one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[439,526,1540,553,795,861],"class_list":["post-1280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-homosexuality","tag-mainline-protestantism","tag-marriage","tag-methodists","tag-sexuality","tag-third-world"],"yoast_head":"\n