In 6th grade I competed in the regional Pace Bowl. It’s like a Science Bowl, but for Christian school kids. We were a team of 4 and each had a subject specialization. My team studied and practiced, but never won. I think I’m really smart but apparently not great at academic trivia competitions.
There was this one question I never seemed to get right: What is a Christian’s ultimate source for authority on earth? I quickly buzzed in, “God!” duh.
“No,” my teacher reminded me, “The question says ‘on earth.’ The correct answer is ‘the Bible.’”
Even as a middle schooler, I pushed back. After all, isn’t God our ultimate authority? Isn’t that supposed to be the obvious answer to every Sunday school question like this one? She was unmoved and neither were the judges in competition when I failed to remember the right answer again.
“Your will be done…” I quoted under my breath, “on earth as it is in heaven.” The conflation of God with the written text troubled me even then.
At Christmas I got into a lengthy conversation about sex and the authority of scripture with my dad, who asserts the authority of Scripture but not in an overly deific way. It started with a comment that the United Methodist Church (UMC) had abandoned the Bible.
“Why do you say that?” I asked, thinking I could probably guess the answer.
“Because of their position on homosexuality,” he explained.
A few years ago my dad un-retired and took a part time staff position at a local evangelical mega church. Like many welcoming Christian congregations, they practice love and acceptance of LGBTQ+ folks and encourage them to be baptized members. But they are not fully affirming. You won’t find any openly gay or lesbian folks on the church board or serving in pastoral ministry, no transgender singers on the worship team. They teach that God created two genders, male and female and that same sex attraction is a temptation to resist.[1]
All that to say, my dad’s church represents today’s average evangelical church in America. They’ve come a long way from the fear mongering hate language that dominated Christian talk radio a few years ago, but aren’t willing to cross lines like saying homosexuality is ok or isn’t sin.
It also hasn’t come to most evangelicals’ attention that repenting on behalf of other Christ-followers of the aforementioned hate language might be required by the very gospel they preach. Sure, we didn’t actually say those things, but we didn’t provide much push back either.
Like many Christians, churches, denominations and even the pope himself, the UMC has also been reconsidering its viewpoint on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender folks. People are looking to the scriptures for guidance, but often come back with different conclusions. Each group has navigated the course a little differently.
Some groups have shut down any conversation around the topic that doesn’t reassert traditional views—the hard line, non-negotiable stance. Other groups, like the Episcopal Church, have embraced full inclusion. Many have published carefully worded position statements on the issue while others choose to remain silent.
Since 1972, shortly after its formation, the UMC has maintained an official position that marriage is for one man and one woman and that ordination is not allowed for anyone in a same sex relationship.[2] This was codified in the Book of Discipline.
As with many denominations, there has been an ongoing disagreement about policies surrounding LGBTQ+ inclusion. A minority wanted to take a hard stance that emphasized traditional marriage, prohibiting clergy from performing same sex unions. Another faction wanted to push farther in the opposite direction, advocating for explicit statements that made it clear all offices of church leadership are open to anyone regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The majority were somewhere in between, in favor of leaving ordination up to regional leadership and whether or not to officiate same sex marriages up to individual pastors.
Realizing that hardline traditionalist and advocates for inclusion were at an impasse, the UMC agreed that they could not continue to remain united.
I didn’t know much about this, but I’d seen the headlines: “Methodist Congregations Abandon The Church as Schism Grows Over LGBTQ+ Issues” and “LGBTQ+ Issues Prompt Mass Exodus.”
In 2019 the two factions agreed to a separation. Discussions of changing official policy on LGBTQ+ inclusion were tabled until the 2024 General Conference, post separation. The UMC issued an abeyance for any potential discipline regarding homosexuality until 2028, presuming that new policies would be in place by that time. In the interim, congregations were allowed to use their judgement and full inclusion of LGBTQ+ folks was assumed status quo.
Any Conference (how the denomination is organized) or local congregation that voted to leave retained all property, assets and liabilities. They also set aside $27M in seed money to support the formation of a new denomination.[3]
This surprised me. I’ve been around groups that wanted to leave their denomination. The answer always seemed to be, “You can go, but we’ll keep the building.”
I think of this story in contrast to the Church of the Nazarene, where district boards are pulling credentials and holding disciplinary hearings for high profile LGBTQ+ allies.
Meanwhile many of my seminary peers have migrated, one by one, to the UMC. While LGBTQ+ acceptance plays a part, the exodus is more complex. Women clergy in the Church of the Nazarene especially have struggled to get hired and earn a livable wage despite the group’s long standing advocacy for female pastors. Lack of denominational support during the pandemic, responses to the Black Lives Matter movement and division that mirror our red/blue political lines are all factors.[4]
The issues are broader than a debate about what the Bible says. We are tangled up with allegiances to groups and ideals. We fall easily into tribalism, defining who’s one of us and who is not. Is it possible that these questions around sexual sin, gender identity or at what point an embryo comes to life have more to do with defining “us vs them” than what the Bible actually says?
Last May the remaining churches in the UMC met for their quadrennial conference and voted by overwhelming majority to remove statements that prohibited practicing homosexuals from pastoral ministry, lifted penalties for clergy that performed same sex marriage and removed language of the incompatibility of homosexuality with the Christian lifestyle. This set the stage for local congregations to choose to be welcoming or affirming.[5]
Splits and schisms are almost as old as the church itself. Arguments among disciples about who would be the greatest kind of set the tone. Early controversies included things like Gnosticism, a mystical idea that strives to transcend the material world. It was the reason the Apostle Paul regularly emphasized the physical resurrection of Christ.
Later in the 11th century, leaders argued over whether priests should be allowed to marry. The western church wanted priests to be unincumbered by the obligations of family life. Married priests of the eastern church criticized the unmarried priests in the west of not being true to their vow of celibacy. More than anything, they disagreed about who would sit in the highest seat. Excommunications ensued—each side declaring their rival wasn’t allowed in their group.
In the late 80s, my dad finally left the Bible Missionary Church because they wanted to make rules against men growing beards and owning a computer. He didn’t mind shaving, but he really liked his computer which my mom started referring to as “the other woman.”
Breakups suck no matter what the reason. Congregations across the UMC voted to stay or go and I imagine many were split, maybe 60/40. What do you do when you’re in the 40%?
This circumstance isn’t unique to the UMC. Leaders and laity are struggling with the question of LGBTQ+ inclusion and many are coming out on the opposite side of leadership, which sometimes represents the majority. The question to stay and work for change or to leave and find a new spiritual home is a painful struggle. The words of the Bible are often pushed into the mix, but the conflict isn’t as straight forward as either side would present it.
I plan to write more about what the Bible says on this topic, but I’d like to give an overview of my perspective .
After we do a Bible word search for “homosexuality” we might consider taking a step back. While there are only a handful of verses that mention this topic, there are dozens of stories that address the situation.
Think about the life and teachings of Jesus. He didn’t really talk about sex very much, but he did talk a lot about relationships.
Only one group received Jesus’ criticism, judgement and condemnation on the regular—religious people. The recipients of his compassion were folks like Zacchaeus the tax collector who everyone hated. When they met, Jesus invited himself over for lunch at his house. Think of the woman caught in adultery who he refused to condemn.
When Jesus talked about final judgement, when he would separate the proverbial sheep from the goats, there wasn’t any mention of sexual immorality. Instead, the measure of in or out was straight forward: feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked and visiting the sick or imprisoned.[6] If we are looking to take a stand, shouldn’t we start with one of these?
We can’t know exactly what Jesus would have said to our current situation, but we can imagine. I doubt he would recommend publishing another position statement. I imagine he might give the religious folks who are determined to “hold the line” a lesson in love.
[1] Sermon on Same Sex Attraction. This is from 2015 and may not reflect the church’s current viewpoint, but I found it an interesting point of research. https://summitchurch.com/GetFile.ashx?Guid=e20165ab-22d0-418c-ade6-b099b3b27186
[2] UMC position on homosexuality https://www.umc.org/en/content/ask-the-umc-what-is-the-churchs-position-on-homosexuality
[3] If you'd like to read the separation agreement, you can find it here: https://www.gracethroughseparation.com/legislation
[4] The Millennial Pastor podcast did a series of interviews on why young Nazarene pastors have been leaving the denomination. It informed this synopsis and if you’re interested in the COTN I recommend it.
[5] News article reviewing the vote from May's UMC Convention https://www.umc.org/en/content/faith-and-inclusion
[6] Matthew 25.31-46
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