A quarter of the United Methodist Church’s U.S. congregations left the denomination in December over disagreements over whether to ordain LGBTQ clergy and perform same-sex marriages.
Charlie Riedel/AP
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Charlie Riedel/AP
A quarter of the United Methodist Church’s U.S. congregations left the denomination in December over disagreements over whether to ordain LGBTQ clergy and perform same-sex marriages.
Charlie Riedel/AP
Same-sex marriages and LGBTQ clergy are two of the topics at the forefront as the United Methodist Church opens its general conference Tuesday in Charlotte, North Carolina. In recent years, the church — which is one of the largest Protestant groups in the United States — has seen many if its congregations leave because of the problems.
Currently, the United Methodist Church Book of Discipline, the Church regulation, says: “The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. » This phrase was added in 1972, during the rise of what was then called the gay rights movement. Elsewhere, the book also prohibits United Methodist clergy from performing same-sex marriages, and it says the church does not ordain LGBTQ clergy.
The General Conference, which includes United Methodists from around the world, is the only church authority capable of changing the rules on sexuality. He could do various things with the language of the rule: he could leave it as is; it could remove it completely; or it could remove what some see as more negative language and add affirmative language.
In 2019, the United Methodist Church held a special meeting in St. Louis to address LGBTQ issues, but no changes occurred at that meeting and decisions were to be made in 2020. However, the pandemic intervened and Church leaders felt a virtual meeting was necessary. discussing such controversial issues was not wise. The General Conference which begins Tuesday is therefore the first to be held since 2020.
In the years since, a number of things have happened within the Church that have made this meeting more urgent. Many local geographic conferences of the Church have chosen not to enforce bans on LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage. Many congregations, upset by this non-implementation, chose to leave the denomination. Some became independent congregations while others joined a more conservative movement called the Global Methodist Church.
The deadline to “disaffiliate,” as it was called, from the United Methodist Church was last December. More than 7,600 (about a quarter) of its congregations voted to leave the main denomination in protest.
A transformed church?
The departures of the more conservative congregations led some to believe that the United Methodist Church would then transition to a liberal denomination. But research from Duke University, which surveyed clergy and congregations in North Carolina, where Duke is located, tells a somewhat different story.
The university’s Religion and Social Change Lab found, as expected, that clergy who left were more conservative than those who stayed. The study also found that even among remaining clergy, a quarter oppose LGBTQ ministers and nearly a third oppose same-sex marriage.
David Eagle, who directs the Religion and Social Change Lab, says another discovery also came as a surprise.
“I also had the impression that this split would make the United Methodist Church a more progressive denomination,” he said, “and somehow, among the clergy, that happened. But among the congregations, the congregations remain very equal. divided both theologically and politically.
One reason for this discrepancy, according to Eagle, is that to leave the denomination, congregations had to vote by supermajority rather than simple majority, meaning that congregations in which a majority of people wanted to leave are still part of the denomination. of the denomination. United Methodist Church.
That said, individual members may leave their congregation because of the problem and find an independent one or one now affiliated with the Global Methodist Church.
The clergy is not doing well
Another discovery that greatly concerns Eagle concerns the mental health of clergy. Duke’s Clergy Health Initiative has been tracking the mental health of all United Methodist clergy in North Carolina since 2008.
The study found that a significant number of ministers report suffering high levels of stress, burnout, depression and anxiety, in part because they have had to confront divisions on LGBTQ issues and in part because of the continuing consequences of the pandemic. including financial problems and reduced church attendance.
“Now, about 15 percent of clergy remaining in the denomination have depressive symptoms,” Eagle says, “which would qualify them for a diagnosis of clinical depression.”
Other studies have shown that the mental health of mainline Protestant clergy is worse than that of evangelical Protestant clergy and Roman Catholic clergy.
Major Protestant denominations, the largest of which include the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church USA and the United Church of Christ, have seen declines steep rise in their membership and participation over the past 50 years. . LGBTQ issues have also dominated internal conversations in these same denominations, all of which except the United Methodists have each decided, after years of conflict, to allow, to one degree or another, LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriages.
These churches are also experiencing very low seminary enrollment numbers, meaning the next generation of leaders are not able to offer relief to currently stressed and depressed pastors.
Looking for a way forward
The departure of the United Methodist Church’s most conservative congregations and clergy means there is a better chance than before that rules regarding same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy will change. But others have suggested a middle option, which would allow regional geographic conferences to decide for themselves and not have a unified policy within the entire Church.
This option, which could be adopted at the Charlotte meeting, would essentially codify what is already happening within the Church: More liberal conferences like those in Southern California would continue to ordain LGBTQ clergy and allow ministers to perform same-sex marriages while more conservative conferences, such as those in the southern United States or parts of Africa, would not allow such ordinations or marriages.
Whatever decisions are made, many Methodists hope their church will be able to move forward after years of focusing on these issues. Patricia Ferris, who served as senior minister at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica, Calif., for 26 years, says she hopes moving forward will mean a return to issues that have long been important to the Church.
“Methodists have always been concerned about our communities, about people without housing, about labor issues,” she says. “How can we focus our energy on caring for people, changing the world and improving the lives of more people? That’s truly our mission.”
That’s not to say, Farris emphasizes, that addressing LGBTQ issues isn’t important. She says she wants everyone to feel welcome in Methodist congregations. But many saw the seemingly single-minded focus on same-sex marriages and LGBTQ clergy as a distraction.
Farris says Methodists’ witness to the wider world is perhaps about demonstrating how to live together despite deep differences.
“My hope would be,” she said, “that the Church would be a place where we learn to love one another, to serve our communities together, to pray, to worship, to sing together. And from these relationships, we learn to respect each other.”
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