Page 5 - United Methodists News Today

United Methodist Church’s (UMC) General Conference held in Charlotte, N.C. USA, from April 23 - May 3, 2024, has left behind ripples and discordant voices from Africa about the Church’s position on same sex marriage and the ordination of gay persons into the church’s pastoral ministry.

The reversals can be seen as marking the end of a half-century of epic battles and schisms over LGBTQ involvement — not only in the United Methodist Church but in US mainline Protestant denominations overall.

It took just a few days for United Methodist delegates to remove a half-century's worth of denominational bans on gay clergy and same-sex marriages.

At the United Methodist Church's General Conference, bans on gay clergy and same-sex marriages were removed. However, the denomination faces internal strife and declining membership.

DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) — On the first Sunday after the conclusion of the denomination’s General Conference, many queer United Methodists celebrated their release from the tight and narrow spaces that had confined them.

For Methodists seeking to be faithful to Scripture and their Wesleyan heritage a new denomination offers great hope.

It took just a few days for United Methodist delegates to remove a half-century's worth of denominational bans on gay clergy and same-sex marriages. It took decades of activism for a change that was "so very healing," said McAvoy, pastor of Shepherd of the Valley United Methodist Church in Hope, Rhode Island. A member of the Queer Delegate Caucus at last week's UMC General Conference in Charlotte, she was grateful to be part of the historic moment.

When the United Methodist Church removed anti-gay language from its official rules last week, it marked the end of a half-century of debates over LGBTQ inclusion in Americas mainline Protestant

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When the United Methodist Church removed anti-gay language from its official rules last week, it marked the end of a half-century of debates over LGBTQ inclusion in America's mainline Protestant denominations.