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The United Methodist Church, which stripped out its bans and related social teachings over the past two weeks, is the last of the major mainline church bodies to go through this process.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — 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. But when asked at a news conference about the lightning speed of the changes, the Rev. Effie McAvoy took a longer view. “Oh, it didn’t take days, […]
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. The moves sparked joy from progressive delegates, but the church faces many of the same challenges as the Lutheran, Presbyterian and Episcopal denominations that took similar routes over the past few decades. There have been schisms, and strained relations with international churches. And each of the mainline denominations faces the long-term aging and shrinking of their memberships...
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (RNS) — The reversals came in the wake of a schism that saw the departure of a quarter of its US churches — more than 7,600 congregations — over the past five years.
The United Methodist Church has decided to overturn its ban on gay clergy, a decision that comes after about four decades, leading to over a quarter of the chur