Posted on 04/20/2019 10:44:07 PM PDT by Olog-hai
There’s at least one area of agreement among conservative, centrist and liberal leaders in the United Methodist Church: America’s largest mainline Protestant denomination is on a path toward likely breakup over differences on same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBT pastors.
The differences have simmered for years, and came to a head in February at a conference in St. Louis where delegates voted 438-384 for a proposal called the Traditional Plan, which strengthens bans on LGBT-inclusive practices. A majority of U.S.-based delegates opposed that plan and favored LGBT-friendly options, but they were outvoted by U.S. conservatives teamed with most of the delegates from Methodist strongholds in Africa and the Philippines.
Many believe the vote will prompt an exodus from the church by liberal congregations that are already expressing their dissatisfaction over the move.
Some churches have raised rainbow flags in a show of LGBT solidarity. Some pastors have vowed to defy the strict rules and continue to allow gay weddings in Methodist churches. Churches are withholding dues payments to the main office in protest, and the UMC’s receipts were down 20 percent in March, according to financial reports posted online. …
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
I do not think the breakup, if it happens, will be predominately among a majority of U.S. conferences of the United Methodist denomination.
I think it will be a majority of the U.S. conferences, which are in the majority Liberal, dividing from the remainder of the U.S. conferences and that remainder will be joined by most of the conferences outside the U.S.
That’s just my impression, from the many uber-Liberal U.S. Methodists I know.
This is not the first time that people claiming to be following the "Methodist" paradigm have split. Though I'm not up on all of Wesleyan branches, John, Charles, and Samuel at least gave this thing a start by splitting from the Anglican episcopacy, but not going so far as to be congregational in polity like their pal George Whitfield, In America that became Methodistic Episcopalism in the 1700s, from which Methodist Protestants took issue at the rigid clergyism of an episcopacy, 1821; then Wesleyan branch split off in 1841, followed by Southern Methodists (slavery issues) 1844; after that Free Methodists (slavery, rigidity, formalism, etc.) in 1860; and who knows what else.
But all are Arminian in docrine (you can lose your salvation, get it back, lose it again, ad infinitum)--never Calvinistic with its total depravity of the human state.
The coming split off of Hedonistic Methodism is a deeper thing, but still based on how holy one is or can be with a lot of applied effort, or how much values have changed according to man's judgment, depending on what new accommodating Bible version you can find to support a tolerable and constantly shifting degree of depravity.
In the end, it doesn't make any difference. Arminianism is a losing strategy, and can never make anyone holy enough to qualify for citizenship in Heaven.
Bless those who stand strong for truth
They also split the Lutheran church They did us a favor separating the wheat from the chaff
There are things worth being divided over
The demonization will NEVER recover until it again only ordains MEN as ministers, as is Biblically prescribed. There are other issues just as important, but this one is paramount.
Every Christian sect which has crossed this line has gone apostate within a generation.
I attended a few decidedly evangelical UMC churches in the college towns I lived in, and they were almost indistinguishable from conservative Baptist churches I’ve attended, other than offering infant baptism to those who requested it.
I’m sure it’s changed dramatically since then.
It’s hard to realize that Methodism started as a HOLINESS movement, and as such was much stricter of what the established church of that day was ambivalent about. The Wesley’s and those in their movement would have NEVER even entertained the idea of sodomy being acceptable at any level.
Let the traditionalists all come to the Concordia Seminary of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. LCMS fought this battle long ago and emerged as a literate, catechized Apostolic church. No women pastors, and the Bible as the source of authority.
Methodists are suffering because of a lack of a basic document such as a catechism defining core Methodist beliefs in black and white, to be taught to every confirmand and adult member. UMC has become so used to "democracy" at its Conferences for years now, they think they can take an up or down vote on the Word of God itself.
Please forgive duplicate post.
Amen to that!
Because those running the culture have already sold their souls. Anything that celebrates degeneracy is their solemn cause.
ping
My hope is that they split in some reasonable way.
My guess is that any new conservative group would reject abortion immediately, but that it would also retain female ordination to elder immediately.
Ordination of women is the camel’s head in the tent.
I know.
You are PCA, correct?
What are the decent presbyterian denominations right now?
I do not understand what you mean here. Are there elders in the Methodist tradition? Or are you referring to senior pastors and bishops?
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