Posted on 05/10/2016 3:24:21 PM PDT by xzins
By Heather Hahn
May 9, 2016 | PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS) On the eve of the 2016 General Conference, more than 100 United Methodist clergy and clergy candidates have come out as LGBTQ religious leaders.
“We are here because God has called us to serve in this denomination, and our souls are fed by the theology in which we’ve been raised,” the 111 United Methodists write in what they call “A Love Letter to Our Church.” The signers come from across the United States, and one signer is from the Philippines. They identify themselves as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Questioning, and Intersex” in the letter.
Their letter comes a week after 15 clergy and clergy candidates in the New York Conference took a similar step of coming out together. It also comes just two days after the Rev. David Meredith, a United Methodist pastor in the West Ohio Conference, married Jim Schlachter, his boyfriend of 28 years.
These actions could put these clergy at risk of losing their credentials under church law, just as 864 delegates from around the globe are embarking on a 10-day legislative meeting that will determine church rules for the coming four years. Some of the May 9 letter signers are among the delegates.
However, the letter also indicates that many United Methodists are moving forward regardless of what General Conference decides, said Matt Berryman.
He is the executive director of Reconciling Ministries Network, an unofficial United Methodist group that advocates for the church to be more inclusive. The network has coordinated publicity of this and other challenges to church law as part of the group’s “It’s Time” campaign.
“Since 2012, we’ve decided we would be the church no matter what,” Berryman told United Methodist News Service. The majority of delegates at the 2012 General Conference voted against a proposal to say United Methodists disagree whether homosexuality is against God’s will.
To read the entire UMNS story by Heather Hahn, click HERE.
One of them is my former pastor, and he “came out” at the national conference some time around 1998 to 2000, whenever. It was discussed in our local paper of our dinky town. He was then promoted to a prominent big city church.
Realizing that he was far from the only one in the UMC who had “ministered” to me over the past years, I left the UMC. He was just the most honest.
The north east conferences are rotten to the core and have been for decades.
The leftists attacks one denomination at a time, bringing down one at a time. We need to stop the war at the UMC lines.
No, please don’t — we know that the leftists will just move to the next church and the next — just as the Ottomans played Orthodox versus Catholic versus Calvinist and Greek vs Bulgar vs Serb
>>or else, this is a fake church and people should run fast fast fast away from it
I ran two years ago. But don’t run because of this, or because of the female pastors. Run because Arminianism is Humanism.
I know members of UMC who would think their church is superior by having a LBGTQ minister.
Shame on them.
Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess...
The bible warns against following people who teach false doctrine.
It does
It isn’t exactly humanism, but it is humanism with a Christian overlay (or perhaps vice-versa). Either way, it denies the sovereignty of God and gives the power of salvation to man but does so in language that does not explicitly say that, but the implication is always there.
I was United Methodist for years. I taught and preached from the Wesleyan perspective and I denounced Calvinism every chance I got.
Then one day, the pieces fell into place and I knew that Wesleyan (or Arminian) theology is flawed. I spent a year studying to find why I was wrong. When I asked, I would hear circular arguments and would find educated scholars just saying “well, you just got a believe”.
I believe, but not in Wesley. He was a great organizer and SJW and that’s why he is famous today. But as a theologian, he should have listened to Whitefield.
No organization filled with children ripe for same-sex abuse has ever escaped the queers that always stand ready to rape the young lives. Just look what they did to the Catholic Church and they are going to do it again.
One could get caught up in the impropriety of homosexual clergy which would make this nothing more than "the same old problem".
But looking at the way some of this is written, it sounds more like an attempt at an overt, hostile takeover. I came away with the impression that this mixed group of sexual misfits is ready to challenge the leadership for the "brand" of UMC.
Xzins, is this the denomination of your ordination?
Yes, it is. Sadly.
Johnie, the problem is that 90% of the leadership supports/allows disobedience to happen. Whether the pro-bible forces win again this year or not, the homosexualists will be given free reign and will not be brought to accountability.
My UMC denomination is in much worse shape than the Catholic Church.
A friend of mine used to work for the church. He said the entity where he worked was eat up with lesbians and feminists who were quick to play the victim.
He quickly realized they will killing their own jobs with this stuff.
I don't recall whether or not you are active as a pastor however.
I suppose the A vs C ‘debate’ will go on until Jesus’ return.
That is why all their outrageousness is simply to drive people to one of the 'neutral' plans, the most likely of which to pass is the one where each church gets to decide for itself. (So subtle...yet the end result is an allowance of homosexual marriage, ordination, etc.)
They know they cannot exist without the giving of Christians, and they know that they tend to destroy churches in which they are placed.
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