Posted on 04/30/2014 7:11:57 PM PDT by wonkowasright
The Connectional Table, one of The United Methodist Churchs governing bodies, has decided to draft legislation that could change church law to fully include LGBTQ persons in the life and ministry of the church.
The draft would be brought back to the Connectional Table at a future meeting for consideration. The April 29 decision to draft the legislation came the same day the Connectional Table began a series of three public discussions on human sexuality.
The dialogue is an exercise of our responsibility to be a common table for the church and to confer with one another as representatives of the church, said Dakotas-Minnesota Area Bishop Bruce R. Ough, Connectional Table chair, the day before the event.
The Connectional Table believes that we need some specific language to inform the discussion before we can seek effective feedback from the Connection and fully discern what our next steps will be," Ough said after the event, in a press release. This decision has empowered the Table to begin developing such language, which would be open to debate, amendment, and improvement before any final decision is made on adoption.
The 59-member Connectional Table is a United Methodist governing body of clergy and lay people that coordinates the denominations mission, ministry and resources. Any legislation adopted by the body would go to the denomination's top lawmaking assembly, General Conference, for action in 2016.
(Excerpt) Read more at umc.org ...
Uh-OH! There goes another church down the drain.
Wonderful how they keep mining the Bible for new perspectives like this . . . reminds me of how our federal judges are always discovering new rights in the Constitution.
Not so much “down the drain” and “left behind”!
Just another social club.
My thoughts exactly.
What’s a “sexuality stance” in the real world?
A pose on a yoga mat?
Another church bites the dust.
They’ve been down the drain for a while,what you’re seeing now is the collapse of the decayed shell of what was once a great Church.
"Q"?
Oh, hell. The sodomites' stupid acronym just grew another letter.
That's a fact. I walked away from the Methodist Church 30 years ago.
The ministry is far more liberal than the rank and file. Here in Southern California I seriously doubt that a minister would be given anything other than a totally failing church if they were not fully behind this action and outspoken supporters of gay marriage. The certainly would never make District Superintendent let alone Bishop. Of course the Methodist Church is dying in Southern California.
The laity is not going to go for this. I’m outta here if they go this route.
Oldplayer
In other news the Methodists have decided to thumb their collective noses at God.
This is why my wife and I left First Presbyterian Church (USA). While we had a good local congregation and Pastor, the National Presbytery were a bunch of Libs masquerading as evolved Christians.
Sadly, we also recently left our second church. They have embraced the “Seeker Friendly” Growth movement espoused by Rick Warren and other mega church leaders. The goal of these churches is not to offend anyone. The result is a Sunday Morning Coffee Shop with watered down, self-help messages. Sickening!
Please note: the Connectional Table has no authority to do anything beyond propose legislation, and General Conference will smack that proposal down again in 2016. Also please note that the CT vote was 17-15, and was packed with theological liberals.
As for the UMC itself, we’re a ship that steers slow, but we’re turning away from our liberal establishment past- Asbury Theological Seminary now graduates more UMC clergy than any two of our official seminaries, and United Theological Seminary is an official seminary in the midst of an evangelical renaissance.
Your prayers for us are always appreciated.
The UMC in the US and Europe is thoroughly feminized. It has been for at least 25 years. It is not, by any traditional standard a Christian church.
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