Posted on 05/24/2024 9:02:14 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
A former United Methodist Church pastor who was defrocked about 20 years ago for being in a same-sex romantic relationship has been reinstated by the mainline Protestant denomination.
The UMC Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference voted overwhelmingly during a closed session of around 200 clergy on Tuesday evening to readmit Beth Stroud.
Bishop John Schol, head of both the Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater New Jersey annual conferences, said he was “deeply grateful for the discernment of the clergy” and “grateful that the church has opened up to LGBTQ persons.”
“I couldn’t be prouder as your bishop, and you couldn’t have given me a better gift as I retire,” continued Schol, who is scheduled to retire in August, as quoted in an annual conference report.
According to the conference report, the decision to reinstate Stroud was received with “loud applause” from attendees of the church gathering, as well as “hymn singing and tearful hugs.”
Stroud was then given a red clergy stole and joined fellow clergy in their procession to the annual conference meeting at Wildwoods Convention Center for the opening ordination and commissioning service.
For decades, the UMC debated whether to change its official stance prohibiting the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of individuals who were in homosexual relationships, as well as the funding of LGBT advocacy groups.
At this year’s UMC General Conference, held in Charlotte, North Carolina, delegates passed measures that removed those rules from the denomination’s Book of Discipline.
A major factor in this change was the departure of around 7,500 mostly conservative congregations from the UMC over the past few years due to frustrations with the ongoing debate.
Most congregations that disaffiliated from the UMC opted to join the theologically conservative Global Methodist Church, which was officially launched in 2022.
Although the language was removed from the Book of Discipline, some congregations still affiliated with the UMC have not decided to welcome the blessing of same-sex unions.
Highland Park United Methodist Church, a centrist megachurch located in Dallas, Texas, recently announced that while they were allowing their pastors to conduct same-sex weddings, the sanctuary itself would continue to prohibit such ceremonies.
Highland Park UMC Senior Minister, the Rev. Paul Rasmussen, said in a video that the changes made to the Book of Discipline are "neither an invitation nor a mandate for us to change from the church that we have always been."
"For 108 years, through 13 different senior ministers, Highland Park has always maintained the traditional definition and understanding of Christian marriage when it comes to weddings within our worship facilities," he stated. "We are going to continue to uphold the traditional definition of marriage in our worship venues."
The blind leading the bl9nd straight into hell
Satan has all the churches now.
Heresy at its finest.
Which is why true Wesleyen Christians are in the Global Methodist Church.
Maybe in modern times we haven't made a lot of images of nature (verse 23), but I think it's safe to say that we've made nature itself a focus of worship. And sexual immorality became the norm in our culture (verse 24). And the left is making gay sexual immorality the norm (verses 26-27). Followed by horrible evils involving hurting each other that are becoming the norm (verses 29-31). And the left being proud of it, encouraging it to keep going on (verse 32).
Romans 1:18-32
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Celebrate Heresy!
the church of latter-day sodomites is at it again!
Signed
Your Average Sh tlib.
LOL! What kind of fool would go to a “church” to have a woman, much less a lesbian, preach to them?
“The road to hell is paved with the skulls of priests, and lit by lamps made from the skulls of bishops”.
“Satan has all the churches now.”
Not all. Our congregation quit a denomination about three years ago and we became an informal, lay-led fellowship. We don’t collect tithes, there is no building, no pastor to pay, and no 501c3 to worry about. The men who do the sermons are free to discuss political issues vis-a-vis Scripture all day long and twice on Sunday if they wish.
We like it this way and we won’t go back to serving Caesar. Or the woke graduates of the seminaries.
I should clarify that he’s got the big churches.
“I should clarify that he’s got the big churches.”
I agree. We quit one of the worst: the UCC.
I used to say “If I want a lecture on a Sunday, I’ll call my mother.”
Unfortunately mom’s gone now, so I just quietly avoid any church with a female pastor.
A ‘woman’ pastor is the very first layer of heresy. After that, who cares?
Satan does NOT have the Holy Orthodox Church!!
But it was a United Methodist “church” in Cambridge MA that hosted the vile Harvard “people’s commencement”!!
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/5/24/hoop-peoples-commencement-protest/
My UMC pastor has refused to even do weddings for years due to this. I had one friend ask me about doing one and I told them I would only use the Book of Common Prayer with no changes. They noped out. I didn’t have a marriage ticket anyway.
.. highway to hell ..
“...defrocked for being in a same-sex romantic relationship...”
If she were having orgies with multiple partners and animals the UMC would have made her a Saint. /spit
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.