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Electing Lesbian Bishop Violates Church Law, United Methodist High Court Rules The United Methodist Church's highest court has ruled that a regional body violated the denomination's rules when they elected an openly lesbian clergywoman as bishop and she can be removed from her position. In a 6–3 decision released Friday, the United Methodist Judicial Council decided that the Western Jurisdiction's election of Karen Oliveto to the position of bishop violated church law. "It is not lawful for the college of bishops of any jurisdictional or central conference to consecrate a self-avowed practicing homosexual bishop," read the decision, as reported by...

The first openly lesbian bishop in the United Methodist Church can stay on the job for now, but she is subject to a disciplinary review that could lead to her removal, the top church court ruled Friday. Bishop Karen Oliveto's civil marriage to another woman violates church law that bars clergy who are "self-avowed practicing homosexuals," the Judicial Council said. However, a decision over whether she can remain in the position must come from a separate disciplinary process, the court ruled.

The United Methodist Church’s highest court has ruled that the consecration of its first openly gay bishop violated church law, compounding a bitter rift over homosexuality that has brought the 13-million-member denomination to the brink of schism. In a 6-to-3 vote made public on Friday, the church’s Judicial Council found that a married lesbian bishop and those who consecrated her were in violation of their “commitment to abide by and uphold the church’s definition of marriage and stance on homosexuality.” Still, the court ruled that the bishop, Karen P. Oliveto of Denver, “remains in good standing” pending further proceedings, offering...

Karen Oliveto clutched a friend's hand, closed her eyes and wept when she learned last year she had been elected a bishop of the United Methodist Church. Oliveto, who is married to another woman, had become the denomination's first openly gay bishop.

On a cold Sunday in January, Cynthia Meyer, pastor at Edgerton United Methodist Church, came out to her congregation. She did so with hope that change regarding the denomination’s stance on homosexuality was coming. But eight months later, that hope, for now at least, is gone. And after the end of August, Meyer will be gone as well. To avoid a church trial, Meyer and Methodist officials agreed that she would give up her duties and go on involuntary leave. Her final sermon in Edgerton in Johnson County will be Aug. 28.

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – The Western district of the Methodist church has elected an openly gay bishop despite the denomination's ban on same-sex relationships.

For someone who is in love and recently married, a wedge of “very odd pain” is lodged in Mpho Tutu van Furth’s heart. It is caused by the South African Anglican church’s refusal to allow the daughter of one of the world’s best known Christian leaders to continue to work as a priest after she married the person with whom she has pledged to share the rest of her life: a woman. “It was hard for me to give up my [priest’s] licence, it felt incredibly sad,” Tutu van Furth – whose father, Desmond Tutu, won the Nobel peace prize...

Dozens of United Methodist clergy members came out as lesbian, gay or bisexual on Monday, defying their church's ban on "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" serving in ministry and essentially daring their supervisors to discipline them. In a public letter posted online, 111 pastors, deacons, elders and candidates for ministry said church rules require "that we not bring our full selves to ministry, that we hide from view our sexual orientations and gender identities." "While some of us have been lucky to serve in places where we could serve honestly and openly, there are others in places far more hostile, who continue...

Pastor Drops Gay Bombshell in Middle of Sunday Sermon 6:00AM EST 1/15/2016 JENNIFER LECLAIRE We're seeing 1 Timothy 4:1 playing out right before our very eyes. It's called the Great Apostasy and it's well underway. "At last I am choosing to serve in that role with full authenticity and as my genuine self—as a woman who loves and shares my life with another woman." Those were the words of Cynthia Meyer, a pastor at Edgerton United Methodist Church, who decided to make her first sermon of 2016 a coming out party. Meyer, 53, has been an ordained UM pastor for...

Almost 20 years ago, I was speaking with an older Jewish couple who seemed very close to putting their faith in Jesus as Messiah, but they were not 100 percent sure.I said to them, "Later this week I'm debating an Orthodox rabbi. Why not come to the debate to hear both sides of the issue, and then you can make an informed decision?"Thankfully, they came to the event, they listened with open hearts and minds, and by God's grace, they came to faith.More recently, I was invited to speak on a college campus about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, representing the Israeli...

The Rev. Greg Fry, priest-in-charge at Grace Episcopal Church in Pine Bluff, told his congregation Sunday morning that he is transgendered and identifies himself as a woman, apparently becoming the only working member of the Episcopalian clergy in Arkansas ever to make such an announcement. Church members and officials at Grace Episcopal declined comment on Monday, while one member said church leaders in the vestry were scheduled to meet on Wednesday, after which they may be in a better position to discuss the matter. The Rt. Rev. Larry Benfield, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas, said in a statement...

A local church will on Sunday ring in the new year by ordaining Philadelphia's first openly gay male Presbyterian pastor. Broad Street Ministry will welcome Princeton Theological Seminary graduate David Norse as its new leader, according to the Avenue of the Arts church's convening minister, the Rev. Bill Golderer. "There's a lot of progressive rhetoric among Christian churches that are trying to revitalize themselves, but this is a progressive move," Golderer said. "Having David ordained to the ministry is a way of performing the gospel that we espouse. It's acting, not talking." The broad-minded church has long been demonstrating its...

Senior members of the Church of Scotland voted Monday to let some congregations choose ministers who are in same-sex relationships—an important compromise that must still pass further hurdles before it can become church law. The church’s General Assembly backed a motion affirming a traditional conservative view on homosexuality, but permitted liberal congregations to ordain openly gay men or women if they wish. … Monday’s decision came after a lengthy debate on the issue, which has divided the church of about 400,000 members for years. Two congregations have split from the church over the issue. …

Hundreds of United Methodist clergy are expressing deep concerns over a pledge made by a large group of fellow ministers to marry same-sex couples. They argue that if the pledge is carried through, the future of the denomination is in jeopardy. "We do not know how many, if any, marriages or 'holy unions' of same-sex couples will be performed by UM clergy in the near future," reads a letter, currently signed by more than 400 pastors, to the Council of Bishops. "But we do know the destructive effects that will result in our local churches and throughout the denomination if...

As an out Presbyterian preacher, I'd experienced prejudice before. But nothing like what I faced in North CarolinaI was reading "Home in Henderson" -- the unofficial city website for a small town in North Carolina where I had recently moved to preach -- when I came across the blog entry. It was posted under the pseudonym "Church Reporter." "A friend that attends the First Presbyterian Church told me to do a Google search on their new minister Brett Webb-Mitchell," the entry began. "Having done so, I have only three comments to make on the pastor selection: 1. Who is responsible...

After 33 years of debate, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has voted to change its constitution and allow openly gay people in same-sex relationships to be ordained as ministers, elders and deacons...

Two San Francisco Lutheran congregations were at the center of a battle of biblical proportions with their national church 16 years ago.First United Lutheran Church in the Tenderloin had ordained an openly gay pastor in 1990. In Duboce Triangle, St. Francis Lutheran Church had ordained two lesbian pastors that same year. Both actions flew in the face of the policies and beliefs of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and after a five-year fight, the denomination cut the two churches loose.The San Francisco churches survived and stuck by their beliefs - the national denomination eventually changed. In 2009, leaders of...

Monday August 16, 2010 Fallout Continues from ELCA’s Gay Clergy Decision as Lutheran Churches Leave By Peter J. SmithCHICAGO, August 16, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The departure of several more congregations in central Illinois from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has once again highlighted how the denomination’s decision to approve active homosexual clergy has triggered a slow, steady bleeding of congregations.One year ago this month at its national convention, the ELCA voted "to open the ministry of the church to gay and lesbian pastors and other professional workers living in committed relationships." The policy change was decided by more...

South Dakota's Lutheran bishop attempted to head off the possibility of local congregations breaking from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America during a Tuesday night forum before several hundred congregants. The Rev. David Zellmer, bishop of the South Dakota Synod of the ELCA, met with members of Rapid City Lutheran congregations to respond to a controversial decision last August allowing homosexual clergy to serve in the church and recognize their partners. Zellmer said the action threw some churches into turmoil and angered some congregations. He said he wanted to assure the people that the synod still does not recognize same-sex...

A northeast Iowa synod council is the first in the nation to defy the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s decision to allow clergy to be in committed same-gender relationships. A resolution passed last month by the council of the Northeastern Iowa Synod, based in Waverly, seeks to circumvent the controversial August decision by the ELCA’s churchwide assembly. The denomination currently requires that homosexual clergy remain celibate, and the council wants to maintain the existing regulations. If successful, the move could ultimately restrict how churches call pastors in the future because it sets a policy where none existed. The resolution was...