The United Methodist Church General Conference has voted to remove a statement from its central rulebook that declared that homosexuality was “incompatible with Christian teaching.”
In a vote of 523 to 161 following around 90 minutes of debate on Thursday, the churchwide legislative gathering opted to remove a clause from the Book of Discipline, ¶ 304.3 under “Qualifications for Ordination.”
“The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching,” read the clause, which had been originally added to the Book of Discipline in 1972.
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With the vote, delegates also approved the statement that “marriage [is] a sacred, lifelong covenant that brings two people of faith (adult man and adult woman of consenting age or two adult persons of consenting age) into a union of one another and into deeper relationship with God and the religious community.”
South Carolina Conference Bishop L. Jonathan Holston said that the vote will have a mixed reaction from the denomination, which has already experienced schism over the LGBT debate.
“I know that some of you are celebrating, some are mourning and some are uncertain about what your future holds — for the denomination, for your local church and perhaps even for yourselves as followers of Jesus Christ,” said Holston, as quoted by UM News.
The vote was among a series of votes taken at the gathering this week in Charlotte, North Carolina, which removed the UMC’s bans on clergy officiating same-sex marriages, the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals and the funding of LGBT advocacy groups.
Reconciling Ministries Network, an LGBT advocacy group that has long campaigned for removing the “incompatible” language from the Book of Discipline, celebrated the vote.
“Beloved, it has been another very good day today in Charlotte and, indeed, for our whole Church,” said RMN in an email sent out to supporters on Friday morning.
“It has been said many times by many of our movement kin: You have never been incompatible. You were expected. As you are. You were awaited. As you are. You are beloved. As you are.”
Over the past few decades, the UMC has been embroiled in a divisive debate over whether to change the language of the Book of Discipline, with many efforts to remove the rules failing at the General Conference.
Despite the failures, theological progressives within the UMC often refused to enforce or follow the rules, such as blessing same-sex unions or ordaining people in same-sex marriages.
Frustrations over this resistance led large numbers of theological conservative churches to leave the denomination in advance of this year’s General Conference, effectively paving the way for changes to be approved.
Thousands of congregations that left the UMC over the past couple of years have affiliated with the Global Methodist Church, which was launched in 2022 as a conservative alternative to the denomination.
In response to the series of changes to the UMC Book of Discipline, the GMC released a statement stating that it was still dedicated to historic Christian teaching.
“The Global Methodist Church maintains its steadfast commitment to advancing its mission, which involves proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and serving its community of more than 4,501 churches and congregational members worldwide,” stated the GMC.
“Rooted in the teachings of Jesus Christ and the historic confessions of the Christian faith proclaimed over the past two thousand years, The Global Methodist Church remains dedicated to upholding its denomination’s strong foundation.”
