Conservatives Say Methodists May Need to Split Over Homosexuality
by Jim Brown and Jody Brown
May 7, 2004
(AgapePress) - Conservative Methodists may have exited the denomination's General Conference in Pittsburgh with their agenda intact. But they may also see the writing on the wall: that revisionists who favor homosexual clergy might eventually get their way. That's why there is now talk of a possible split in one of the largest Protestant denominations in the United States.
Conservatives in the United Methodist Church (UMC) say they do not see any way to settle doctrinal differences with the church's homosexual advocates. So they are proposing to split the nation's 8.3-million members between biblically-orthodox Methodists and modern revisionists.
Conservatives prevailed at the 2004 General Conference in maintaining the church's stand against homosexual behavior. For example, legislation was adopted making it a chargeable offense for clergy to perform weddings for same-gender couples and for ministers to have sex outside of marriage.
In addition, the Judicial Court -- the denomination's highest court -- weighed in with two rulings that reaffirm the ban on ordaining and appointing homosexuals, and warned that disciplinary action could be taken against violators. But conservatives fear that those who want a broader role for homosexuals will ignore church law and keep appointing homosexual clergy.
'Irreconcilable Differences'
The head of a conservative movement in the United Methodist Church says it is time to explore an "amicable" parting of ways. Rev. James Heidinger of the Methodist evangelical group Good News tells Associated Press that it is "time to put on the table for conversation, at least, the consideration of a loving, amicable division."
Heidinger says homosexual-rights advocates continue to defy resolutions that have been passed repeatedly by a majority of Methodists. "We've been battling, and I think there is a sense that we have irreconcilable differences within the denomination," the Good News head says.
He says those irreconcilable differences are driving people away from the United Methodist Church. "And it's not just the sexuality issues," he adds. "It's broad, deep theological differences." Consequently, he says, some in the denomination are wondering if it is time to begin exploring if there is a better way for Methodists to do the ministry of the church.
But the head of a group that advocates for homosexual Methodists says he does not consider Methodists' differences to be irreconcilable conservatives are plotting to harm the church.
"There's nothing to say that God's Spirit cannot heal [or] cannot move in that situation and bring us back to wholeness as a people of God," says Rev. Troy Plummer, executive director of Reconciling Ministries.
"Underneath this issue is a deeper issue," Plummer adds, "and it's whether God's Spirit has ongoing revelation in the church, and whether the church will move forward with that Spirit -- or whether everything has been revealed already."
See Related Story from United Methodist News Service
Rev. Bill Hinson, president of the Confessing Movement Within the UMC, sees the Word of God as the point of departure between the two sides. "There is a great gulf fixed between those of us who are centered on Scripture and our friends who are of another persuasion," he says. "Repeatedly they have spoken of the need to get our church in step with our culture.
"We, on the other hand, have not the desire to be the chaplain to an increasingly godless society," he says. "Rather our desire is to be faithful to the Word of God."
The Bottom Line: God's Word
A Mississippi delegate to the United Methodist Church's General Conference agrees with Hinson. The delegate says the denomination's rift over homosexuality will remain unless members begin accepting Scripture as authoritative.
Leon Collier is an elder at Canton United Methodist Church and author of the forthcoming Christian book How to Talk About Money. Even though he saw countless hours of debate on human sexuality at his second General Conference, Collier believes the discussion was vital to preventing a major denominational split in the future.
"There's just no way that we could, with a good conscience, support any kind of a church legislature that would ordain persons not only who are professed or self-avowed homosexuals, but pedophiles and just go on down the line," Collier says. "We just can't support that because of the Scripture itself."
Collier says the central role of the UMC should be to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. But he notes if the denomination is unwilling to confront all forms of sin, it may fracture -- just as the Episcopal Church USA has reacted to the consecration of an homosexual bishop.
"We use language [that says] something is against 'Christian tradition.' Well, that's fine and good, but I just go straight to the Scripture [to find] what the Bible says about it," the Mississippi delegate says.
"And certainly I don't want to sound insensitive; God loves all of us," he says. "But I don't think that we should ever affirm one another's sins -- we should try to be helpful and kind and loving, but never to affirm a person's sins."
Collier attended both Dallas Theological Seminary and Memphis Theological Seminary, as well as Criswell College.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
