One of the questions most often asked of me when I would speak to groups during my first career as a journalist was “Why don’t you ever put good news on the front page?”
The answer was, “We do put good news on the front page, though admittedly not as often as the not-so-good news.” I then would go on to explain that news was something that happens outside the ordinary and that we all should lament a day when people being kind, helping others and, in general, being good neighbors was rare enough to be considered news.
I tell that story so I can more adequately convey the emotions that filled the room May 1 at General Conference. It was a monumental day because the actions of delegates overwhelmingly set The United Methodist Church on a path toward a new, exciting future as a church where truly all are welcome, at least in theory. More on that later.
First, let’s pause to take in the sights after the vote to remove restrictive language from the Book of Discipline.
In 2016 in Portland, Oregon, I attended my first General Conference. As vote after vote failed to bring relief from harmful language in the Book of Discipline, I took photos of people protesting, shedding tears of anguish as the church they loved continued to show that it didn’t love them back.
What a different scene it was on the floor of the General Conference in 2024!
I still took photos of lots of tears, but this time they were shed out of joy, of relief. Delegates and observers flocked together at the bar of the conference — literally a bar, with security and people scanning badges to let people in and out of the restricted area — to hug, celebrate and sing.
It was a moment in which good news was, indeed, outside the norm.
As Rev. Lora Andrews said so poignantly in an amazing video put together by Eugenio Hernandez, the people present knew these songs because they were songs of lament. Now they transformed into songs of justice served.
It was an amazing turn of events. And while it all happened on a consent calendar — where many pieces of legislation that had overwhelming support in committees are batched to expedite the work of delegates from around the world — make no mistake that this was an instantaneous change.
Indeed, people worked for years — in many cases their entire adult lives — to bring about this change in the church. I didn’t become a United Methodist until 1993, but this battle to remove language that, in my opinion, sinfully singled out a group of people has gone on literally since the year I was born.
Folks, I turn 52 years old in June. As my kids will willingly tell you, that’s a long time.
Included in parts of the Discipline that was repealed or changed was language was a statement that “homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” Imagine how we would be taken aback if we swapped out the word “homosexuality” with a person’s race, a person’s socio-economic position, nationality or some other aspect of their very being. We wouldn’t stand for it. But in the church we did.
For 52 years.
I especially want to give a shout out to some of our Great Plains Conference leadership who have shouldered much of the public effort to push the church forward. Rev. Dr. Mark Holland and Rev. Dr. Nanette Roberts, now retired, founded Mainstream UMC in preparation for the special session of General Conference to promote what was then called the One Church Plan. I’ve seen how this group went toe-to-toe with those who would spread misinformation and inuendo. I heard from my share of people these two weeks at General Conference who have a poor view of Mark and others in this organization. Luckily, he has broad shoulders, and each of those conversations gave me the chance to explain the passion with which these folks do their work and how they mean what they say and can back up the information they share.
Integrity is important to me — always has been since the days of meeting with U.S. Senators and members of Congress. It’s no different for me with the church.
Rev. Adam Hamilton of Resurrection, a United Methodist Church, also has played a large role. By virtue of his visibility and his persona in the church, his calm, steady presence has been valuable in explaining how these actions don’t create what some would consider to be a “pro-gay” stance. Instead, it takes the church back to a position of neutrality. Adam shared in that same video shot and edited by Eugenio an illustration with historic Books of Discipline. He showed a very small, thin book from 1808, about 17 years after the death of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. He then showed a book from 1939, when the Methodist Episcopal Church and Methodist Episcopal Church South re-joined to form the Methodist Church. He showed another from 1968, when the Evangelical United Brethren joined with the Methodist Church to form our current denomination. His point: None of those contained language regarding LGBTQ persons. During those times, the church seemed more focused on making disciples of Jesus Christ, and the church grew.
Then he showed a Discipline from 1972, when the first of the wording was added. The church has been in decline ever since.
From my point of view, what happened this week was a long overdue correction implemented by the Holy Spirit. I was involved in politics long enough while working in the news industry that I saw several pendulum shifts, points in debates when one side or another would go too far, would overreach, and finally minds would change, and the situation would be restored to a place of neutrality.
It's that position of neutrality that I think we need, as a denomination, to strive to understand, grasp, share and maintain.
As much misinformation already has been posted on various social media channels, I want to be clear. There is no requirement for churches to allow for same-gender weddings in their church buildings. Congregations will set policies for use of their facilities for weddings now just as they have before. The only difference is now there is no Disciplinary restriction regarding same-gender weddings.
There is no requirement for clergy who for reasons of conscience don’t think they can perform same-gender weddings. The beauty of the connection of The United Methodist Church is that there are other pastors who are willing to do so. Therefore, passing along a name and phone number for a happy couple should work no differently than if a couple seeks to be married by a pastor when that person is on renewal leave or a long-planned vacation or for some other reason can’t perform the ceremony.
And while I don’t serve on the Cabinet, I can assure you something based on what I know about our bishop and about the people serving as district superintendents. None of them are going to send an openly gay pastor to serve a congregation that isn’t willing to work with that person. For starters, the bishop and Cabinet work extremely hard to make the best matches possible. Folks, they can agonize over some of those decisions because they want to get it right. They want the church to be vital. They want the pastor’s ministry to be fruitful. They want all in the congregation — clergy and lay — to be healthy and happy. No bishop I have ever worked for — from Scott Jones to Ruben Saenz Jr. to David Wilson — would purposely mismatch the pastor and the congregation.
What the removal of the language means is that there are now more possibilities than there were before. As Bishop David Wilson shared in his statement from May 1, we now are part of a church that is more inclusive because we no longer will be singling out one group of people. We’ll be fairer because we won’t disqualify qualified pastors based on whom they love. We’ll truly exhibit love for all people. And we’ll have freedom to enter diverse mission fields by deploying openly LGBTQ persons to minister to people in that community with whom they may have a better chance at making connections.
It’s a philosophy the church uses often in churches of one predominant race or another or in ethnic communities. I’m not advocating for segregation — not at all. I’m just saying sometimes it takes people from a community to reach people in that community because there are more common experiences and more trust.
Yet another important piece of legislation that passed officially ended the era of disaffiliation. Members of the Wesleyan Covenant Association and allies of the Global Methodist Church sought to extend the time frame in which churches could withdraw from the denomination. While I have some ideas as to why that might be the case, I won’t speculate on that here, but I won’t weep at the end of ¶2553.
I think it’s important to remember where that paragraph came from as we consider complaints by those who wanted more time.
Remember that during the special session of General Conference in 2019 Traditionalists pushed the legislation as a means for progressives and centrists to leave the denomination if they didn’t want to live under what became known as the Traditional Plan. It was traditionalists who set the deadline for churches to leave as Dec. 31, 2023. It was traditionalists who set the parameters in terms of what must be paid and by when.
Remember what I said about the pendulum swinging too far? This is one of those examples. Centrists and progressives rebelled and stayed, so when some traditionalists — clearly not all — decided that full inclusion was a deal-breaker, they chose to leave.
Approximately 25% of churches in the United States left. I don’t wish them any harm. In fact, I wish them well in reaching their mission fields. I’m sorry they are gone, but I’m not sorry to say the knock-down drag-out fights are over.
So, what does all of this mean?
I think it means we either can truly move forward and be laser-focused on mission and outreach — the things we’ve claimed we would have been doing for 52 years if not for the impasse. It will truly be a shame if we don’t live up to the words spoken for so long.
I think it also means we have to be careful not to swing the pendulum too far. That illustration I used works both ways. If we can’t be open to traditionalist congregations being not just part of the church but an active part, then we are just being hypocritical.
Either we mean what we have said about being a church for progressives, centrists and traditionalists, or we haven’t. I pray that we really mean what we’ve said.
What the General Conference has done so far is work that I think truly brings the Kingdom of God on Earth into a lot better focus because it’s drawn much nearer to us.
Make no mistake. That is important work.
But it’s only part of the work. If we don’t unite in mission and outreach, and if we don’t live up to the words of 52 years that we want to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, then we may improve our present world, but we have done little to secure the eternity made possible through the relationship and belief in Jesus Christ.
It took a really, really long time — my entire life so far — to make significant changes to make our world, through our church, a better place. And the result is exciting!
I pray we now will embrace that zeal as we make new disciples.
Todd Seifert is communications director in the Great Plains Conference and a certified lay minister. He produces a podcast titled "In Layman's Terms" that tells stories about discipleship and The United Methodist Church.