United meyhodist church resolution on gay clergy

Skip to content. Five years ago, church members gathered for another national meeting, or "General Conference", and strengthened restrictions on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. Methodist Church votes to allow same-sex marriage.

What is the Church's position on homosexuality? This comes after a week of slowly removing bans and enforcement measures against gay clergy and same-sex weddings. But conservative parts of the church felt those strengthened policies weren't being enforced and thousands of members and whole congregations left over "reasons of conscience".

The church had forbidden "self-avowed homosexuals" from being ordained or appointed as clergy members. “We see homosexuality as a sin,” said Forbes Matonga, the pastor of a church in. Analysis by The Rev. Taylor W Burton Edwards Protestors in support of LGBTQ clergy line the entryway to the United Methodist General Conference May 18 in Portland, Ore.

Many wore or carried clergy stoles of defrocked clergy.

United Methodists Strike Ban

The delegates also passed a measure that explicitly allows clergy to choose which weddings they perform. The church says it has approximately 10m members worldwide, with about half in the US. It holds its General Conference every four years to review policies, budgets, and more.

Share Save. Attendees also eased restrictions on gay marriage, passing a measure to prevent clergy and churches from being penalized for performing or declining to perform same-sex weddings. Getty Images.

40 year ban on

People at the conference in North Carolina sang hymns in celebration after the vote, the church said. Key points: Delegates to The United Methodist Church approved four changes to church law intended to remove the last remnants of restrictions aimed specifically at LGBTQ people.

The pandemic, though, threw off that schedule. But during a national conference this week, delegates voted to overturn the ban without debate. Meeting at their worldwide General Conference in Charlotte, N.C., United Methodist delegates voted overwhelmingly to allow LGBTQ clergy and for Methodist ministers to officiate at same-sex weddings.

Conservative members and congregations have left the denomination in recent years over the issues of LGBTQ clergy and gay marriage, changing the makeup of the church and paving the way for the policy changes to receive overwhelming support.

The United Methodist Church overturned its year ban on gay clergy Wednesday, during a meeting of the church’s top legislative body in Charlotte, North Carolina. The United Methodist Church is a global denomination and its footprint outside the US is greatest in Africa.