The statement was the direct result of a letter sent by 59 leading pastors to all active bishops, asking the Council to address the then 900 pastors who had pledged to perform gay marriages, contrary to the Discipline….
Since the letter was sent, more than 2,500 pastors have added their names to the letter and more than 12,000 laypersons have signed an even more pointed statement at the website
www.faithfulumc.com. As reticent as the Council has been in the past to address the topic of homosexuality in any sort of unified way””even as it was tearing the church apart””it is obvious that the letter and the 14,500 signatures were effective in motivating the Bishops to do what they should have done long ago.
We are grateful to the Council for issuing a statement and to the thousands of United Methodists who asked them to do so.
So we have a statement. That’s the good news. The statement itself””well, that’s another story. In a 21-sentence document, two sentences deal with upholding the Discipline.
Although I’m an outsider who can’t claim to understand the complexities of life in the vast UMC, I thought this critique was marvelous. Rob Renfoe gets what’s wrong with the leadership of all the so-called “mainline” churches, the tendency to capitulate to “mainstream” culture. So, grateful as I am for the UMC bishops taking this stand and staying the course, they get only two cheers for it, not three.
David Handy+
Behind both statements is the understanding that, while the bishops of the UMC are ready to support the Discipline’s position, many desire that it read differently.