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But the decision on Wednesday to remove Paragraph 2553 altogether yielded the opposite result. Regionalization in essence eliminates a regional hierarchy that the Methodist church originally created in 1939 to racially segregate Black clergy and laity in the U.S. from the white population, according to the UMC General Commission on Archives & History. The last regionalization-related petition spurred a brief yet passionate debate, a display of broader divisions that regionalization inevitably brought out. The added policies in that so-called “Traditional Plan” are some of the restrictions that progressives and many centrists are targeting this year — in addition to other major policies the denomination passed in earlier decades. Removing anti-LGBTQ+ restrictions is one of the most high-profile legislative decisions facing this UMC General Conference in Charlotte, a worldwide assembly that typically meets every four years but hasn’t gathered for a regular session in eight years. Current 6th - 8th graders will experience an action-packed week on Lake Wateree in Liberty Hill, SC.
United Methodist Church Reverses Ban on Practicing Gay Clergy
Delegates on Tuesday approved a related measure related to regionalization. The church had banned “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from serving in the clergy since 1984. Originally implemented in 1984, the ban on LGBTQ+ ordination encapsulated the broader conversation about LGBTQ+ rights in the nation’s largest mainline Protestant denomination. The specific policy was central to an intensified debate in 2016 that eventually led to the exodus of mostly conservative churches out of the UMC.
Emotional celebration breaks out following removal of ban on LGBTQ+ clergy
The UMC General Conference met for an abbreviated special session in 2019 when delegates narrowly approved a conservative policy plan that strengthened the church's prohibitions on "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from ordination as well as same-sex marriage. — United Methodists lifted a 40-year ban on gay clergy Wednesday in a major step toward greater LGBTQ+ inclusion in the nation’s largest mainline Protestant denomination. My family and I watch online every weekend and we LOVE it!
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The vote to remove the ban was the latest decision by the United Methodist Church's top legislative assembly here this week toward rolling back what many progressive and centrists Methodists view as overly restrictive policies. Other proposals to remove restrictions on same-sex unions and change the disciplinary consequences for dissent are also up for debate. The actions follow a historic schism in what was long the third-largest denomination in the United States.
More than 7,600 congregations, or about 25%, have broken off from the larger church in the past several years over disputes about LGBTQ rights and inclusivity, such as same-sex marriage and ordaining gay pastors. — Leaders of the United Methodist Church are holding their first international conference in nearly a decade this week, tackling such divisive issues as gay marriage, ordaining LGBTQ pastors and a dwindling membership. Progressives and many centrists supported regionalization, while traditionalists opposed the plan. Part of that divide is related to regionalization’s potential to allow the American church to move in a more LGBTQ-affirming direction, while allowing regional bodies outside the U.S. to maintain more traditional policy positions. With Wednesday’s decision to remove the ordination ban, “there’s an aspect of people finally seeing the goodness in the whole person,” said Cox.
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Bishop Tracy Smith Malone says she was overjoyed to be presiding at Thursday's regionalization vote, which comes after years of strife within the denomination. "We get to be the workers in the vineyard, but this is God's vision." A big concern in recent years has been how there appears to be a will to lift bans on LGBTQ+ clergy and same-sex marriage in the U.S, but that sentiment is not widespread in other parts of the world, especially in Africa. The proposal, called regionalization, essentially would allow different geographic regions — North America, Europe, Africa, and the Philippines — to make their own rules about ministry. “I just hope that this general conference will pass legislation that enables [churches] to disaffiliate and enables those of us in the United States who were blocked from disaffiliation because of egregious costs,” he said. Many congregations have fled church over the more liberal direction the once-conservative institution has taken in recent years on LGBTQ issues.
A policy allowing churches to disaffiliate expired at the end of 2023, so traditionalists are supporting legislative efforts at this UMC General Conference to extend and expand the disaffiliation policy. Delegates have so far supported a legislative priority commonly called “regionalization,” which many consider a counter to disaffiliation. Last week, the conference endorsed a regionalization plan that essentially would allow the churches of the United States the same autonomy as other regions of the global church. That change – which still requires local ratification -- could create a scenario where LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage are allowed in the United States but not in other regions.
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For Ohio pastor Rev. Angie Cox, there are immediate and tangible implications with the newly lifted ban on ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy. Cox, a lesbian and married, has sought to take the first step toward UMC ordination, called commissioning, six times in the past five years. Each time, the West Ohio Conference’s board of ordained ministry has rejected her candidacy. Still to come later this week are votes on the core of the bans on LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage in church law and policy, which may draw more debate. However, the large majority achieved by Tuesday’s votes indicate the tenor of the General Conference.
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Meanwhile, separate proposals to remove restrictive language about LGBTQ+ clergy and same-sex weddings globally are on the agenda next week for this United Methodist General Conference. But the regionalization vote could make those proposals less contentious and perhaps less likely to pass. By reorganizing the United Methodist Church in this way, it's far more likely that its ban on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ clergy could be lifted in the U.S while allowing churches elsewhere to make their own rules. During the two-week conference, leaders will also determine policy abroad. Many UMC churches are in Africa and Asia, and some of them want to disaffiliate because they believe the religion in the U.S. is no longer conservative enough.
Haworth, who wants his church to disaffiliate from the denomination — because of “biblical interpretation” and “authority of the Bible” — and join the conservative Global Methodist Church, said it would cost too much to leave right now. Delegates and observers, including people who identify as LGBTQ+ and their allies, embraced each other across a fence and sang hymns. Many in the crowd, including a few United Methodist bishops, were tearful as the crowd sang, drawing an increasingly large group of spectators. Wespath’s proposal to mothball the pension-based system follows declining membership in UMC churches due to shrinking and aging membership, a phenomenon compounded by the recent wave of disaffiliations. Since being planted in 2015, our mission has been making disciples who love God, love each other, and love our world. We believe, with God’s help, we will see a gospel awakening in the city of Charlotte that is carried to the ends of the earth.
Church also handled other vocal passages throughout the score. Church appeared on US Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) specials. Her 1999 self-titled second album also included operatic, religious, and traditional tracks. One, the soaring and inspirational Just Wave Hello, was the centrepiece of a millennium-themed ad campaign for the Ford Motor Company. The song's full-length video, featuring Church, won acclaim at the Detroit Auto Show and introduced her to new fans.
Conservatives in the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, for example, have formed breakaway denominations in reaction to the acceptance of gay clergy. Catholic Church doctrine forbids same-sex relationships, but Pope Francis has alarmed some traditionalists by allowing priests to bless same-sex couples. In a meeting on Wednesday, church leaders also voted to allow L.G.B.T.Q. weddings. The deadline for "disaffiliating," as it was called, from the United Methodist Church was last December. More than 7,600 — about one quarter — of its congregations voted to leave.
In April 2006, Church performed three concerts in Glasgow, London, and Cardiff, in venues holding between 2,000 and 3,000 people; the dates at London and Cardiff were sold out. Supported by Irish band the New Druids, Church performed a mix of tracks from her debut pop album and a number of pop covers including Prince's "Kiss" and Gloria Estefan's "Rhythm is Gonna Get You". As a classical music singer, Church sang in English, Welsh, Latin, Italian, and French. She was then introduced to the Cardiff impresario Jonathan Shalit, who became her manager and negotiated a contract with Sony Music. Her first album, Voice of an Angel (1998), was a collection of arias, sacred songs, and traditional pieces that sold millions worldwide and made her the youngest artist with a No. 1 album on the British classical crossover charts. All of those proposals had overwhelming support in committee votes last week.
Grow closer to the Lord, and make friends and memories that could last a lifetime. As disciples of Jesus, we make it our aim to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did. Through teaching, practice, community, and the Holy Spirit, we’re helping one another learn what it means to experience and enjoy life in Jesus. At the end of 2005, Church bought a property in her native Cardiff—for a reported £500,000—which she later sold for £900,000. The couple then bought a manor with a 20-acre (8 hectare) small holding in the Vale of Glamorgan in the village of St Brides Major. Church has made a number of cameo appearances on television.
