Well, things have gotten a little interesting since I last wrote. There have been two protests and the Conference is in some confusion about its future. We are struggling with what to do about the non-US churches and how to move into the future with them. We may have to establish regional Methodist Conferences so each country can write a book of rule that will pertain only to their country's churches.
I finally was able to get on the floor to say something to the 1000 delegates. We were working to remove the language in the Discipline that says, "Homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching." I wanted to state in the Discipline that some people in our church believe that but others disagree with it. I pointed out that four years ago Bill Hinson (conservative pastor of First Church in Houston) and Bruce Robbins (liberal pastor of Hennipen Avenue Church in Minnesota) put together a joint declaration that stated we were in disagreement about homosexuality but we were not going to stop being a United Methodist Church. The vote was close but what I wanted to happen didn't happen. In other words the statement will still be in the Book of Discipline saying "Homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching."
If our church can ever move beyond this we can do wonderful things together. Some progress has been made but there is more to be done.
If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles
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