Methodists work hard to stay unified

DALLAS — Nearly 1,000 United Methodists lay and clergy delegates — mainly from the United States, but with a strong African contingent — have been gathered since Wednesday in Fort Worth for General Conference, a term that covers the denomination's top legislative body and the body's quadrennial meeting.

”There's such a diverse and global feel to it,“ Kentucky's lead clergy delegate, Debbie Wallace-Padgett, senior minister at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Lexington, said. ”We have (delegates from) 50 nations and five continents representing 111/2 million members around the world.

”We talked about how we came from all walks of life but are one people with a mission: to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.“

This epic exercise in church democracy lasts nine days, during which about 1,600 resolutions and proposed changes to church law and policy — everything from revising the denomination's hymnal to boycotting companies with questionable labor practices — will at least get looked at by a committee.

And there almost certainly will be another round of heated debate and contentious votes over whether the UMC should change its official position that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching and withdraw its ban on non-celibate gay pastors.

Still, most experts think the big tent of the UMC will hold, however the winds blow. Some even say the denomination has turned a corner toward unity.

”I've never been more hopeful than I am right now about the church,“ said Bishop Sharon Brown ­Christopher of Illinois, who is among leaders who want to focus on such goals as fighting disease globally.

The let's-stick-together sentiment is currently voiced as well by James V. Heidinger II, president and publisher of Good News, a Wilmore, Ky.-based ministry aimed at renewing the United Methodist Church and publisher of Good News, a magazine popular among those who favor keeping the church's position that homosexuality is against Christian teaching.

”We've been watching the Episcopal Church fall apart, and no one wants to see that kind of thing happen in the United Methodist Church,“ Heidinger said.

The UMC formed 40 years ago at a General Conference in Dallas, with the merger of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. But its roots go back to John Wesley, whose 18th-century Church of England renewal movement stressed a methodical approach to Scripture and Christian living.

Methodism spread to the American colonies, leading to the creation of its own church in the early years of the United States.

Methodism has since been a part of the country's religious landscape. And the UMC, with nearly 8 million members in this country, is not only the second-largest U.S. Protestant group (after Southern Baptists) but arguably its most representative.

”Methodism really does represent the broad middle,“ said William Lawrence, dean of Southern Methodist University's Perkins School of Theology. ”We have the same problems in the UMC that the U.S. social and cultural fabric have.“

The UMC has taken many liberal social positions, and has been a leader in ordaining women ministers. No denominational language prohibits gay members. Many churches advertise themselves as ”inclusive“ or ”welcoming“ to gay people, and most are at least quietly accepting.

But the UMC has not followed the Episcopal Church in allowing non-celibate gay clergy, and its 1972 language calling homosexuality incompatible with Christian teaching has survived one General Conference challenge after another.

Conservatives say that's only right, because the Bible condemns homosexuality. They argue that the UMC had steadily lost members by focusing too much on social concerns and not enough on the Bible and evangelism.

Supporters of gay rights counter that Jesus doesn't speak about homosexuality in the Bible, that Bible verses on the subject are few and open to interpretation, and that Christianity requires loving acceptance of people in the sexual orientation God gave them.

Going into this General Conference, conservatives have the upper hand. That's partly because the delegation from Africa — where the UMC is growing — is larger than ever and staunchly opposed to changes on homosexuality.

Some in the UMC, including certain bishops, are critical of the General Conference tradition because it's expensive — projected cost this time is $6.6 million — and it shines a hot light on controversies.

Others say the General Conference might help keep the UMC intact, because it gives a forum for dissent while enforcing, through its vast number of delegates from all over the church, the broader will of the membership.

And it was at General Conference four years ago in Pittsburgh, amid talk of amicably splitting the denomination because of deep differences over homosexuality and other issues, that delegates took up a unity resolution, voting 869-41 to stick together.

Herald-Leader staff writer Jim Niemi contributed to this article.