Methodists watch General Conference for verdict on human sexuality
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — United Methodist churches in the region are closely watching the General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, where human sexuality is among the topics being considered.
Disagreements on allowing the performance of same-sex marriage and gay clergy in the church caused more than 100 churches from Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia to disaffiliate from the Holston Conference last year. The Holston Conference is one of the many conferences under the General Conference.
Plenty of petitions have been presented at the General Conference this week, some concerning human sexuality and whether or not to remove restrictive language. Right now, that language says homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.
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The Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church congregation is watching to see the conference’s decisions.
“I think most of the people here in Wesley just want to love people,” said Ginger Isom, Senior Pastor of Wesley Memorial. “And whether or not they would ever accept a gay pastor or LGBTQ pastor or allow a same-sex marriage to occur in the church, I don’t know because we haven’t gotten that far.”
The Holston Conference’s Director of Communications, Tim Jones, is at the conference, covering what’s going on for the next two weeks.
“There are definitely delegates that remain on both sides of the [human sexuality] topic,” said Jones. “And I would imagine no matter what happens, whether the language stays or whether the language is removed, that it will continue to be a topic because culturally, regionally, that’s something that we continue to talk about, not just inside the church, but within the worldwide balance.”
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Pastor Isom said many in the conference hope to return to a time in the church’s history when language regarding human sexuality wasn’t part of the discipline.
“In those days, it wasn’t something that was always on the forefront of everybody’s mind,” said Isom. “Since then, it’s always been an issue at general conference. We just want to get back to doing ministry.”
Isom said the ministry should be at the forefront of the church.
“We’re bad about doing that with everybody, attaching a label to them and letting that define everything about them,” said Isom. “And forgetting that God loves them regardless of who they are, what their life history is.”
The General Conference continues until May 3. Jones said that regardless of the conference’s decision, there would be a new set of conferences, including whether the church would allow more disaffiliation or re-affiliation for members.
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