Methodists Vow to Unify Despite Rift

PITTSBURGH —  The United Methodist Church ended its national conference here Friday as delegates overwhelmingly pledged themselves to church unity after a tumultuous 10-day meeting torn by divisions over homosexuality and talk of schism.

On a 869-41 vote, the church’s quadrennial general conference -- its highest law-making body -- approved an impromptu resolution “to remain in covenant with one another, even in the midst of disagreement.”

The vote came a day after a prominent conservative pastor and national president of an unofficial Methodist renewal group called for “a just and amicable” split of the church because of “irreconcilable differences” over homosexuality. The Rev. William H. Hinson had said the only option after 30 years of debate was for liberals and conservatives to divide church property and go their separate ways even though the church this week strengthened its stand against homosexuality.

Stunned by the suggestion, delegates responded Friday with a resolution of their own that said they wanted to reaffirm their “commitment to work together for our common mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ throughout the world.”

Asked later whether he thought his separation proposal had been repudiated, Hinson said he stood by his plan.

“I don’t think that gap can be bridged,” he said of ideological differences within the 10.3-million member worldwide church. But he said he had been surprised by the reaction, for and against his plan. “That was the most combustible thing I’ve ever said, the shot heard around the world,” Hinson said.

The Rev. John Schol of West Chester, Pa., introduced the unity resolution. “There is a movement to continue to drive a wedge in our denomination,” he said.

Just before the vote, a delegate from Tupelo, Miss., rose to support the unity measure. After 10 days of wrangling between conservatives and liberals, the Rev. Bill McAlilly said it was time to hear from “the Methodist middle.”

“This group includes women, men, children, youth, lay and clergy,” McAlilly said. “We teach Sunday school. We serve in food pantries and [used] clothing [outlets]. We build ... houses,” he said.

Too often, he said, moderates were silent. “Perhaps that is our sin,” he said. “Perhaps we’re gripped by fear -- fear that if we speak we will be labeled as the opposition, fear that we are incapable of preventing our church from being pulled apart at the seams,” he said. “If those of us in the middle can contain those on both sides of the equation we might be able to find the unity for which we seek.”

His remarks were greeted with loud applause. Moments later, delegates joined hands and prayed before casting their votes. Some wept.

“I am convinced that there are ways to bridge those differences,” the Rev. Bruce Robbins said after the vote. But Robbins, who recently served as general secretary of church’s General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, acknowledged that the church was beset by “deep differences” over homosexuality.

In a strategy reminiscent of efforts by conservative Episcopalians, who also are calling for realignment within their own church, some Methodist conservatives said they would launch a grass-roots campaign to win support for what would amount to a split in the historic church.

Teams of renewal ministers -- both clergy and lay -- would be dispatched throughout the country to meet with disaffected Methodists, said the Rev. Scott N. Field, senior pastor of Wheatland Salem Church in Naperville, Ill. They hope to strengthen an existing network of conservative Methodists.

As early as next spring, a national conference could be held to bring together a coalition of conservatives, Hinson said. He said liberals would be invited to discuss the church’s future.

Like their Episcopal counterparts, conservative Methodists continue to forge alliances with Christians in Africa and other nations where, generally speaking, homosexuality is a cultural taboo and where a traditional reading of biblical injunctions against same-sex erotic behavior is the rule.

Methodist church officials said votes from African delegates assured a solid majority this week for tightening church restrictions against ordaining “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals.” The conference also voted to reaffirm that the church did not condone homosexual behavior because it was “incompatible with Christian teaching.”

Without the votes of overseas Methodists, the votes for both measures might have been split down the middle, church officials said. As it was, both received more than 60% of the vote. About 200 of the nearly 1,000 delegates are from African and other nations.

Earlier this week, conservatives met with the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, Episcopal bishop of Pittsburgh and the national moderator of a new conservative Anglican network seeking a realignment of that church because of sharp differences over homosexuality.

The approval last summer of an openly gay priest, the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, as Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire was viewed by many conservatives as the last straw.

“In your work, don’t do what we did, unless you want devastation in your midst,” Duncan told the Methodists this week.

Among conservative groups joining in the coalition, their leaders said, are Good News, which publishes a magazine of the same name, the Confessing Movement Within the United Methodist Church, Transforming Congregations, Life Watch, the Mission Society for United Methodists, and Methodist Action, an arm of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a Washington political action group funded in large part by conservative nonprofit foundations.