North Carolina Church’s Pledge to Welcome All Excites Local Media

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First UMC in Waynesville, N.C., generated lots of local excitement this week when it announced it intends to defy the strengthened United Methodist bans against same-sex marriage, along with welcoming LGBTQ people to membership and ministry. Nearly half a dozen regional print and electronic media reported on the church’s statement, adopted after a churchwide consultation and vote.

Waynesville is the largest municipality close to Lake Junaluska, home of the World Methodist Council and a historic United Methodist conference center. Southeastern Jurisdiction bishops and their spouses have had retirement homes in Lake Junaluska. They and some World Methodist leaders who have resided in the area, including its longtime executive, the late Rev. Joe Hale, have been affiliated with First-Waynesville.

WLOS-TV reported the story as “Local Methodist Church Seeks inclusion for Same-Sex and LGBTQ Members.” The TV station interviewed associate pastor, the Rev. Becky Brown, who said the congregation felt pushed to reaffirm its welcoming identity after the adoption of the Traditional Plan at the special called General Conference in February. She cited the church's mission statement: "To be the living body of Christ, Welcoming ALL, Growing in Faith, Engaging the World."

She added that “no same-sex weddings have been conducted at her church, but she says it would welcome them,” even though there would be ramifications for the clergy for violating United Methodist law.

The Mountaineer expanded on Waynesville’s process. “The First United Methodist Church of Waynesville conducted an exhaustive process in June where church members discussed and suggested changes to the single-page identity statement crafted by the leadership team. There were sessions before the statement was drafted, and three listening sessions leading up to the vote.”

In other North Carolina news, the North State Journal reported that both the North Carolina and Western North Carolina voted to condemn the Traditional Plan.

“Both North Carolina conferences voted to reject the Traditional Plan,” wrote North State Journal report David Larson. “This was mostly a symbolic gesture since local annual conferences cannot undo actions by the global general conferences held every four years, but it’s a sign that the 2019 general conference in St. Louis did not put the issue to rest.”

Uniting Methodists Gather Conference Reports

The Uniting Methodists group has compiled a listing of actions by U.S. annual conferences regarding the Traditional Plan. The following is taken from its July 16 newsletter:

“Last winter's Special Session of General Conference in St. Louis generated much discussion and in many quarters deep concerns. Folks gathered tin their regions to assess what had happened and determine the best paths forward. As a result, there was robust Christian conversation resulting in corporate responses at the many annual conferences in May and June.“This issue is the first of a short series listing an array of published reports from annual conferences. Use the links provided to review reports and where available, resolutions and legislative petitions.“Be on the lookout for more reports over the two weeks. If you are able to contribute additional information from one of the annual conferences, please send further information to our email address. We would love to hear from you at allofus@gmail.com. 

“Reports

Media Mentions as of July 18, 2019

Aulne to leave Methodists over gay marriage – Marion County Record

Algoma, West Kewaunee United Methodist churches take stand on LGBTQdiscrimination – Green Bay Press Gazette