Germany Decision Group
The executive committee of the United Methodist Church in Germany gathers for a photo during its meeting in Fulda. The committee released a statement saying “the stipulations of the Traditional Plan are not acceptable for our church in Germany.” (Photo by Klaus Ulrich Ruof.)
In the wake of General Conference 2019, the Germany Central Conference made an interesting resolution: They would reject the Traditionalist plan but stay together as a denomination, despite varying opinions on sexuality.
This resolution led to an ongoing roundtable process that produced, in January of this year, "a system for preserving the connection" in Germany that would eliminate Book of Discipline language prohibiting gay ordination and gay weddings but also create a new association for German United Methodists with traditionalist views on homosexuality.
On July 17th, the roundtable members held their first meeting since releasing the framework of this plan. As news coverage of, including an abridged report from, this meeting make clear, Germans are continuing to move forward with both parts of this plan, with the intention of granting provisional approval this November at a short meeting of the central conference, with full approval at the postponed regular meeting of the central conference in 2021.
The work at the July meeting focused mostly on elaborating the new structure for traditionalist German United Methodists. More details are available in the full report of the meeting and the theological foundations for the new traditionalist association. All links are in German.
UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott serves as Director of Mission Theology at the General Board of Global Ministries. The opinions and analysis expressed here are Dr. Scott's own and do not reflect in any way the official position of Global Ministries. This post is republished with permission from UM & Global, the collaborative blog of United Methodist Professors of Mission.