Photo Courtesy of Mike Tupper
Mike Tupper & Daughter
The Rev. Mike Tupper officiated at the wedding of his daughter Sarah (center) and her spouse, Ali, in 2014. In July 2015, Rev. Tupper officiated at the wedding of the Rev. Benjamin and Monty Hutchison.
The Covenantal Unity Plan (CUP) proposed by Dr. Bill Arnold is more likely to escalate the 44-year civil war in the United Methodist Church over LGBTQ inclusion than to lessen it. This General Conference legislation would enact severe mandatory sentences for pastors who officiate at same-gender weddings. Many clergy would face immediate dismissal and loss of their credentials. This would only lead to greater conflict in our denomination.
Dr. Arnold is a professor at multi-denominational Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky. I’ll be bringing my Tent Witness to the Asbury campus in Kentucky on Friday, April 15 to protest discrimination in our church and Dr. Arnold’s CUP proposal. I’ve been sleeping outside in a tent for the past 140 nights to symbolize how our church is pushing LGBTQ persons outside into the cold.
I will be directly affected if the CUP legislation is approved. I officiated at the same-gender wedding for my daughter Sarah and Ali (pictured) in 2014. Last summer I officiated at the wedding of Rev. Benjamin Hutchison, a gay pastor forced to resign from serving his United Methodist congregation, and his longtime partner Monty Hutchison. Because I officiated at two same-gender weddings, I would lose my ministerial credentials and never be able to serve as a pastor in The United Methodist Church.
I love The United Methodist Church and have faithfully served the church as a pastor for 35 years. I’ve appreciated the theological diversity in our “Big Tent.” Unfortunately, the CUP legislation authored by Dr. Arnold would lead our church away from this. Instead, it would lead to four more years of a more intensified civil war. As I often say, “Lord, help us.”
The Rev. Mike Tupper is a clergy member of the West Michigan Annual Conference. This article is revised and republished with the author's consent from his Facebook page.