Pew Research Center Chart
LGBTQ Acceptance
The Pew Research Center recently compiled this chart of Christian churches' varied stances on the acceptability of LGBTQ people.
Editor's Note: This post is a response to the article by Keith Boyette which was posted by the Wesleyan Covenant Association on April 5.
What hypocrisy!
"The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching" (para 161G). The presence of this sentence in the United Methodist Book of Discipline makes it impossible for The United Methodist Church to say that it truly affirms LGBTQIA+ people. It totally negates the other "affirming" content in paragraph 161G. The UMC and the WCA will not be able to state that they unequivocally affirm LGBTQIA+ folks until that language is removed.
Congregations which are affirming accept LGBTQIA+ and straight people when they come to a community of faith and value their gifts and graces. It means that LGBTQIA+ and straight folks are fully included in the life of a congregation. LGBTQIA+ and straight people are provided equal opportunities to use their gifts within the church for the common good. In affirming settings, LGBTQIA+ and straight people can and do serve as worship leaders, communion servers, committee chairpersons, teachers, choir members, youth workers, lay leaders, lay members of annual conference, delegates to General Conference, etc. LGBTQIA+ folks should be as eligible for ordination as straight folks!
Churches which affirm LGBTQIA+ people love them and embrace them, just as they love and embrace straight members of the community of faith. Affirming settings provide an environment where LGBTQIA+ and straight folks can be open and authentically who they are within the congregation. They can sit together, hold hands, serve together, talk openly about their life together, have their children baptized, and be married by their pastor within the church facility.
The expectation is that affirming churches will be advocates for the equality of LGBTQIA+ people in the world around them and will fully include them in the life of the church. In affirming settings, LGBTQIA+ and straight people will have equal opportunities - with no exceptions!
It is not enough to simply welcome LGBTQIA+ people to worship services! The expectation is that LGBTQIA+ people will be affirmed and fully integrated as equal participants in the life of the church!
If LGBTQIA+ people are going to be welcome in United Methodist churches, congregations must be safe places for LGBTQIA+ people, their families and friends. Pastors cannot preach judgmental sermons and laity cannot make judgmental comments. LGBTQIA+ and straight people have to be free to be authentically who they are.
Thankfully, some United Methodist congregations are very affirming, welcoming, and safe communities of faith for LGBTQIA+ and straight people!
So, WCA leaders, are these the sorts of models you plan to implement to become welcoming and affirming of LGBTQIA+ people? What are you doing to actively identify and reform those UM communities of faith where LGBTQIA+ people are despised, judged, removed from positions they hold, or rejected by their families and church members? When will you consider these egregious practices chargeable offenses?
WCA leaders, I would hope you will seriously consider these thoughts and withdraw Keith Boyette's blatantly offensive article which makes claims not supported by realities across The United Methodist Church!
United Methodist layman Tracy Merrick of Wexford, Pa., says he's "heavily involved" in several volunteer efforts including the Reconciling Ministries Network and the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference. This post is republished with permission from his Facebook page.