by Sandy » Fri Mar 08, 2019 10:44 am
My stepmother is a member of a Free Methodist church in Buffalo, NY. We've worshipped there several times. I would not call them "radically conservative," though compared to the UMC, they might be. Their statement of faith does not include inerrancy, but it does state belief that the whole Bible is spirit-inspired and that Christian interpretation must be spirit-illumined, as opposed to both tradition and experience which they believe can be affected by human error. There is a definite emphasis on holiness, and the whole atmosphere in that particular church reminds me a lot of the Church of the Nazarene. They dropped the use of the name "Methodist" out of their identification and signage under their former pastor who flat out said the terms "Methodist" and "growing church" are an oxymoron. My Dad, a Baptist deacon for over 40 years, did not convince my stepmom during the 5 years they were married that she could not lose her salvation.
The pastor of the CMA congregation which operated the school I served in Pennsylvania for eight years was an Asbury graduate, college and seminary, He was originally ordained in the Anderson Church of God and switched over to CMA about 20 years ago. He was also pretty heavy on holiness, and I would say that he was "radically conservative," uncomfortably so.
I wonder what kind of grasp Methodist leadership in the US has on how their parishioners in the pews feel about the issue. Timothy pointed out that 67% of the American clergy were in favor of the plan which would have allowed LGBTQ ordination and sanctioning of same-gender marriages, but the bottom line for the church's future rests with what will happen among the membership if the clergy takes steps to separate from the denomination and affirm the pro-LGBTQ position. Denominations I would consider more "liberal" on just about everything have fractured and experienced significant losses of membership. A friend of mine from Pennsylvania who was an Episcopalian priest and is now Anglican at a church in Washington, DC said the Episcopal church's statistics on the exodus of members is misleading in terms of its actual impact on the church. Their statistics show a decline of 40% in membership since they first ordained a gay clergyman, but he says that the 60% who have stayed includes over 800,000 "inactive" members. And they're still declining rapidly. Moving forward on something like this could have a huge cost.
There is a resolution and an answer for the church when it comes to how it should minister to people who are LGBTQ. It sounds cliche, but God has the answer and those who love and serve him need to get beyond their own reasoning power, intellect, prejudice and fear so they can be discerning about His will. Perhaps the Methodists, in working through this issue in their own church, will be the ones who come up with the answer.