By now, you have likely heard that The United Methodist Church's General Conference meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina (April 23-May 3, 2024) took action to remove from the Book of Discipline all language that restricts or singles out non-heterosexual people for disparate treatment.
That is true. As proponents of the removal of this language would say, this returns the Book of Discipline to its pre-1972 "neutral" stance on homosexuality.
This article, substantially updated just after the 2020/2024 General Conference, seeks to clarify where the denomination stands during this "in-between time" between now and January 1, 2025, when most General Conference legislation goes into effect.
Some actions of the 2020/2024 General Conference have immediate effect.
The chargeable offenses for clergy being found to be "self-avowed practicing homosexual" or for presiding at a same-sex marriage or union ceremony are deleted.
The footnote describing what a "self-avowed, practicing homosexual" is, is gone.
Clergy who were required to surrender their credentials because they were previously convicted of being a self-avowed practicing homosexual or because they presided at a same-sex marriage or union service may apply for readmission to their clergy session.
And general agencies are no longer prohibited to use funds to promote the acceptance of homosexuality.
All of this means that United Methodist clergy are now free to preside at same-sex marriage or union ceremonies where they are legal, and they are equally free not to do so. The boards of trustees of local churches are likewise free to recommend building use policies on whether same-sex marriage or union ceremonies may or may not take place on that particular local church property, and church councils are free to decide whether to enact them. And district committees on ordained ministry, conference boards of ordained ministry, and the clergy sessions of annual conferences are no longer required to reject candidates on the basis of their sexual orientation or status as a person married to or in a domestic partnership with another person of the same sex. And should general agencies wish to develop resources that express acceptance of homosexuality as a human reality, they are now free to do so.
Note the effect of all of these changes. Mandatory prohibitions are lifted. Discretion remains.
Note also what this legislation does not do. It does not actively approve homosexual relations. It does not require boards of ordained ministry to approve self-avowed, practicing homosexual candidates. Nor does it require any pastor to preside at any same-sex wedding or union ceremony, nor any church to allow such ceremonies on church property. And it does not create any sort of mandate for general agencies to create new resources that support homosexuality.
However, not all legislation removing or replacing language targeting non-heterosexual people for disparate treatment has immediate effect. Most prominent among these are the Revised Social Principles. The Revised Social Principles no longer use the terms homosexual or homosexuality at all, but apply the same standards to human sexuality regardless of sexual orientation. They also support monogamous marriage (rejecting polygamy) for both heterosexual and non-heterosexual couples who are adults of consenting age. However, the Revised Social Principles do not go into effect until January 1, 2025. The same is true for the current ban on annual conferences using any resources to promote the acceptance of homosexuality.
This means the "incompatibility clause" in the Social Principles, "the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching," remains the social teaching of The United Methodist Church, as least for now. So does the call of the current Social Principles for United Methodists to support the legal option of marriage only for monogamous, heterosexual couples.
Meanwhile, the underlying affirmation in the current version of the Social Principles is that sexuality is “God’s good gift to all persons.”
They also affirm that all people are of sacred worth and are equally valuable in the sight of God. They commit The United Methodist Church to be in ministry with all people. And they “implore families and churches not to reject or condemn lesbian and gay members and friends.”
All of this derives from the constitutional principle of inclusiveness of the church. Everyone is welcome to worship and actively participate in the life of our churches. Laypersons may become members and live out their faith through their local church without respect to sexual orientation or practice.
Finally, the current Social Principles deplore acts of hate and violence against people based on sexual orientation or gender identity and state that basic human rights and civil liberties are due all people, regardless of sexual orientation.
This is where The United Methodist Church currently stands on these matters of human sexuality and marriage, and where it will continue to stand through the end of 2024.
This article will be revised in late fall 2024 to reflect what denominational policy will be beginning in January 2025, at least in the United States. Central conferences meeting in 2024 may modify some of these changes, except to the Social Principles, which are set only by the General Conference. Legislation passed by a General Conference does not go into effect in Central Conferences that do not speak English until 18 months after the General Conference to give time for appropriate translations of so Central Conferences may receive and adapt what they may in their own language (again, except for the Social Principles).
Rev. Burton Edwards is director of Ask The UMC, the information service of United Methodist Communications.
