The African delegation ensures the exit of the sodomite churchians
who have been trying to converge the United Methodist Church:
After days of passionate debate, deliberation, and prayer—and years of
tension within the denomination—The United Methodist Church (UMC) voted Tuesday
to maintain its traditional stance against same-sex marriage and non-celibate
gay clergy, bolstered by a growing conservative contingent from Africa.
The plan passed, with 438 votes in favor and 384 against (53% to 47%), in the final hours of a special UMC conference held this week in St. Louis to address the issue of human sexuality.
The decision leaves a sizable, vocal opposition, ensuring the exit of many progressive pastors and churches in the largest mainstream Protestant body in the US.
After the final vote, protesters began chanting, “no” and “stop the harm” through the rest of the session until the conference ended over an hour later.
The “Traditional Plan” preserves existing UMC positions and adds further accountability measures for those who violate them by performing same-sex ceremonies or ordaining gay clergy. But this is not the outcome many Americans, including most bishops, had been praying for.
In the States, a large portion of Methodists wanted to see the church accommodate LGBT ceremonies and clergy, as other mainline denominations have done in recent years. One poll through Mainstream UMC reported at least two-thirds of US delegates supported the inclusive “One Church Plan” instead.
But the growing global presence among the 12 million-member denomination held more sway. Methodists from outside the US, who favor more traditional positions on sexuality, made up 41 percent of the 864 delegates at the general conference, including a full 30 percent from Africa.
The plan passed, with 438 votes in favor and 384 against (53% to 47%), in the final hours of a special UMC conference held this week in St. Louis to address the issue of human sexuality.
The decision leaves a sizable, vocal opposition, ensuring the exit of many progressive pastors and churches in the largest mainstream Protestant body in the US.
After the final vote, protesters began chanting, “no” and “stop the harm” through the rest of the session until the conference ended over an hour later.
The “Traditional Plan” preserves existing UMC positions and adds further accountability measures for those who violate them by performing same-sex ceremonies or ordaining gay clergy. But this is not the outcome many Americans, including most bishops, had been praying for.
In the States, a large portion of Methodists wanted to see the church accommodate LGBT ceremonies and clergy, as other mainline denominations have done in recent years. One poll through Mainstream UMC reported at least two-thirds of US delegates supported the inclusive “One Church Plan” instead.
But the growing global presence among the 12 million-member denomination held more sway. Methodists from outside the US, who favor more traditional positions on sexuality, made up 41 percent of the 864 delegates at the general conference, including a full 30 percent from Africa.
It's
reprehensible that the vote was anywhere nearly that close. But good riddance to all the
churchians; those that don't leave of their own volition should be excommunicated
without hesitation. There is no place in any Christian church for gay or female
leadership of any kind; any so-called "church" that permits gay,
female, or child leadership is Churchian, not Christian, at best. It is informative to contemplate how much convergence would have
been avoided, and how much sexual abuse would have been prevented, had the
various Christian churches that allowed themselves to become converged instead
followed the clear instructions on the Bible concerning who is permitted
leadership in the church.
An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
Appoint elders who genuinely love what is good and what is true, not those who call good evil, and call evil good.
An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
Appoint elders who genuinely love what is good and what is true, not those who call good evil, and call evil good.
