Sisters and brothers, you have decided that I was disobedient “to the Order and Discipline of the United Methodist Church.” I know many of you struggled with that because I know you. Now you must impose a penalty which you believe is appropriate and responds
As hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians are forced from their homes in Kosovo, Rev. Greg Dell sees a similar human tragedy playing itself out on a smaller scale within the United Methodist Church, as it prosecutes its clergy for openly violating a church rule
To set the scene, the position of the Lutheran Church here is that to be a homosexual is not a sin but the practicing of one’s homosexuality is. On the official front we have an equivalent of marriage for gays and lesbians called ‘partnership’ which
Rev. Jimmy Creech has been without a congregation for a year. On March 13, 1998, Creech was acquitted by a jury of 13 Methodist ministers on charges that he disobeyed the United Methodist Church by blessing the union of two lesbians in September of last
A Pastoral Message On The Occasion of the 30th Anniversary of UFMCC Dear Saints: This has been a powerful week in my personal life. On October 6th, we observed the 30th anniversary of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. I’ve replayed the events of
It’s been nearly 10 years since I first set foot inside a Metropolitan Community Church. I didn’t even know such a church, aimed at the spiritual well-being and safety of gays and lesbians, existed, until my partner at the time saw an article in a
After much fighting, bishops attending the Anglican Communion’s once-a-decade Lambeth conference in Canterbury, England, rejected gay sex as “incompatible with the scripture” and said only celibate gays can be priests. The 526-70 vote (with 45 abstentions) on the non-binding resolution was a victory for conservative
The truth about God’s lesbian and gay children suffered a tragic (though temporary) setback this Wednesday, August 5, 1998. In Canterbury, England, bishops from 160 nations representing 70 million Anglicans worldwide (including the Episcopal Church in the U.S.) voted 526 to 70 (with 40 abstentions)
The following is a pastoral letter to homosexuals sent by some of the Lambeth bishops. The following has been released by Bishop Ronald Haines of Washington on behalf of the signers. The statement is still being signed. August 5, 1998 Dear sisters and brothers, The
In the aftermath of the anti-lesbigay vote of Anglican bishops, there is anger, rejection, defiance, networking, mourning, organizing, and that “gutted and lynched feeling.” The lasting image of the now-concluding global Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops will likely prove to be the confrontation between Nigerian