wfn.org | Groups Respond to Creech Trial Verdict

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CONTACT: Tim Tanton 			      (10-21-28-71B){157}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5473	 March 18, 1998

Creech verdict draws responses from Confessing Movement, Good News,
Reconciling Congregation groups

by United Methodist News Service

	Groups on both sides of the homosexuality issue in the United
Methodist Church are responding to the acquittal of an Omaha pastor who
performed a same-sex union last fall.
	Two of the groups -- the Confessing Movement and Good News --
are unofficial, conservative organizations that have decried the
verdict. They are requesting the Council of Bishops call a special
session of the General Conference to deal with what they call a "crisis"
in the church.
	A third group, the Reconciling Congregation Program, issued a
statement supporting the verdict and expressing concern about divisions
in the church. The unofficial United Methodist group promotes full
participation in the church for all people, regardless of sexual
orientation.
	The statements underscore the extent to which the trial has
brought out divisions in the United Methodist Church over homosexuality.
The Confessing Movement within the United Methodist Church has expressed
"disappointment and consternation" at the March 13 acquittal of the Rev.
Jimmy Creech, the now- reinstated pastor of First United Methodist
Church in Omaha.
The Confessing Movement was launched at a national meeting in April 1994
"to call the United Methodist Church to theological and doctrinal
integrity . . . (and) to lift up the centrality of Jesus Christ as Son,
Savior and Lord in our preaching and teaching of the Gospel," according
to an early news release from the group.
	In a statement issued March 17, the movement's board of
directors said the Council of Bishops should request a special session
of the church's top legislative body to "address the situation in which
United Methodist pastors are disregarding the official position of the
United Methodist Church."
The Confessing Movement's statement was reinforced by Good News, a
conservative group that describes itself as a "a forum for scriptural
Christianity" in the church.
"In failing to find Creech guilty, our system failed," said the Rev.
James V. Heidinger II, president and publisher of Good News. Creech
disobeyed his bishop and violated both the scripture and United
Methodist Church policy by performing the union, he said in a March 17
statement.
Nebraska Bishop Joel Martinez suspended Creech in November for
performing a covenanting ceremony for two women in his church Sept. 14.
In a March 11-13 church trial in Kearney, Neb., eight of 13 clergy peers
voted Creech guilty of violating the order and discipline of the church,
but nine votes are necessary for conviction. Martinez reinstated Creech
as senior pastor of First Church Omaha's 1,900-member congregation.
	"The jury decision in the trial of Jimmy Creech is a glimmer of
God's grace," said Mark Bowman, executive director of the Reconciling
Congregation Program, in a March 16 statement.
	The outcome of the trial was evidence of God's Spirit "moving
the church toward . . . a fuller understanding of the inclusive and
compassionate Gospel of Jesus Christ," Bowman said.
"However, it is distressing to hear voices of those in the church who
threaten withdrawal or reprisals because others on the margins of the
church are being invited to join them at God's table," he said. "God's
table is bountiful with room enough for all."
As the Creech trial drew to a close on March 13, a group called the
"Proclaiming the Vision Committee" announced that 92 United Methodist
clergy members have stated their intention to perform same-sex unions.
Good News expressed "shock and dismay" at that announcement and labeled
it "an act of public defiance" of the church's authority and the action
of the 1996 General Conference.
The General Conference adopted a statement in its Social Principles
barring the performance of homosexual unions by United Methodist
ministers and in the denomination's churches. The weight of the Social
Principles and whether Creech had performed a homosexual union were
issues in the trial. The jury voted 11-2 that he had performed such a
union. 
"Adding to the crisis," Good News said, were recent statements by the
cabinets of the California/Nevada and Troy, N.Y., conferences supporting
pastors who perform same-sex covenants.
"Good News suggests that a far less divisive action would be for these
92 (clergy) and others who are like-minded to seek another church
fellowship whose views are compatible with their own," the group said.
The Reconciling Congregation Program couched the issue in different
terms.
"The fundamental challenge facing the church is not about same-sex
marriage nor, at its roots, even about same-sex covenants," Bowman said
in his statement. "The real question is whether all persons --
regardless of race, age, sex, economic status, physical/mental ability
or sexual orientation -- are welcome to participate fully in the life
and ministries of the church."
While accepting the verdict, Martinez has referred the Creech case to
the denomination's "Supreme Court," the Judicial Council, for review.
				# # #

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