wfn.org | California-Pacific United Methodists declare church 'welcoming'

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to all people 

June 22, 1998      Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-28-71B{374}

By Jim Johnson*

More than 1,600 United Methodists attending the 1998 session of the
California-Pacific Annual Conference have pledged to make their local
churches "welcoming" to all people without regard to sexual orientation.

The conference's new directional statement came after several days of
"spiritual discernment" in which delegates tried to understand God's
will regarding homosexuality. The conference, which met June 17-21,
includes 407 churches in Southern California, Hawaii, Saipan and Guam.

The choice of the word "welcoming" represents a new way of identifying
how a conference is approaching the issue of homosexuality. More common
terms adopted by other conferences and individual churches are
"reconciling" (accepting all people into the life of the church) and
"transforming" (reflecting the belief that homosexuality is a sin but
that God can "transform" gays and lesbians).  

The United Methodist Church has struggled with issues related to
homosexuality for more than 20 years. The first public debate on
homosexuality began at the 1972 General Conference, four years after the
Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches merged to form the
denomination.

United Methodists in the California-Pacific conference have debated the
issue of gay and lesbian participation in the life of the local church
for several years. At the 1997 conference session, delegates agreed to a
year-long study of whether the conference would declare itself
"reconciling" or "transforming."

What was different about this year's action was that conservatives and
liberals, gays and lesbians, lay and clergy, young and old stood up to
affirm the direction of the annual conference. People on both sides of
the issue felt they could support the idea of having a "welcoming"
conference or congregation. By not using the labels "reconciling" or
"transforming," they avoided saying they accepted or rejected a
particular sexual orientation.

Using the new approach of discernment, conference members were asked to
commit personally to "affirming all members as Christian in spite of
individual differences, and to consider all members as a part of the
body of Christ while working to determine the will of God."

Delegates discussed the issue both in plenary and small group sessions,
and engaged in personal prayer. Conference Bishop Roy I. Sano then led
them in developing the directional statement.

"In the name of Jesus Christ, we are bold enough to think the Holy
Spirit is leading this annual conference in the following direction,"
the statement began.

Delegates pledged "to make our churches 'welcoming' to all people,
without regard to sexual orientation, in order to be consistent with the
mandate of inclusiveness" in the United Methodist Church's Book of
Discipline.

Conference members also "affirmed the intention to include every local
church in constructive dialogue on the Christian response to the issue
of homosexuality."

"We will create levels of creative dialogue that will continue the rich
experience we have all had together in these past days," delegates said.

Conference delegates -- half clergy and half lay members -- agreed to
commit the necessary resources to fulfill the covenant. The bishop will
appoint a response task force to continue the dialogue with local church
leaders in the next year.

The document was approved after Sano outlined four levels of support.
The first included those who would fully support the document. The
second included those who would support it but with reservations. The
third included those who did not support the document, but would allow
it to be the will of the conference and not work against it. The final
category included those who, as a matter of conscience, could not
support the document at all. 

Only a handful were in the fourth category when the bishop asked for a
standing count of those at each level. Most delegates put themselves in
the first two categories. 

"Some issues simply cannot be resolved by Roberts' Rules of Order," Sano
said. "Some issues must be allowed to penetrate deep within our hearts
and minds and make room for the Holy Spirit to challenge old world views
and create within us new opportunities for learning and loving."

# # #

*Johnson is the director of public information for the
California-Pacific Annual Conference.