The United Methodist Church may split in two over LGBTQ issues. A new proposal co-authored by an Ohio bishop would allow for "traditionalist" Methodist churches, which don鈥檛 believe LGBTQ people should be married or ordained within the church, to into their own denomination.
Bishop Gregory Palmer, head of the Worthington-based , says that at a general conference in May, delegates will consider multiple proposals for how to move forward 鈥渨ith less rancor and animus." Among the suggestions are one he co-authored.
鈥淭hat pathway includes for a continuing United Methodist Church, and it allows a means for local congregations, for annual conferences, for groupings of persons to leave to go to another Methodist or Wesleyan denomination,鈥� Palmer says.
Palmer points out the difference in opinion is far from new.
鈥淭his conversation has been sometimes at a slow boil, sometimes raging since 1972,鈥� he says.
It came to a head t the 2019 United Methodist general conference, where a majority of delegates voted to maintain the status quo that does not allow for same-sex marriage or the ordination of LGBTQ ministers within the church.
Following the conference, several universities in Ohio voted to revaluate their affiliations with the United Methodist Church. Among the schools that suspended or sever ties were , and
Palmer created his plan with 15 other church leaders across the ideological and geographic spectrum. He says bishops don鈥檛 vote, but he expects to remain with the United Methodist Church as it goes forward.
He鈥檚 quick to point out this is far from the first time the Methodist Church has undergone a split.
鈥淲ho we are as the United Methodist Church represents a series of unitings across more than almost the last century,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut some of those unitings, they were reuniting after fracture, over slavery, over participation of laypeople in the life of the church, over the role of bishops.鈥�
Still, it's the first fissure in decades, and Palmer says that carries weight.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not necessarily the way that anybody sits in their congregation or their office, if they鈥檙e a pastor, and dreams, 鈥極h, I hope my church will have one of those.鈥� Of course you don鈥檛. And I don鈥檛," he says. "And I never would have dreamed that that would have been the case."
