Methodist Church and the way of the world

Posted on July 2, 2021 
Filed under Culture wars, Other denominations

“Following prayerful consideration by the whole Church, the Methodist Conference has voted to confirm provisional resolutions on the principles or qualities of good relating, understanding of cohabitation and same sex marriages conducted on Methodist premises or by Methodist office-holders.

A report on marriage and relationships, ‘God in Love Unites Us’, was received by the Conference in 2019 and the local District Synods were asked to consider the provisional resolutions and report back to this year’s Conference which is being held this week in Birmingham.  The Conference received a report on the results of the local conferring which showed that 29 out of the 30 Synods confirmed support for the provisional resolutions.

The Revd Sonia Hicks, President of the Conference, prayed ahead of the main debate on Wednesday morning in Birmingham, asking that the Conference’s ‘words may be imbibed with your grace, with tenderness from on high.’

A range of views were expressed on the resolutions, in particular on cohabitation and same sex marriages. The Revd Dr Jonathan Hustler, spoke to the Conference acknowledging the ‘depth of feeling, pain and anxiety that there is’ with a commitment to work across the Connexion with District Chairs to heal divisions. …”

– from this news release from the Methodist Conference in the UK.

The discussions can be seen here – scroll down to “Wednesday 30 June 2021 – Session 3 14:15 – 16:15”.