NORTH CENTRAL OHIO — A significant contingent of area clergy representing nine United Methodist Church (UMC) congregations across the Buckeye Bible Belt believe diversity had a contributing factor in the decision to affirm traditional Biblical values for the special meeting on church sexual ethics held by the UMC General Conference in St. Louis last week.
The UMC is the nation’s second-largest Protestant church and has a single global body of members as opposed to separate national church bodies. As a result, UMC members in Africa add a global identity by making up more than forty-percent of all United Methodists worldwide and impacting the denomination with a stronger conservative voice.
Church delegates approved the more conservative “Traditional Plan” by a vote of 438-384. The Plan maintains the denomination’s stance forbidding: homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals. The plan also promises to enforce existing rules of the Book of Discipline, and encourages those who will not obey church prohibitions to find another church home.
All six clergy contacted by Frontlines Ohio agreed that the Traditional Plan was the best course of action and that the practice of homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching.”
“This is an issue the UMC has been dealing with since 1972 and just now our General Conference has taken decisive action,” says Reverend Layton Broome of Paradise Hill UMC. “The UMC believes that the Bible is GOD’s Word and is the primary authority for our faith and practice. The outcome of this Special Session should not surprise anyone, I am glad we finally addressed it.”
Of mainline denominations, the UMC differs from the more liberal Presbyterian USA, Episcopalian, and United Church of Christ denominations who are seeing their memberships decline.
Reverend Dewayne Smith
“True love acts in accordance with objective standards. A subjective definition of “love” leads only to moral ambiguity, and can never provide a sound basis for ethical evaluation. Jesus himself affirms this interrelationship between love and law: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” It really is all about loving the LORD.”
Reverend Thomas Gruver of Woodlawn UMC in Bucyrus, Ohio explains “I am conservative and my congregation is conservative. We believe that the Bible is infallible and that you cannot manipulate the truth. Fortunately the delegates chose not to rewrite the history of over two hundred years of Methodist teaching pioneered by John and Charles Wesley, and chose to remain consistent with a two-thousand-year-old understanding of Biblical morality.”
According to Reverend John Grimm who pastors two UMC congregations in Plymouth and Shiloh, Ohio, he is glad the vote turned out the way it did. “As Bible-believing Methodists, our Church is not against people-we welcome people and offer them hope. The requirements of the Bible forbid the practice of homosexuality, just like it forbids the practice of lying, stealing or murder. I am not clear why some sins get “a pass” in our culture and others do not. In John Chapter 8, we read that Jesus forgave the adulteress and then told her to “go and sin no more.”
Studies indicate if congregations have little requirements for its members and commitment levels are low, church attendance goes into decline. In other words, if something costs nothing, it really is worth nothing.
Reverend DeWayne Smith of Main Street Methodist in Mansfield, Ohio believes many people don’t want accountability. “It seems that those with political power are trying to change what the Bible says. True love acts in accordance with objective standards. A subjective definition of “love” leads only to moral ambiguity, and can never provide a sound basis for ethical evaluation. Jesus himself affirms this interrelationship between love and law: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” It really is all about loving the LORD.”
One Shelby, Ohio Baptist church marquee alongside the road speaks its approval of the UMC vote.
Reverend Joseph Beran pastors outside Fredericktown, Ohio at both Berlin UMC and Batemantown UMC and says the crux of the matter lies with one question “What is sin? With open arms our congregation has welcomed sex offenders and other persons who face struggles with temptations and addictions; everyone is welcome in our pews,” says Beran. “But I will never officiate a same-sex wedding at my church.”
Regarding the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals, Reverend Broome points out: “The Bible clearly states in James Chapter 3 that ‘not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.’ While as a Pastor I am just like anyone else, I am also under more scrutiny since I am leading a flock.”
According to Reverend Jeffrey Coggins of Adario UMC and Ashland Emanuel UMC, “We prayed and believed as a denomination on Sunday, February 24th that GOD would reveal to the delegates His desire for the future of the UMC, and He did. Sadly there are some at the General Conference Special Session that feel GOD did not answer our corporate prayer because they did not like the way He answered it (Traditional Plan).”
This past January, leading clergymen from 150 congregations throughout north central Ohio declared 2019 as “Year of the Bible;” reaffirming that the Old and New Testaments Scriptures pertain to today and that the Word of GOD will endure forever.” Ten of those local congregations endorsing the joint-statement were United Methodist.
The Bottom Line:
The Bible says in Matthew Nineteen, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
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Excellent report! Thanks be to God for guiding his church away from political correctness; to biblical truth. Thank you FrontLine Ohio for making us aware of this good news.
Rev. El
Thank you for the report ! It is nice to know just where our local clergy stand.
Keep up the good work!