One day before the annual general conference of the United Methodist Church in Portland, Oregon, a controversy has struck the organization. A group calling itself Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) that supports LGBT advocacy released a letter that identifies 111 members of the clergy as both clergy and LGBT. The letter is an open confrontation of the church over its policy of barring people who are openly gay from the clergy.
The letter states in part:
“ As we gather in Portland to begin the 10 day discernment of God’s leading for The United Methodist Church known as General Conference, we, your Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Questioning, and Intersex (LGBTQI) religious leaders — local pastors, deacons, elders, and candidates for ministry — want to remind you of our covenant with you. While we have sought to remain faithful to our call and covenant, you have not always remained faithful to us. While you have welcomed us as pastors, youth leaders, district superintendents, bishops, professors, missionaries and other forms of religious service, you have required that we not bring our full selves to ministry, that we hide from view our sexual orientations and gender identities. As long as we did this, you gladly affirmed our gifts and graces and used us to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world in the varied places you sent us.”
The letter caused a firestorm of controversy and the website for the group crashed when it was first released. The UMC is a global church that claims at least 12 million members worldwide. Those clergy that signed the letter may face repercussions from the church hierarchy over their opposition to established church doctrine as laid out in the UMC’s Book of Discipline. This furthers the debate over whether gay or lesbian preachers should head a church congregation. Many religious organizations have prohibitions against homosexuality; however, some feel that this is an exclusionary policy in today’s modern church. There are some denominations such as the Unitarian Church that allow openly gay clergy; however, many people want to change the doctrine of the faith in which they were raised.
