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United Methodists adopt same-sex marriage ban, budget

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CHARLOTTE, NC – The United Methodist Church’s historic legislative summit in Charlotte is on its final day and a packed agenda awaits the more than 700 delegates.

There are 25 outstanding agenda items, 16 of which require action by the UMC General Conference. Two of these are the last two LGBTQ+ inclusion-related petitions, one of which is a proposal to lift a ban on clergy and churches blessing same-sex marriages. Equally important is the budget approval process, which requires delegates to vote on 20 reports containing specific budget proposals for the denomination’s seven general funds.

United Methodist leaders hoped the two-week event would be a moment of renewal, not just recovery from the fragmentation that saw more than 7,500 U.S. churches leave the UMC after disagreements over theology and church policy — including dealing with LGBTQ+ rights.

Day by day, General Conference is demonstrating what that moment of renewal looks like with decisions to lift anti-LGBTQ+ restrictions and restructure the denomination’s system of regional oversight. To further complicate this picture, the upcoming budget approval process on Friday is expected to deepen major cuts to the denomination’s general institutions and funding for bishops’ salaries.

Follow along for live updates.

Yesterday’s UMC news: UMC live updates: United Methodists scrap 52-year-old statement on homosexuality and Christianity

The budget approval process faces major cuts to seven general funds

There are several components to the United Methodist Church’s budget approval process. Among the most important are the reports for each of the denomination’s seven general funds. The general conference will vote on these reports, among other things, early Friday.

The current proposal to the UMC General Conference is a total budget of $353 million, a 42% decrease from the previously approved budget in 2016 – when the General Conference met for its last regular session.

Within that total, here is a breakdown of the proposed budgets for each of the denomination’s general funds and how they compare to the previous budget:

  • General Administrative Fund, which covers general conference expenses and supports some general UMC agencies: $28.3 million – 26% reduction
  • Episcopal Fund, which covers bishops’ salaries: $82.6 million – 14% cut.
  • World Service Fund, which supports many of the UMC’s general agencies: $158.2 million – a 49% reduction
  • Ministerial Education Fund: $54.7 million – 48% reduction
  • Interdenominational Cooperation Fund: $2.2 million – 72% reduction
  • Black College Fund: $21.8 million – 48% reduction
  • Africa University Fund: $4.8 million – 42% reduction

The drastic cuts are largely due to the exodus of a quarter of the total number of U.S. churches between 2019 and 2023 as part of the denomination’s fragmentation.

More: Here’s what a mass exodus costs the United Methodist Church: Splinter explainer

The definition of marriage and regional differences conflict, especially for Africa

The biggest tension for this UMC General Conference is removing anti-LGBTQ+ restrictions without ignoring geographic differences, especially between the US-based church and United Methodists in other countries where traditional views on sexuality and gender are the norm .

That dilemma over whether the United Methodist Church can still be a “big tent” came to the fore Thursday, as delegates debated and ultimately approved a new version of the UMC Revised Social Principles, which includes a new definition of marriage .

The earlier language stated that marriage is “between a man and a woman.” Now the social principles state: “We affirm marriage as a sacred lifelong covenant uniting two people of faith (adult man and woman of consenting age or two adults of consenting age).”

For traditionalist delegates from African countries, the new definition of marriage was a step too far. A group of five of those deputies organized a protest on Thursday afternoon and denounced the new social principles in a press release.

“Western culture has changed,” said the press release, which included delegates from Liberia, Eastern Congo, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe. “We return to Africa with important decisions about the future.”

Africa, which accounts for the most members in one geographic area in the church’s regional governance system, has been at the center of a feud between those who want more African churches to join the exodus from the UMC, versus leaders from United Methodist who are looking for a solution. compromise to keep the African churches within the denomination. That compromise came in the form of what is called regionalization, a plan to restructure the denomination to give each regional body around the world more independence. A constitutional amendment adopted by this General Conference of the UMC must now be ratified by the regional conferences.

“Regionalization will get the vote for ratification. I am sure of that,” Nigerian pastor Rev. Ande Emmanuel, a general conference delegate and a prominent centrist voice in the UMC, said in an interview Thursday. Before and during this General Conference of the UMC, Emmanuel has become a prominent advocate for regionalization and the new revised social principles.

Proponents of the new social principles say the new language is more ‘applicable’ in different contexts. But Emmanuel also said that many United Methodists across Africa who plan to remain in the UMC are less concerned about high-level policy and more about local church ministry.

“Regionalization and human sexuality, that’s politics,” said Emmanuel. “But if you go back to basics, many people are not concerned about this political debate, and they just want to come to church and worship God.”

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at [email protected] or on social media @liamsadams.

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