Methodist Church Split On LGBTQ Inclusion

For more than a decade, the debate over whether or not to include LGBT clergy and same sex marriage has divided the United Methodist Church.

Early last year, after a contentious meeting, a 53 percent majority of church delegates made the decision to uphold restrictions and maintain traditional church rules about same-sex marriage. 

Now, a group of leaders of the United Methodist Church announced a proposal that would formally split the church if approved. Citing “fundamental differences” over same-sex marriage, the plan, announced last week, would divide the denonimation in two. The traditionalist Methodist denomination that would continue to ban same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBT clergy. 

For more on what this proposal might mean for the United Methodist community as a whole, we were joined by Reverend Chris Winkler, the senior pastor at Barrington Church in the Chicago suburbs,  and Sara Isbell,  a delegate at the General Conference back in February and preacher at Wesley United Methodist, the largest Methodist Church in Bloomington. We were also joined by Lallene Rector, the President of the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston.