Read more below about how St. Paul's and the United Methodist Church have responded to issues regarding human sexuality and governing church rules.
FINDING A WAY FORWARD
Welcoming Statement
As part of our Reconciling journey, lay leaders from across our congregation, with community input and Church Council oversight, collaborated to create a "Welcoming Statement," which was adopted through a Special Church Conference vote in 2020. This statement is meant to be reflective of our community values. While the wording is entirely our own, a welcoming statement for churches who are members of the Reconciling Ministries Network must also demonstrate an explicit and intentional welcome to members of the LGBTQIA+ community and other historically marginalized groups. This statement does not replace any other mission statement, but serves as a new way to express long-standing values of welcoming all who seek God's grace.
Welcoming Statement
“We, the community of St. Paul's United Methodist Church, Kensington, welcome you in love. Jesus Christ accepts all, excluding none.
So we welcome and affirm you who are gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer. We welcome you without regard to your sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, culture, race, ethnicity, ability, education, or age. We welcome you no matter your immigration, marital, or economic status.
Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, we welcome and affirm you as one of God’s children into our community of God’s unbounded love. All are celebrated here and all are safe."
More about...
the Reconciling Ministries Network
Members of St. Paul's voted to become a Reconciling Congregation and part of the Reconciling Ministries Network. The following information is also covered in the handout from 2019 "Reconciling Process FAQ's"
What is Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN)?
The Reconciling Ministries Network is a network of over 40,000 United Methodists and over 1,000 churches and communities seeking the inclusion of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in both the policy and practices of The United Methodist Church.
Who can join the RMN?
Any individual, small group, or whole congregation can join RMN. A number of individuals and small groups from our congregation, including St. Paul's Youth, joined before the entire church voted to do so.
Can we be part of the RMN and still be part of The United Methodist Church?
Yes! Joining the Reconciling Ministries Network does NOT affect our status as part of The United Methodist Church. Congregations of The United Methodist Church that are also members of RMN must still abide by the UMC's Book of Discipline, but are committed to "change from the inside."
Will the RMN dictate the type of worship or other programming we can offer?
No. As a member of RMN, St. Paul’s UMC would retain complete authority over our worship, programming, logos, and all other aspects of our shared life and community.
What is the process for joining RMN?
Churches undergo a discernment process prior to a vote that includes Bible study, sermon series, small group discussion, and prayer. Churches must craft a welcoming statement that intentionally welcomes those of the LGBTQ+ community and other historically marginalized groups. To join, RMN congregations must then hold a church vote resulting in at least 75 percent casting their vote in favor of membership.
Do we pay a fee to be part of the RMN?
No fees or dues are required. Congregations are encouraged to make an annual contribution to support the work of the RMN.
Supporting the
Love Your Neighbor Coalition
In March 2024, St. Paul's SAM leadership body voted to donate $500 to the Love Your Neighbor Coalition.
The Love Your Neighbor Coalition (LYNC) is a consortium of fifteen justice-related organizations encompassing LGBTQ inclusion, racial justice, environmental justice and more. Grounded in values of Wesleyan theology: grace, dignity, relationships, justice, and solidarity You can learn more about LYNC and its coalition members at https://www.lyncoalition.org/about.
LYNC is currently seeking funds for their work at General Conference in May 2024 in Charlotte NC. At the General Conference they will be working to provide connection for international delegates, provide a witness for justice-related legislative items, and support inclusion and organizational changes to the church that reduce colonialism and racism. LYNC has worked for years to build bridges with international delegates to the conference and will do that again this year with special events and extra translation services. Meeting space, communication tools, translation, and events are all part of the budget.
If you would also like to contribute to this organization, you can donate to St. Paul's and put "LYNC" in the memo line.
REport on DIsaffiliating Churches
The Lewis Center for Church Leadership has issued a new report on UMC congregations choosing to leave the United Methodist Church through disaffiliation. Click the link below to access the full article:
Excerpts from the Report:
Approximately 2,000 churches disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church through the end of 2022 following the passage of special disaffiliation legislation in 2019.... The 2019 legislation made it possible for a church to disaffiliate and keep its property after fulfilling certain financial obligations. This report seeks to examine in what ways the departing churches are similar to or different from the profile of United Methodist churches as a whole.
There are more similarities than differences in comparing the cohort of disaffiliating churches with the total pool of all United Methodist churches. However, there are differences as well. The areas in which disaffiliating churches appear to vary most prominently from United Methodist churches as a whole include:
- Disaffiliating churches are less likely to have an active elder as pastor.
- Disaffiliating churches are more likely to have a male pastor.
- Disaffiliating churches overwhelmingly have a majority white membership.
- Disaffiliating churches are overwhelmingly in the South.
- Disaffiliating churches are in less heavily populated counties.
The Lewis Center for Church Leadership was formed within Wesley Theological Seminary in 2003 to promote the effective and faithful practice of Christian leadership in the church and the world. Over the past 17 years, the Center has become a trusted resource for church leadership ideas, research, resources, and training so that congregations and denominations thrive, serve, and grow. Read more at www.churchleadership.com/
Reconciling Congregation Vote
In 2019, we launched a journey of exploring whether to be identified and live into the understanding of a reconciling congregation. We reached the decision-making moment after an 11-month-long discernment process and the preparation of a congregational Welcoming Statement.
The Special Church Conference was held Sunday, Oct. 18 at 3:00 p.m. There were two votes on two questions:
1. Whether to adopt the Welcoming Statement for use by St. Paul's.
2. Whether to join the Reconciling Ministries Network.
More information about these two topics can be found in the sections immediately above.
Our District Superintendent Rev. Green deputized Rev. Dr. Pat Allen to oversee the proceedings. Rev. Kate Mackereth Fulton managed the Zoom seminar, with Bill Butz and Travis Stalcup giving a brief presentation and answering questions. The voting was carried out by secure online form or by phoning the church office. As Membership Secretary & Administrator, Erin Steele tabulated the responses and confirmed voters' church membership status. Both votes showed a decisive percentage voting in favor. The detailed breakdown is:
Adopting the Welcoming Statement
Yes: 94
No: 2
Total: 96
(98% voting in favor)
Becoming part of the Reconciling Ministries Network
Yes: 88
No: 6
Total: 94
(94% voting in favor)
If you have questions, the FAQs in the section below may be helpful. For more information, you can contact Rev. Kate Mackereth Fulton (kfulton@stpaulsk.org, 301-933-7933 ext. 103).
St. Paul's journey
Summary & FAQs
At the global General Conference of The United Methodist Church, which ended May 3, 2024 in Charlotte, NC, the governing body made of delegates from around the world approved four changes to church law intended to remove the last remnants of restrictions aimed specifically at LGBTQ people.
As the UM News Service reported:
"United Methodist pastors no longer face potential penalties for officiating at same-sex weddings or being in a same-sex relationship themselves. During the afternoon session of General Conference’s final day, delegates approved four changes to church law that together end remaining bans related to homosexuality and protect the rights of pastors to choose which weddings to perform or not to perform. With the day’s actions, the delegates removed decades of additions to the Book of Discipline, the denomination’s policy book, creating restrictions aimed specifically at LGBTQ people.
Previously, General Conference removed a longtime ban on “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy, eliminated a half-century-old statement against homosexuality and opened the door to accepting marriage between two consenting adults as well as a man and a woman.
By a vote of 447 to 233, delegates struck down a ban, added by the 1996 General Conference, that prohibited clergy from officiating and churches from hosting “homosexual unions.” In other actions, by a vote of 544 to 121, delegates approved a change to the requirements that clergy practice “celibacy” in singleness — an addition made in 1984."
https://www.umnews.org/en/news/united-methodists-remove-same-sex-wedding-ban
This is a turn-around from the UMC's highly contentious conference in the spring of 2019, where delegates voted 438 to 384 to adopt a "Traditional" plan regarding church policies on homosexuality. Since 1972, the Book of Discipline had stated "self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve" in the church (¶304.3) and clergy are prohibited from conducting same gender weddings (¶2702.b). As of 2019, new legislation added mandatory automatic penalties for UM clergy who would defy the Book of Discipline and created a process (now contested) for congregations wishing to leave The United Methodist Church. In its review, the global church's Judicial Council ruled in April 2019 that the new rules may stand, and went into effect January 2020.
Following the 2019 conference, St. Paul's lay leaders and clergy formed leadership teams to help St. Paul's navigate a time of transition. They explored the process and laid out the steps for becoming part of the Reconciling Ministries Network of UM churches that affirm LGBTQ+ persons, communicated with other local UM churches to see how they are addressing the issues posed by the Traditional Plan, and monitored regional and national developments as other possible organizational frameworks, legal challenges, and alternative plans arise. We launched year-long time of discernment, including a panel, a 6-unit study session, a retreat, and Small Processing Groups for Discernment. On October 18, 2019, at the special church conference on October 18, members of St. Paul's voted to adopt a Welcoming Statement (98% in favor) and to join the Reconciling Ministries Network (94% in favor).
As of 2024, we remain proud supporters of equality and the work of the Reconciling Ministries Network, charting a new way forward for a more just and equal church.
Previous Events:
Reconciling Ministries Network Info Session
and SAmoan Circle Panel
The Reconciling Team from St. Paul's held an information session in the Fellowship Hall on September 22, 2019 to describe what the Reconciling Ministries Network is, what is involved in becoming a member church within the network, and why the Reconciling Team recommends this as a step on St. Paul's Way Forward.
A Samoan Circle, a panel where people with different perspectives can share their views on controversial topics, was held on September 29, 2019.
A Special Church Conference convened on Sunday, October 13, 2019 to hold a vote on whether or not to begin the process that leads congregations towards joining the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN). District Superintendent Rev. Gerry Green presided and all full members in attendance voted by ballot.
The vote was 205 to 22 in favor of formally exploring possible membership in the Reconciling network.
Please scroll down to the "Summary & FAQs" section to find a summary of our steps on our Way Forward and for the *pdf file with "Reconciling FAQs," clarifying many of the questions that came up in these sessions. If you have additional questions, please contact Rev. Kate Mackereth Fulton.
More About...
The Price tag of Disaffiliation
Excerpts from "Exiting Congregations Face Hefty Price Tag
"
by Heather Hahn, UM News Service
June 13, 2019
Photo at right: Rev. Derek McAleer, South Georgia Conference Treasurer
For the full article, click here.
For the first time in its history, the UMC denomination has set procedures for U.S. congregations to withdraw from the denomination and take their buildings with them. Before a departure, those congregations could be on the hook for more than a million dollars. Annual conferences — church regional bodies — have the final word on what their churches owe. As U.S. annual conferences meet this year, some already are reckoning with how to calculate those costs.
For an exiting church, the biggest cost will likely come from what their conference determines is a fair share of unfunded clergy pension liability — that is, what conferences will owe retirees. A church’s pension contribution not only supports the church’s current pastor but those who previously served the congregation. Conferences are pension plan sponsors and legally responsible for paying benefits.
Exiting churches also must pay for transferring the building title or other legal work. They additionally must pay two years of apportionments — the amount conferences apportion to their churches to support regional, national and international ministries. Still, pensions are where the dollars can add up. Generally speaking, the larger a church and more pastors on staff, the larger its pension obligations are likely to be.
The South Georgia Conference acknowledged this challenge at its June 2-5 meeting when its members approved its own pension and disaffiliation policies meant to augment what General Conference passed. The Rev. Derek McAleer, the conference’s treasurer and benefits officer, told those gathered that the conference has to make sure it can pay the promises it has already made. “The amount of money is so huge that everybody has to stop and take a deep breath,” he said. “We’re talking about 586 churches and $30 million bucks. There is no way to divide $30 million into 586 and get a small number.”
WHat happened at the
UMC General Conference 2019?
The Special General Conference of the global United Methodist Church met February 23-26, 2019 in St. Louis, Missouri to review language about human sexuality and issues of LGBTQ+ inclusion in our governing Book of Discipline.
1) The Traditional Plan, as amended, was adopted by a vote of 438 to 384. This language affirms existing church policies on homosexuality and strengthens enforcement. As it stands right now – and as it has been officially in the UMC since 1972 – 'self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve' in the church (2016 Book of Discipline, ¶304.3). In addition, the church prohibits its clergy from conducting same gender weddings (¶2702.b). (http://www.bwcumc.org/news-and-views/umc-seeks-a-way-forward/) Delegates further referred the Traditional Plan to the Judicial Council for determination if it is constitutional. The Judicial Council addressed the request at its next scheduled meeting April 23-25 in Evanston, Illinois, and found the majority of the new language to be legally sound and enforceable.
2) The One Church Plan, which was endorsed by the Council of Bishops, including Baltimore-Washington Conference Bishop LaTrelle Easterling, was not adopted at the Special General Conference. The One Church Plan would have removed restrictive language limiting LGBTQ+ participation, while also protecting those who disagree by not requiring any annual conference, bishop, congregation, or pastor to act contrary to their convictions.
3) On Saturday, March 2, 2019, Bishop LaTrelle Easterling led the people of the Baltimore-Washington Conference in a time of information sharing through a live-streamed video feed, viewable at numerous church locations throughout the conference and online platforms. Leaders from St. Paul's met at Hughes UMC (Georgia Avenue, Wheaton) to watch and listen.
4) On February 27, 2019, the pastors of St. Paul's released a letter recognizing the challenges and questions that the General Conference rules pose for members and friends of St. Paul's. A copy of the letter is available to download in *pdf format.
As the church works to understand what this means for St. Paul's and tries to articulate how this Conference decision will affect our church family, our bishop has invited us to reflect on the words the Apostle Paul wrote: "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." ~Romans 8:38-39
A Way Forward At St. Paul's
Getting ready for what The United Methodist Church decides about human sexuality and church policy.
On Saturday, May 19, 2018, St. Paul's held the Way Forward at St. Paul's Workshop. The free workshop included 75 people, from youth age eleven to adults in their nineties.
Through breakout groups, activities, and discussions, this group attempted to ask and answer questions about essential beliefs and values of the people of St. Paul's. Our objective: To explore how our St. Paul’s congregation might respond to and address the United Methodist Church’s eventual decisions, not then known, regarding policies addressing sexual orientation and homosexuality.
Our gathering was guided by three main questions:
- As Christians and United Methodists, what do different people at St. Paul's believe? Among these varying beliefs, which ones would all of us at St. Paul's agree on? In other words, what makes up the shared bedrock of our faith? This question was further divided into sections focused on what people believe about God's relationship to us, the Bible, worship, how people relate to each other, and how we address differences.
- What, concerning human sexuality and our church, might members of St. Paul's disagree on?
- Of the different ways decisions are made at St. Paul's, what might be a good way to proceed when choices related to human sexuality arise?
The goal was not to focus on debating individuals' personal opinions, but rather to fathom and report on the diversity of beliefs and thoughts that might be found across the congregation.
A longer summary of the workshop and details about our discussions are available as *pdf files for download here:
"A Way Forward: The Collective Wisdom of 75"
Attachment 1: Questions and Exercises
Attachment 3: Workshop Evaluation & Feedback
The Way Forward Workshop was organized for the St. Paul's UMC community by Bill Butz and Emily Sama-Miller. We give special thanks for these Breakout Group facilitators: Meg Baker, Alison Clark, Jay Codner, Rich Higgins, Steve Lillie, Martha Lipscomb, Phil Rush, Ray Ruskin, Susan Schwarz, Micah Smartt, and Travis Stalcup.