Catherine Rusoff
Bishop Karen Oliveto will retire in a few months as a United Methodist bishop.
Oliveto was moved when he said these words out loud. How does the church first openly gay bishopHis path was not always right.
“Every day of my ministry, I have to ask myself: Will this be the day that my ordination will be taken away from me?” Oliveto said.
That is, until this year’s United Methodist General Conference, the church’s global legislative body, voted to overturn all bans on LGBTQ people. The historic changes include a new definition of marriage as a lifelong covenant between “two people of faith,” rather than just between a man and a woman, and a repeal of its ban on LGBTQ clergy.
The General Conference also overturned a 52-year-old position that homosexuality was “incompatible with Christian teaching.”
“Hearing someone say, ‘We need to repent of the harm we’ve caused.’ I didn’t know my body was waiting for this,” said Oliveto.
The changes, which take effect immediately, open new doors for LGBTQ members. A 24-year-old man who wanted to be a JM is working to be ordained a deacon in the United Methodist Church.
“We were here and we fought, and our fight was worth it,” they said. “It shows that progress can and has happened.”
JM said they felt they needed to navigate their identity as part of LGBTQ community and not address it directly until General Conference.
“Queer kids… the church once told them ‘you are loved,’ but then made that love conditional when they started questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Oliveto said. “They’re going to hear, ‘We love you. We want you to be who God created you to be.’ This is huge. Lives will be saved.”
The General Conference overwhelmingly supported ending anti-LGBTQ church laws after more than 7,600 mostly conservative congregations opted to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church until the end of last year. This amounts to about a quarter of the US Methodist churches.
These U.S. congregations were able to leave due to a special 2019 General Conference that approved a plan for congregations who wanted to leave for “reasons of conscience” regarding human sexuality.
There was widespread joy and celebration at the General Conference that ended on Friday, but there are still global members, including those from central conferences in Africa, Europe and the Philippines, who do not support the new changes.
Some African delegates protested following the vote on changing the church’s stance on marriage, according to United Methodist News Service.
The Reverend Jerry Kulah, a delegate from Liberia, told the rally, “We don’t believe we know better than the Bible.”
The General Conference also approved a constitutional amendment known as global regionalizationwhich means that many congregations that disagree with the Church’s new inclusive stance toward LGBTQ people will likely be able to make adjustments that fit their beliefs.
Regional conferences could customize parts of the Book of Discipline, which outlines Church laws, rather than needing to conform to US-dominated judgments. This includes the ordination and marriage of LGBTQ members.
The regionalization change must receive the support of at least two-thirds of the voters at the annual conference, who are part of local government bodies. Voting will likely not be finalized until late next year.
Even with regionalization in play, some congregations may choose to leave the United Methodist Church.
Many congregations that left at the end of 2023 have joined the Global Methodist Churchreleased in May 2022 and contains rules against LGBTQ ordination and marriage.
Keith Boyette, a longtime member of the United Methodist Church who oversees the Global Methodist Church during its transition period, said the Global Methodist Church now has more than 4,500 churches, about 90% of which are in the US. José, Costa Rica, in September.
Boyette doesn’t think regionalization will be helpful to the United Methodist Church.
“I believe that in the long term there will be a decline in the membership of the United Methodist Church because of the decisions it has made,” he said.
But Bishop Karen Malone, president of the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church, is confident that regionalization has the ability to strengthen the church.
“This allows for more contextualized ministry to address specific social and cultural contexts,” she said.
Malone acknowledges that some congregations may still decide to leave following decisions made at General Conference. But she also believes “others will come home,” she said. “That some were waiting and went away for a season.”
As the Church moves forward, Malone said there is a renewed spirit of hope with the stance that all people are fully welcome in the total life of the Church.
As Oliveto reflects on the changes and prepares for life beyond ministry, she said, “I feel like I’m leaving the church better than I found it.”
