I have ministered in this denomination for decades now and this sickens me. The issues read like the democratic party platform.
I hope they again turn down the homosexualist agenda, but I really feel called away from the denomination.
It simply doesn’t feel like ‘home’.
To paraphrase Hebrewws, I suppose I seek a better city whose builder and maker is God.
It begins tomorrow and lasts until the 20th.
It’s not hard to figure out why this denomination is so difficult to get a decision out of. They meet only once every 4 years and then for only 10 days.
They’ve barely figured out where the transgendered bathrooms are in only 10 days.
I attended FL Annual Conference as a Lay Delegate for the last time in 2014. During a floor debate, my pastor turned to me and said, “do you feel the work of the Holy Spirit in this place?”
I looked at him, because I had just been thinking that, and said “No.”
He said, “me either. I wish I wasn’t United Methodist anymore.”
I left the church 2 weeks later.
It is terribly sad but this is what is happening in many denominations right now. It’s as if God’s Word doesn’t take precedence any longer. Do they really thing God has changed His mind?
“Homosexual inclusion” will eventually be approved. The homo lobby keeps pushing it year after year. Even if it gets voted down, they keep pushing until the opposition is eroded.
Even if the leftist positions are voted down, the fact that they are even on the table for “discussion” indicates very deep rot in the UMC body, probably incurable.
I think LCMS has a form of requalification for pastors who want to embrace LCMS. Here is the Concordia Seminary site.
Follow that encouragement from Hebrews. There is no “fellowship” around error. For any church to equivocate on a no-brainer such as “a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” is inexcusable. Disqualifying.
God loves and cares for the freaks, vagabonds and sexual misfits but NEVER condones their sin. Look at all the wolves in their WE’RE NICER THAN GOD sheep’s clothing, patting the lost on the back and driving them further into error just so they can get a self-righteous high.
My MIL was a multi descendent Methodist, and her ancestors helped to build and establish the Methodist Church in her midwest home town.
After a lifetime of church attendance and generous donations of time, treasure and talent, She moved to live to a retirement home, and she never had a Methodist Minister visit her at her retirement home for over 12 years.
She still attended her church on a regular basis. Any concern/pastoral actions stopped at the church doors when she left a service to go back to her retirement home.
Then, a series of non caring and non believing pastors including homosexuals drove her away from her church. Their so called sermons were PC speeches not sermons. These non believing/caring pastors drove away many life long members, like her.
So, she stopped going to the church of her ancestors, and the church where she raised her children, who were married in that church.
She changed her will re her funeral requests. Instead of using the Methodist Church, she requested her funeral be held in at funeral home a few miles away. She requested that a local Baptist preacher deliver her eulogy. There was standing room only at at the large chapel at the funeral home.
Later, at the church reception hall, her post funeral reception could not hold everyone, and the crowd flowed over in to the patio/garden area. One of her DIL’s said that was the last big function in the church. At her request, the pastor at that time was told not to bother coming to the funeral and reception.
The church closed about a year later as attendance got so low, they could not afford to keep it open.