OK, someone help me out here...
From what little I’ve read, it sounds like the UMC (from the churches all the way up to leadership) has had a pretty liberal bent to it.
How bad have things gotten at Glide UMC when the actual church leadership tries to punish them for doing what generally does not seem out of synch with church theology?
Or is this not so much about theology and more an attempt by the national UMC to exercise control (IOW, a control issue) over one of its member churches?
The UMC is, in majority, conservative, including African diocese, which are very conservative. A vocal minority (mostly in the Northeast) has been trying to push it to adopt liberal policies, but has been rebuffed.
So they want to take their property and endowments and leave the main body.
It’s all about the lefties grabbing money and property earned and paid for by others.
Many American UMC churches and district bishops are openly liberal, fag loving, and want to see traditional values and worship subsumed.
However, many congregations (like mine) are extremely conservative.
The real doctrinal power in the UMC currently rests with the large numbers of conservative UMC bishops in Asia and Africa.