(AgapePress) - Conservatives in the United Methodist Church garnered some hard-earned victories at the denomination's quadrennial General Conference held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, over the last two weeks. Nevertheless, there remains a growing divide in the denomination over the issue of human sexuality.

Much to the chagrin of liberal activists in the United Methodist Church, the denomination voted down efforts to amend its Book of Discipline to be more accepting of homosexuality. Instead, the General Conference soundly reaffirmed the church's position that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.

Over the ten days of the conference, the nearly 1,000 United Methodist delegates voted on a series of issues related to homosexuality. Although some resolutions passed by a narrow margin, the delegates still ended up strengthening the church's disapproval of homosexual practice and reaffirming its prohibitions against funding of pro-homosexual advocacy and against performing same-sex unions in churches. The assembly also voted to make the UMC the first mainline denomination to endorse publicly civil laws defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

The General Conference also reasserted the requirement that clergy be celibate if single and monogamous if married, and the denomination's Judicial Council ruled that a bishop cannot appoint a self-avowed practicing homosexual. In light of this ruling, Bible-believing Methodists are hopeful that Bishop Elias Galvan from the Pacific Northwest Conference will not appoint Karen Dammann, a lesbian minister who was recently acquitted of violating of violating Christian teaching.

Hard-Won High Ground
Mark Tooley is director of the group United Methodist Action, a ministry of the Institute on Religion and Democracy that works toward reform and renewal in the Methodist Church. Tooley says conservatives had a tough fight on their hands at the UMC General Conference, as the pro-homosexual activists there were well organized and "put on a very strong effort."

Mark Tooley

The church renewal advocate notes that, even though the pro-homosexual factions were disappointed in some of their goals, they managed to secure a few very significant victories at the General Conference. "They elected some of their people to Judicial Council," he notes, "and they have blocked some of the conservative initiatives."

But Tooley feels the pro-homosexual forces realize that time is not on their side, and that those at the conference recognized the event as their hour -- "their high-water mark" in the fight for homosexual affirmation and equality. He points out that the denomination is changing rapidly, with nearly 20 percent of United Methodists living outside the U.S., mostly in Africa, the church's fastest-growing region.

African delegates to the conference were especially outspoken in arguing for traditional Christian teachings on marriage and sex. According to Tooley, pro-homosexual United Methodists are mindful of the fact that, "as church population continues to shift to the deep south and to the African churches, their strength is going to decrease."

Consequently, the IRD spokesman believes conservatives are gaining more leverage in the church. However, he notes that it is a frustratingly slow process. "We did very well four years ago," he says, "and I think a lot of us were overconfident and thought that we would just easily roll through this General Conference, and that has not been the case," he says. "We're winning, but we're winning very slowly."

Nevertheless, some evangelical groups in the denomination appear to be less optimistic about the UMC's general direction, and are weighing the possibility of splitting from liberals in the church.

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