The United Methodist Church reversed its ban on gay clergy. Will it matter?

The decision is long overdue, but the damage may already be done.

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In what may sound like a major shift in the right direction, the United Methodist Church on Wednesday officially got rid of its ban on gay clergy. They also voted during their General Conference to ban any punishments for clergy who perform same-sex ceremonies. There was no debate and it wasn’t even a close vote; those measures were among several items lumped together in a package, and the vote to approve that package was 692-51.

General Conference delegates celebrate the gay clergy vote (screenshot via YouTube)

Sounds great. Except it’s too little, too late.

For years now, the UMC, the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States with more than 12 million members worldwide, has faced an internal schism over the question of whether or not to embrace bigotry. (That’s a good thing! Some relationships need to end in divorce.)

The big argument at the center of the relationship was about whether individual UMC churches should be allowed to ordain gay members—specifically those who are in same-sex relationships, and who have sex, and who aren’t ashamed of it—as ministers and perform same-sex marriage ceremonies. While the majority of UMC churches in the United States supported that kind of a la carte option, many in other parts of the world actively opposed that idea.

In 2019, 53% of UMC delegates voted for a plan that basically rejected LGBTQ inclusion for everyone formally affiliated with the church. (Church leaders had until the end of 2023 to make a decision about whether or not they wanted to stay under the UMC umbrella.)

That meant pro-inclusion churches were going to have to make a decision: Accept the new rules and say goodbye to LGBTQ leaders in relationships and those who wanted to perform same-sex unions—along with all those younger people who would never voluntarily join such a bigoted denomination—or make a break and try to run a church with no support from a larger body.

At the same time, after a number of relatively liberal churches said they wouldn’t enforce those rules—damn the consequences—a bunch of conservative churches vowed to leave if the UMC didn’t enforce their ban.

So progressive UMC churches were openly defying the denomination’s own rules, and conservative UMC churches demanded the denomination enforce those rules… or else.

Leaving the UMC wasn’t that easy, though. It came with a massive financial hit: Churches that wanted to disaffiliate had to “pay two years' worth of church dues and fund their pension obligations.” And that wasn’t even considering the churches that relied on financial help from the UMC.

The penalty didn’t stop the exodus.

For example, last November, the UMC’s North Georgia Conference—a coalition of about 700 churches—agreed to part ways with 261 churches that no longer wanted to stay within the fold. As the Guardian put it at the time, this was “interpreted as conservative congregations choosing to leave rather than debate or accept the views of more moderate factions within the church.” Those churches wouldn’t be allowed to use “United Methodist” in their names, couldn’t use the UMC’s logo, couldn’t sue the conference, and had to fulfill those financial obligations, but they were no longer forced to be in the same camp as UMC churches that were becoming more accepting of gay clergy. (It helped that the UMC said that churches leaving for “reasons of conscience” could keep their property and assets.)

Separately, 193 churches in the UMC South Georgia Conference left the denomination in early 2023, leaving only 274 churches in that conference. That was followed by the departure of 59 congregations in the United Methodist Church in Iowa… which came after another 83 left the same conference.

Those churches seemed confident that the short-term financial losses and rebranding wouldn’t hurt them much in the long-term.

In fact, of the roughly 30,000 UMC churches across the country that existed in 2019, 7,658 of them—roughly 25% of the UMC—have chosen to walk away since then, likely because of this controversy.

That meant one of the largest Christian groups in the country was shrinking—and, therefore, less powerful—all because they were divided on whether gay clergy members and same-sex relationships deserved acceptance.

And now, this week, the UMC has reversed its decision from 2019—a move that many of those conservative churches saw coming a mile away, which is why they left a while ago. (In fact, the reason the vote was so lopsided was because most of the bigots have already left.)

So the ban on gay clergy? Gone.

The ban on performing same-sex weddings? Gone.

The ban on funding causes that “promote acceptance of homosexuality” (like LGBTQ-accepting ministries)? Gone.

However…

It’s possible this doesn’t change a damn thing. After all, progressive churches were already defying the old rules… and conservatives were leaving because the UMC wasn’t enforcing its rules. Now that the rules have officially changed, what difference will it make? Many of those conservative churches have already joined the more openly anti-LGBTQ “Global Methodist Church,” and UMC churches elsewhere in the world will be allowed to impose their own rules in their own regions.

There’s no reason to believe those conservative churches are going to come back anytime soon. And the UMC will still allow clergy members to refuse to perform same-sex ceremonies, which means bigotry is still very much permitted, if not endorsed, with the denomination’s blessing… which means some progressive churches may decide to leave too.

There’s also no reason to think young people will suddenly flock to UMC churches because it’s finally doing the right thing, kind of, more than a decade too late.

The UMC made a necessary change long after it would be relevant. The exodus of churches will continue, albeit at a slower pace, but it sure as hell won’t be growing.

If anything, the remaining conservative churches will leave the UMC because of this week’s vote:

[Rob Renfroe, the president of Good News, a traditionalist caucus within the United Methodist Church,] is attending the meeting in Charlotte but says that given the outcome, he will leave the denomination within the next month. He cautioned that many denominations that have moved in the direction that Methodists have taken this week have seen their numbers dramatically decline.

“As the church becomes more and more liberal, and if a social agenda becomes its driving force, that’s not going to grow the church,” he said.

In his mind, nothing grows the church like outright bigotry, apparently…

He’s half-right, though. This move will not grow the church, but not because it’s becoming “more and more liberal.” It’s because the UMC has come to its senses way too late. If a key argument for religion is that it gives you a sense of morals, the treatment of gay people within the UMC is proof that everyone else found their moral footing while the UMC was held back by its own faith-based bigotry.

The people who couldn’t tell right from wrong on the simplest moral issue of our time have no business asking people to attend their churches in order to learn right from wrong.

There’s also no good reason for a lot of these more progressive UMC churches to stay in the fold either. While the branding may help retain members drawn to the “Methodist” label, you have to think that younger and more liberal members will conclude that organized Christianity isn’t for them and that the world is better off without religion getting in the way. Plus, why would you want to join a church that spent the past several years defending an organization that didn’t officially believe in the humanity of gay people?

That doesn’t mean this week’s moves are entirely useless.

There’s a famous saying that goes, “The best time to plant a tree is fifty years ago. The second-best time is now.” Citing that proverb, one Redditor noted the UMC is proof that people can change. If a denomination of that size can accept gay clergy, there’s hope for bigots everywhere. Maybe the Southern Baptists and Catholic Church can come to their senses too… eventually. (They won’t, but we can dream)

It’s also hugely significant for the LGBTQ members of the UMC who have fought for this day for a long time. Their joy shouldn’t be overlooked. When progressive activists win a battle, it’s important to acknowledge it, even if it feels like the equivalent of a Republican politician doing the bare minimum. Movement in the right direction is a good thing, even when you’re on the wrong end of the spectrum.

There’s also a benefit to a major denomination imploding the way the UMC has. A smaller group of banded churches simply doesn’t have the political power of a larger group. There’s a reason white evangelical churches, while not under a similar umbrella, can practically own an entire political party. It’s not that this controversy killed off UMC churches; rather, it pressured many individual churches to forge their own path forward, which means they’ve lost the power of their numbers.

In that sense, this vote is a welcome one. It’s long overdue. But it’s not going to fix the existing problems in the UMC. The best they can hope for is that the vote stops the bleeding for a little while.

The current membership of the UMC stands at 5.4 million as of 2022. The question now is how much lower it’ll get in a couple of years.

(Portions of this article were published earlier)

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