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As part of her Episcopal address and discussion about loving our neighbors, Bishop Elaine Stanovsky invited Rev. Donna Pritchard to present information from her work on the global Commission on a Way Forward to Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference delegates and guests.
Pritchard, senior pastor at Portland First UMC, sat on the 32-member Commission on a Way Forward appointed by the Council of Bishops for 18 months.
On Wednesday night at Boise First UMC, Pritchard reviewed the work and the many paths forward the commission considered regarding the United Methodist Church and human sexuality.
The 32-members of the Commission represented nine nations from four different continents, and some members of the Commission were active in lobbying for the church to go in one direction or another.
There were many options put forward – everything from continuing with the status quo to being fully inclusive to the idea jurisdictions across the United States would be restructured so that church conferences would be members of a jurisdiction that aligned with their theology on the issue of human sexuality.
Ultimately, though, Pritchard said the Commission settled on the recommendation of the one church model, which, if approved at the special General Conference gathering in 2019, will allow conferences and jurisdictions to decide whether or not to be accepting and inclusive of LGBTQ persons within the denomination.
“It honors the diversity of perspectives (in the church),” Pritchard said, in addition to requiring no constitutional amendments and little disruption to church mission to achieve.
Pritchard said she’s fearful of what’s at stake if the global UMC doesn’t move this direction. Decisions will have to be made over larger UMC mission and ministry such as UMCOR, hospitals and Methodist-supported universities, let alone local church decisions.
“Nobody likes conflict,” she said. “There is much more at stake here than a little bit of discomfort. Our connectionalism stands to be lost.”
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