Feelings of uncertainty, deep division and sadness filled the sanctuary of Goodrich Chapel in Albion on Saturday, but one thing everyone could agree on was that those in the room were family.
"It's time for us to quit hurting each other," said Carol Freeland of Hudson First United Methodist Church in Hudson, Michigan.
Like many families, the United Methodist Church is caught in a culture war, and the fight has been ugly at times.
After decades of polarizing debate over the role of LGBTQ people in the church, many in the denomination feel like there's no way to heal the division.
"We can't live in limbo anymore," said Andrea Johnson, minister of Convis Union United Methodist Church in Battle Creek. "It's a struggle because there's a relationship...You're going to lose people along the way, but we are breaking ground."
More than 1,000 delegates from across Michigan's United Methodist denomination gathered in Goodrich Chapel on the campus of Albion College on Saturday to vote on whether the United Methodist Church should consider a plan that would split the denomination at its global general conference in May.
The plan passed by an overwhelming majority, with 91% of the conference voting yes.
"I wish I didn't have to vote either way," said Zelphia Mobley, the minister of Old MIssion Pennisula United Methodist Church in Traverse City, who said she wished that the denomination could find another way forward.
The conference was one of three being held worldwide to consider the plan, known as the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation and Restructuring.
"We've come to a place, and it's a place that brings some sadness to me, that we realized we really can't move forward as a single denomination," said Bishop David Bard, who oversees United Methodist churches in the Michigan region.
Despite the sadness, Bard and many other Methodists hope the church will be able to demonstrate a way to overcome divisiveness with kindness and understanding.
"One of the ways that the church can best witness that there's something that we have that's needed by the wider culture is to find better ways to have really difficult conversations," Bard said.
The plan to separate, which was announced in January, would create at least one new traditionalist Methodist denomination that would continue the church's current bans on the ordination of LGBTQ clergy and on same-sex marriage. Churches that do not leave the denomination, which would likely include many Methodist churches in the United States, would adopt a more open stance on LGBTQ issues.
The United Methodist Church is the second-largest Protestant denomination in the country and roughly half of the church's nearly 13 million global members reside in the United States.
In order to be considered at the denomination's international general conference in May, the plan must be passed by an annual conference, a yearly meeting of the churches in one of the denomination's regions.
"The entire world will be watching in the Methodist Church to see what happens in Michigan," said Mark Doyal, director of communications for the Michigan Conference for the United Methodist Church. "It will be a significant moment in the denomination for it to go to this global conference."
Two other conferences have voted on the plan, one in the Philippines and one in Sierra Leone. The meeting in Albion is the only one occurring in the United States.
"I think that the reason why this meeting in Michigan is significant is because it will be some insight into how the United States conferences view the protocol," Doyal said.
Bard was asked to call an annual conference in mid-January by a member of the negotiating team that developed the plan for separation.
"I think Michigan is seen as a conference that is functioning well, and so I was really pleased that we would be able to do this," Bard said.
Other conference areas were also asked to call a meeting, Bard said, but ultimately, Michigan was the only conference that was able to organize.
"I think perhaps it says something about the quality of our leadership," he said. "We've worked hard to find common ground on a number of things, and there are people who would have very different viewpoints who supported the idea of this special session."
Bard's reputation within the denomination as someone who has navigated the sometimes emotional and turbulent conflict in a balanced way was also likely a factor in Michigan's selection.
"I think they looked at Michigan as being a place where the protocol legislation would be given a fair and balanced opportunity to proceed," Doyle said.
Under the protocol, the new traditionalist Methodist denomination would get $25 million once it has been formed and incorporated. Churches would be able to join the new denomination while retaining their assets and liabilities. All current clergy and lay employees of the denomination would keep their pension plans, regardless of whether they are affiliated with the traditionalist or progressive denomination.
A separation has been brewing for awhile, but the conflict came to a head after a contentious general conference in St. Louis in February 2019. At that meeting, 53% of church leaders and lay members in attendance voted to tighten the restrictions on LGBTQ members and reaffirmed the church's stance that "the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching."
Following the conference, many United Methodist conferences in the United States passed statements saying they would not support the church's position.
Richard Youells, a retired minister from Grand Rapids, said he wasn't surprised by the result but had mixed emotions.
"This isn't anything new, but it's sad," he said.
At the 2019 Michigan Annual Conference in June, delegates approved an aspirational statement "to live into an expression of Methodism that includes LGBTQIA people into full life and membership."
The United Methodist Church is just the latest denomination to confront the role of LGBTQ members and clergy. Similar debates have unfolded in the Presbyterian and Episcopal churches, and similar debates have raged among young evangelicals and Catholics.
While the division in the Methodist church centers on the role of LGBTQ people, the heart of the conflict goes deeper, Doyal said, and reflects the polarization seen in the wider culture.
"What's happening in the Methodist Church is basically what's happening in the United States, where people have gotten more to the ends rather than the center," Doyal said. "As our country has become more polarized, that same piece of that has been reflected in how we interact within our church."
The issues at the heart of the Methodist divide aren't purely about politics, Bard said, but the political atmosphere and the way people have conversations online and in the wider culture has influenced the church.
"We seem to get from conversation to heated debate to angry rhetoric fairly quickly," Bard said. "That kind of polarizing that's in the country affects all kinds of conversations, I think. And I think it's unfortunate, but I do think it has affected how we're able to have this conversation in the church."
The hope is that this moment in the Methodist church will show a way forward for the church and ultimately the country, Bard said, by finding a way to disagree with kindness and grace.
"I think if we're able to do that, that will, in a way, be a witness to the wider society that more kindness is possible. That we can find ways to disagree that are more agreeable," he said. "That, to me, would be powerful."
Contact Elena Durnbaugh at (269) 243-5938 or edurnbaugh@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ElenaDurnbaugh.
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