CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — United Methodist delegates are heading into the homestretch of their first legislative gathering in five years — one that appears on track to make historic changes in lifting their church’s longstanding bans on same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy.
After a day off on Sunday, delegates to the General Conference of the United Methodist Church resumed their work Monday and will be meeting all this week before wrapping up their 11-day session on Friday
They’ve already begun making historic changes: On Thursday, delegates overwhelmingly endorsed a policy shift that would restructure the worldwide denomination into regional conferences and give the U.S. region, for the first time, the same right as international bodies to modify church rules to fit local situations.
That measure — subject to local ratification votes — is seen as a way the U.S. churches could have LGBTQ ordination and same-sex marriage while the more conservative overseas areas, particularly the large and fast-growing churches of Africa, could maintain those bans.
Shooting injures 2 at Missouri high school graduation ceremony
Wastewater testing reveals alcohol consumption higher in smaller towns
UK economy fell into recession as people cut spending
Government mulls expanding inquiry into Covid
Cruise worker 'murders newborn son on board ship': Shocked co
TikTok users losing access to Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish songs
Free trade deal with India challenging but not impossible
Rebel group in Indonesia's Papua to release kidnapped New Zealand pilot
Cruise worker 'murders newborn son on board ship': Shocked co
China gives monks a list of things they can’t do after the Dalai Lama's death — Radio Free Asia
California congressman urges closer consultation with tribes on offshore wind
North Korea's Kim Jong Un turns 40 ... maybe