Prayerful and hopeful for LGBT+ Christians at Methodist Conference - A Pride Month reflection by Mark Rowland
NOWT AS QUEER AS METHODISTS: Revd Mark Rowland (centre) from Methodist LGBT+ advocacy charity Dignity & Worth in a counter-demonstration against fundamentalist Christian protestors at London Pride in 2018.
The Methodist Conference, the governing body of the Methodist Church, meets every year in June to discuss matters affecting the life of the Church, the nation and the world.
For LGBT+ Methodists and our allies, this year is especially significant. Revd Mark Rowland from Dignity and Worth, the LGBT+ advocacy charity within the Methodist Church, explains.
Marriage and relationships
In 2019, Conference considered the report God in Love Unites Us on marriage and relationships. This report included several significant recommendations:
an understanding of ‘good relating’ as a way of thinking about loving relationships
an understanding of cohabitation, officially recognising that it too may be a form of relationship in which God’s love is found, and potentially a stage along the way to more formal commitment
to allow Methodist ministers (and other appropriate people) who feel it is the right thing to do to celebrate same-sex marriages, and to allow same-sex marriages to take place in Methodist churches which decide that this is what they want to do.
The 2019 Conference voted for all these things with strong majorities but, because of their importance, they are being dealt with as ‘provisional resolutions’. This means that the recommendations didn’t come into effect in 2019, but were sent out to the Methodist Districts (regional areas across Britain - 30 in total) to be voted on there too, so as to gauge the mind of the Methodist Church as a whole. These results should have come back to the Conference in 2020, but the Covid pandemic made that impossible. Many planned meetings couldn’t take place, and the Conference itself had to meet via Zoom. As a result, the final consideration was deferred until this year.
Out of the 30 Districts, 29 have voted in favour, most of those with very strong majorities. The Conference is still free to vote in whatever way it thinks is right (which could include amending or rejecting any of the recommendations) but the signs look very encouraging. Assuming the recommendations are passed, it will then be for local Methodist Churches to decide how they want to proceed: some will feel it right to offer same-sex marriage as soon as possible, others will need time to think, and others will be clear that would not be the right step for them. All would remain Methodists in good standing.
To support the recommendations, the recently published Conference agenda includes draft new liturgies for the Marriage of any Two Persons and the Blessing of a Marriage of any Two Persons previously solemnized. While the Methodist Church already allowed services of ‘prayer and thanksgiving’ for same-sex couples following marriage or civil partnership, I am glad that we may have a service available that is unambiguously one of blessing. These liturgies would be available to all couples, and it’s my hope that many mixed sex couples may also want to use these forms. The existing services for one man and one woman, of course, remain available and authorised.
Conversion therapy
Another important item for LGBT+ people and our allies is about conversion therapy. Many of us have been dismayed at the Government’s delay in banning it, and the potential for including religious exceptions to a ban that could amount to significant loopholes. Following a request from our Birmingham District (that my partner and I put forward), there is a proposal for consideration by the Conference, inviting it to agree:
to support and adopt the definition of conversion therapy from the Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy in the UK
to call on all Methodists to refuse to offer, or participate in offering, conversion therapy in any form, and
that no conversion therapy can take place in the name of the Methodist Church.
This would set a very clear position for the Methodist Church on the matter and, if it is passed, the Methodist Church would also consider how to engage with the Government about this. Given prominent religious voices advocating against a ban, or at least for limits on it, I’m hopeful we can add a Methodist voice with a different message.
Of course, none of this is certain yet. It all has to be voted on. We don’t know yet which business will be taken on which day, but these debates and votes will be sometime between Monday 28th June and Thursday 1st July. Monday 28th June is the anniversary of the Stonewall Riot, the event which has led to June becoming known as Pride Month.
Dignity and Worth, the LGBT+ advocacy charity within the Methodist Church, will be sharing updates throughout - do follow our Facebook page or Twitter feed to keep up-to-date. The Conference is also live-streamed and you can watch online on the Conference website.