From April 23, 2024 to May 3, 2024, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church convened. This is the main governing body of our denomination, tasked with creating and modifying legislation and policies that govern our life together. At this session of the General Conference, historic decisions were made, as delegates approved legislation that opens space for The United Methodist Church to be a more welcoming and inclusive church. Specifically, the prohibitions against ordination and marriage of persons in same-gender relationships were removed from the Book of Discipline (the rules that govern the worldwide United Methodist Church, including Embrace). The removal of this language, which has been harmful and restrictive to LGBTQ+ individuals, now allows all people the opportunity to be fully included in the life of the church.The removal of this language also makes room for differences of opinion and belief to be present in one church family. In addition to the removal of the prohibitions, the conference also added protection for clergy, so none can be prohibited from performing or compelled to perform marriages inconsistent with their convictions.

We see the outcomes of this General Conference aligning both with our church family’s commitment to full inclusion, as well as to unity-in-diversity. The spirit of the conference reflected a shared desire to stay together despite differences, which is the same desire we continue to hold at Embrace. These are, in fact, the outcomes we hoped and prayed we would see at the denominational level when we concluded our church’s discernment process this past fall. We are grateful and hopeful for the next season of life and ministry together in the UMC.

If you would like to discuss General Conference in more detail, we will be offering a short talk-back session before church on Sunday, May 26th, at 9:30am. Our pastoral staff, Lay Delegate (Dustin Pugel), and SPRC Chair (Leanndra Padgett-Thompson) are also available to meet with you.

Some Helpful Links:

Recap of Final Day of General Conference

Legislative Recap of General Conference

Video Summary of General Conference

Statement from Fall 2023 (Conclusion of Embrace’s Discernment Process on LGBTQ+ Care and Inclusion)

The Embrace Lead Team is pleased to announce that we have completed our intensive, multi-year discernment process on LGBTQ+ care and inclusion. As we move through the end of our intensive process of discernment, we are excited to be entering a new season together where we will maintain an ongoing posture of discernment—continuing to work out the practical implications of loving care and inclusion together.

When we began this process, we shared with you that one of our main goals was to create a statement which would offer clarity about our church's position and plans regarding the care and inclusion of LGBTQ+ people. We entered into the process aware that this particular issue is divisive, and that the handling of the conversation—especially in the church—has caused significant harm to many. We weren't sure at the beginning where the process would lead us, and we are grateful that so many of you have been patiently and faithfully awaiting the outcome of the process. We asked you to stick with us for the journey, and you have. Thank you. We know the big question on many minds has been this: What kind of church will Embrace be?

In short, we have decided we are committed to being the kind of church that will not be divided or defined by this or any other single issue. Instead, as Jesus prayed during his last days on earth in John 17, we want to be defined by and known for our commitment to following Jesus in unity and love. We expect neither unity nor love to come cheaply—and we believe there is vast biblical and theological support for the idea that the unity Jesus envisions is one that celebrates and embraces diversity, even diversity of convictions, rather than quenching it or seeing it as a threat.

Throughout this process, as the Lead Team has learned together, and then as we have widened the conversation to include the whole congregation—through surveys, churchwide meetings, and book studies—we have discovered there is indeed diversity of thought and conviction on the related issues within our congregation. We have community members who identify more closely with a traditional theological view, community members who identify more closely with a progressive theological view, and community members who admit that they are on a journey of learning and wouldn't align themselves fully with either perspective. Even as we hold these different perspectives, we are still worshiping beside each other weekly, actively loving and supporting one another, and learning to follow Jesus together. We believe that's a good and beautiful thing.

Over the last several months of our learning process, we have heard people connecting with and humanizing each other. We have seen people deeply listening to one another, practicing humility, and respectfully considering different viewpoints. Through these conversations, we discovered the absolutely essential need for the posture of intellectual and spiritual humility.

There are some truths in the Christian faith that we hold as core doctrines, and we often affirm them together as a congregation when we celebrate a baptism, pray the Lord’s Prayer, recite the Apostles Creed, and confess as a church. But there are many other doctrines that receive a wide variety of interpretations across the Christian world. When so many different views are possible—by so many different people who all deeply love Jesus—we do not in arrogance claim only one view holds the potential to be true. In all likelihood, none of us see the whole picture the way God does. While we hold matters of human sexuality and gender to be important, and while we recognize the ways they profoundly impact both the physical and spiritual life, we do not recognize them as core doctrines. We see room for disagreement, within boundaries that exclude hate, violence and prejudice.

While we began our discernment process intent on offering clarity, we emerge from it committed to fostering both humility and a powerful unity-in-diversity through our life together.

And the good news is, we don't believe that means we have to sacrifice clarity! At our church-wide meeting in May, the Lead Team presented the non-discrimination statement we have adopted. We also shared that statement in the video we released, recapping the meeting. Some of you may have not heard the statement yet; others of you may have heard it and wondered what else might still be coming down the pike. Today we want to tell you that the Lead Team has decided this non-discrimination statement is the statement of clarity we intend to make. Here it is in its final form:

In keeping with Embrace Church’s inclusive Christian tradition and its emphasis on the dignity and worth of all people, the congregation values and embraces diversity. Employment, leadership, membership, and participation in any church activity is open to all without regard to ethnicity, race, skin color, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, or disability.

The bottom line is, we draw the line at everyone will be treated equally and given equal opportunity to participate fully at Embrace. As a church family, we will harbor no hidden barriers to full participation for any population: that includes people who identify as LGBTQ+, as well as anyone else who is marginalized and treated unjustly. We take Jesus seriously when he says the world will know us by our love and our unity. The world will know him when they see us stick together in love.

One of our values as a church is Church=Diverse Family—and so we believe Embrace can and should be a place where people can hold different views and perspectives, while still worshiping beside each other. We also believe that with a little Spirit-empowered humility, we can find unity in our commitment to love and fully include everyone, showing radical grace and hospitality to all, even in disagreement on biblical interpretation and theology. We want to always err on the side of love and inclusion in matters of disagreement.

Though we have reached the end of our intensive process of discernment, we will maintain an ongoing posture of discernment—continuing to listen to one another and learn what it looks like to live as a diverse family committed to unity, love, and the full inclusion of all people. While we strive for these things in our own congregation, we will also work to see fuller expressions of unity, love, and the inclusion of all people within our denomination, too.

We remain connected to the United Methodist Church, whose Book of Discipline currently prohibits the ordination and marriage of LGBTQ+ people. While these prohibitions are inconsistent with our own commitment to full inclusion, we have hope for the removal of these prohibitions in the next season of life together in the UMC. Given our denomination’s long and rich tradition of practicing social justice, and their commitment to unity in diversity, we prayerfully anticipate the opportunity to work with other like-minded leaders and congregations towards the removal of these prohibitions and the full inclusion of all people.

As a staff and leadership team, we want you to know we truly cherish the honest conversations we’ve had with many of you throughout this process. We continue to remain open to further conversation and genuinely desire to deeply listen to any of the questions, wrestling, or stories you might want to share. We are also more than willing to discuss the outcome of our discernment process with you personally. Please reach out to one of our pastors or leaders if you have questions, concerns, or want to talk.

We would also like to invite you to a time of discussion with our Lead Team before church on October 29th. Here are the details:

Church-Wide Discussion With Lead Team

Sunday, October 29th at 9:00am

Embrace’s Fellowship Hall

Arrangements for John Barton-Kennedy Bolton

Update on General Conference (UMC) Outcomes

Holy Week Events

Conclusion of Embrace’s Discernment Process on LGBTQ+ Care & Inclusion

Lead Team Update: LGBTQ+ Care and Inclusion Discernment Process