from JULIE HUNTSMAN, CHRIS KJOLHEDE

Methodists At Fly Creek

Pray Peacefully Together

To the Editor:

We appreciate this paper’s coverage of local dissent from the global United Methodist Church’s “Traditional Plan” which passed by a slim majority at the church’s conference in February of this year.

To those not acquainted with the issue, the Traditional Plan continues the UMC Book of Discipline’s codified discrimination of people identifying as LGBTQ.   Those so identifying are not turned away from church, but they are denied full benefits of membership.

The implied message to LGBTQ people by this decision is that there is something wrong with them, that they are just not worthy.

In our church, the Fly Creek United Methodist Church, there is certainly not unanimity of opinion about this important and difficult issue, but we dissenters worship peacefully alongside those holding a different view.

However, many who regularly attend Sunday services in Fly Creek, a healthy majority of the 40 or so worshiping on any given Sunday, were concerned enough to sign a public statement of dissent, which reads as follows:

“We, the undersigned, who call the Fly Creek United Methodist Church our church home, wish to declare unequivocally our disappointment and dismay with the decision made by the 2019 General Conference of the United Methodist Church at their conference in St. Louis, MO on February 26, 2019. This decision perpetuates, under church law, discrimination of LGBTQ people who seek to marry or to become clergy. It also increases the punishment of clergy who officiate at same sex marriages.

“We believe that all people are created equal and we celebrate the diversity created by God.  We therefore disagree with the discrimination of LGBTQ people that this General Conference decision represents. We find it incompatible not only with the commandment to love one’s neighbor as one’s self, but with the civil rights and liberties accorded citizens of our nation.

“We long for connection and we do our best to follow Christ, to love our neighbor, and to live tolerance and peace. We wish all people to know, and in this instance, particularly those who may identify as LGBTQ, that despite this denominational decision, our doors, minds, and hearts are open.”

Thirty-seven people from the Fly Creek UMC congregation signed this statement.  This issue continues to be discussed and in our prayers.

JULIE HUNTSMAN

CHRIS KJOLHEDE

Fly Creek