Methodist Ministers Pledge to Perform Gay Marriage Despite Ban

On Monday a group of United Methodists from New York and Connecticut will release a list of pastors who plan to perform weddings for homosexual couples despite the denomination’s ban on gay marriage.The We do! Methodists Living Marriage Equality project consists of 161 clergy members, 703 lay people and six congregations representing 67 United Methodist congregations who will risk their standing and jobs with the church by announcing their support for equal rights for the LGBT community.

If you study John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, you will find that he was a man who bucked the system and acted out- or I should say- took action when he felt the organizational structures within the Church stopped people from participating in the Body of Christ. I have been a Methodist my entire life, although I have not been active in that denomination for the last 15 years. I have always believed however, that women and men if courage, within the ministry or the laity would eventually act similarly to John Wesley, and do what they knew to be right rather than merely following what they were ordered to do

This effort is not the first act of courage however. I have already written about how Methodist ministers in the Washington DC area spoke out and committed to perform same-sex marriages. And historically, my friend, Jimmy Creech, lost his church because he did what he knew to be right and married two memberas of his congregation some 16 or so years ago. I have just been surprised that it has taken this long for more M<ethodists to step up and act like true Methodists.

via Methodist Ministers Pledge to Perform Gay Marriage Despite Ban | Long Island Press.