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African delegates denounce UMC votes to allow LGBT marriage, ordination: ‘We are
devastated’
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AFRICAN DELEGATES DENOUNCE UMC VOTES TO ALLOW LGBT MARRIAGE, ORDINATION: ‘WE ARE
DEVASTATED’

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Friday, May 03, 2024
A group of African delegates at the United Methodist General Conference in
Charlotte, North Carolina, hold a press conference on Thursday, May 2, 2024, to
denounce the gathering's votes to allow same-sex marriage and ordination of
noncelibate gay clergy. | Rob Renfroe

A group of African delegates to the United Methodist Church General Conference
have denounced the recent votes to allow for same-sex marriage and noncelibate
LGBT clergy.

This week, delegates at the UMC General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina,
passed a series of measures removing from the Book of Discipline rules
preventing the officiating of same-sex weddings and the funding of LGBT advocacy
groups.

On Thursday, the churchwide legislative gathering voted 523 to 161 to remove
from the Book of Discipline the statement that the "practice of homosexuality is
incompatible with Christian teaching," which had been originally added to the
rule book in 1972.


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Rob Renfroe, publisher of the theologically conservative Good News Magazine and
attendee of the General Conference, forwarded The Christian Post a copy of
Thursday's statement from several African delegates.

"We have loved The United Methodist Church. We have been grateful for The United
Methodist Church. We have joyfully served The United Methodist Church. But now
our hearts are troubled," read the statement.

"The United Methodist Church has changed the definition of marriage. It now
defines marriage differently from what God created it to be in the beginning. It
has changed the definition of marriage from how Jesus described it in Matthew 19
as one man and one woman."

The delegates assert: "We do not believe we know better than Jesus. We do not
believe we know better than God. We do not believe we know better than the
Bible."

"We are devastated now to be part of a denomination that officially contradicts
the Bible's teaching on marriage and sexual morality. We return to Africa with
important decisions to make regarding the future," they continued.

"Still, we go home full of hope, confident in Jesus, standing on the word of
God, and determined to contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the
saints. We return to Africa where the church is growing, nonbelievers are coming
to faith and disciples are being made for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."

The African delegates blamed the UMC establishment for failing to properly
invite 70 African delegates in time for them to travel to the General
Conference, further biasing the proceedings.

"That is roughly 25% of our delegates. Ten months ago we began sending letters
and emails and making phone calls, alerting the Commission on General Conference
and some of our bishops that there was a problem. Many of these communications
never received a single response," the statement alleged.  

The statement was signed by the Rev. Jerry P. Kulah, head of the Liberia Annual
Conference delegation; Prosperous Tunda, delegate of the East Congo Annual
Conference; the Rev. Danjuma Judi, delegate of the Nigeria Annual Conference;
Dr. Yeabu Kamara, delegate of the Sierra Leone Annual Conference; and Ginford
Dzimati, delegate of the Zimbabwe Annual Conference.

CP reached out to the UMC for comment on the claims. A spokesperson emailed a
statement from Bishop Tracy S. Malone, president of the UMC Council of Bishops
and resident bishop of the East Ohio Conference.

Malone, the first African American woman to be president of the UMC Council of
Bishops, said the delegates who signed the protest statement "do not speak for
all the African delegates who are here at General Conference."

"The staff of the Commission on the General Conference made every effort to get
each delegate from the African region to the General Conference who had a right
to be seated," she explained.

"The Committee on Credentials reported to the General Conference and confirmed
such efforts. The delegates from the African region who are here are fully
engaged in all decisions being made. The delegates who are not here were not
able to travel due to not receiving visas and other circumstances that prevented
them from being here."

Malone said the UMC is "a worldwide church" that embraces "our diversity and
respect our cultural, contextual, and theological differences."

Malone cited the regionalization measure that passed during the General
Conference. This measure will allow different regions of the global denomination
to determine their stance on LGBT issues. It must still be ratified by a
majority of annual conferences before it can be added to the UMC constitution. 

"The regionalization legislation that overwhelming passed confirms this visible
unity and witness," she added. "The Social Principles legislation that expands
the definition of marriage that overwhelming passed also confirms this unity and
diversity and respects our cultural and contextual realities."

A UMC spokesperson also forwarded CP a brief statement from Bishop Eben
Nhiwatiwa of the Africa Central Conference, Zimbabwe Episcopal Area, who
expressed support for Malone.

"We want to go on record to say that the majority of the African bishops who are
here at General Conference, support this statement from Bishop Malone," stated
Nhiwatiwa.

For the past several years, the UMC has been dealing with divisive debate over
the Book of Discipline's stance on LGBT issues. While efforts to change the
language at past General Conferences had always failed, many liberals refused to
enforce or follow the rules.

In 2019, at a special session of the General Conference, delegates passed a
temporary measure that created a process for congregations to disaffiliate from
the UMC over the debate. More than 7,500 mostly conservative churches left the
denomination from 2019 to 2023. 



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