Annual Conference Legislation Results

Under the direction of Rev. Reg Olsen, the West Ohio Reconciling Network (WORN-Out) submitted 3 recommendations to Annual Conference 2008. Here are the outcomes and we celebrate the adoption of the substitute for recommendation #12 :

RECOMMENDATION #11 Words Have Consequences TABLED

RECOMMENDATION #12 Read, Study and Learn Substitute adopted
Whereas, for more than a generation (that is, since the 1972 Book of Discipline), United
Methodists, along with other Christians, have struggled to find principles for applying traditional
teachings to contemporary understandings of human sexuality.
Whereas, we know that all of God’s children are of sacred worth, and yet we have been, and
remain, divided regarding homosexual expressions of human sexuality. We have disagreed
about Scriptural teachings: some have contended that the specific injunctions of Leviticus and St.
Paul have authority over even the more general love commands of Jesus, while others have
contended that the complexity of human sexuality, as we see it today, was never envisioned in
previous millennia, and therefore could not have been addressed specifically in the Bible.
Whereas, we have tried to reason together about all of this, and we have prayed together, but we
have yet to know fully the promised peace of the Holy Spirit in our community of faith. The fire
in our disagreements points to a deeper human mystery than we know. We believe that the Spirit
has brought our collective conscience to acknowledge this mystery more honestly, and to make
our claims with greater humility before God and our neighbors.
Therefore, we ask the West Ohio Annual Conference, its pastors, congregations, staff, and
members,
1) to refrain from judgement regarding homosexual persons and practices as the Spirit
continues to move among us,
2) to welcome, know, forgive, and love one another as Christ has accepted us, that God may
be glorified through everything in our lives,
3) to study with open hearts and open minds the 1992 General Conference Report of the
Committee to Study Homosexuality called The Church Studies Homosexuality (available
through United Methodist Publishing House – Cokesbury) and the 2005 General
Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns DVD Can We Talk used by
the West Ohio Annual Conference Unity Task Force in its “Can you hear me now?”
dialogues in October of 2007, and
4) to call on the Inclusive Body of Christ (as outlined in the 2008 structure) to make
available materials and resources authorized by the 2008 General Conference on
heterosexism and homophobia at the 2009 West Ohio Annual Conference for use by
pastors, congregations, staff, and members.

RECOMMENDATION #13 Sexual Relations of all Persons Tabled
WHEREAS: We believe in the preservation of the family as an environment for the preservation
of basic values.
THEREFORE: We declare that the United Methodist Church in West Ohio embraces sexual
fidelity and considers abusive, promiscuous, non-covenantal sexual relationships incompatible
with Christian teaching.
RATIONALE: This proposal treats all people equally regardless of sexual orientation.