To marginalize or Not to Marginalize: Why the One Church Plan is (still) the worst possible option for GC 2019

Can you imagine what would happen if an annual conference decided that it would refuse to ordain candidates of color? (Or a bishop refused and had to call in a colleague bishop)

What if a Bishop refused to find appointments for female clergy?

What if a Pastor decided they were unwilling to officiate inter-racial marriages?

All of United Methodism would lose their ever loving minds.  And rightly so.



Here is the deal, if the 2019 GC embraces the "One Church Plan" with regards to questions of human sexuality, what it is really doing is making the official position of the church one in which homosexual practice is affirmed while at the same time, sanctioning church-blessed discrimination.

This is wholly unacceptable.   It is every bit as unacceptable as if we were to say that Pastors, churches, conferences, and jurisdictions can decide whether or not they will do interracial marriages or refuse to ordain female clergy.

The Judicial Council has ruled that the language in the plan is by and large constitutional; yet, the logic of the plan is so terribly flawed that to pass it requires setting aside one's intellectual integrity.

And I get why it is appealing.  In many ways it is codifying our current realities and would (theoretically) preserve the institution.  But the current reality is that we are failing in our mission in the United States and both sides blame the decline on the disobedience of the other side.  Why would we choose to embrace this reality as what we want?

I am just a thirty year old dude from Central Ohio, and my opinion, my experience, my best guess should not be able to override the wisdom of the global church.


But if the wisdom of the global church leads to a change in official theology and language while not only allowing, but sanctioning discrimination, then woe to us.

Squatting on a swedish ball: a better idea than the One Church Plan


This blog was published earlier, but edited in light of the recent decisons by the Judicial Council.