Can the One Church Plan Save the UMC From Schism?

After a week of meetings in Chicago, the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church have come to a conclusion: Come 2019 when the denomination meets for its General Conference, they will recommend the UMC adopt the One Church Plan. The One Church Plan will effectively give individual churches the right to decide whether they will perform same-sex marriages and ordain LGBT people as clergy.

The Council cited the diversity and global presence of the UMC as big factors in its decision. “The Council’s prayerful deliberation reflected the diversity of the global denomination on the matter of homosexuality and many other matters. The Council affirms the strength of this diversity and our commitment to maintain the unity of the church,” Council of Bishops President Ken Carter said in a press release.

The Council of Bishops reviewed three plans—The Traditionalist Plan, the One Church Plan and the Connectional Conference Plan—as it met this last week as part of the denomination’s ongoing effort to prevent a schism over the issue of homosexuality. A separate council, the 32-member Commission on a Way Forward, formulated the three plans after the 2016 General Conference determined a workable solution was needed to address the question of homosexuality in the UMC. The Commission was asked to “do a complete examination and possible revision of every paragraph of the Book of Discipline concerning human sexuality and explore options that help to maintain and strengthen the unity of the church.”

Details of the three plans presented to the Council of Bishops have not yet been released. The statement from the UMC indicated that an entire report of the three plans will be released no later than July 8, 2018. A Special Session of the General Conference is scheduled to meet February 23-26 in St. Louis, Missouri, where it is assumed the denomination will vote on whether to adopt the One Church Plan or not. Read More

Also See:
Where Have the Three Million Gone?
Why I’m No Longer a United Methodist

According to this article, "the One Church Plan will effectively give individual churches the right to decide whether they will perform same-sex marriages and ordain LGBT people as clergy." In other words, it would treat the issue of sexual activity between members of the same sex as adophora - a secondary matter of indifference to the salvation of the individual, a view, however, which is at odds with the teaching of Scripture.