A Liberal Bishop Clashes With a Conservative Church

Churches are reopening, but controversy threatens to split one denomination

Photo by Chela B. on Unsplash

The Methodist church I belong to is throwing open its doors to the masked and the unmasked, starting in June. We won’t need to make reservations, either. We’re going full swing.

People are excited. They enthuse about getting back together in person. But there’s one thing that sits in the back of my mind like a paperweight, dampening my enthusiasm.

Before the pandemic, the Methodist Church was at a contentious point. Progressive leaders were at loggerheads with conversative ones, and a church split looked imminent. General Conference, where church leaders meet to make decisions about important matters, boiled over into hostility. Nothing was decided to anybody’s satisfaction, and the same battles loom on the horizon for the next General Conference.

But because of the pandemic, conferences and decisions were postponed. Meanwhile, both sides got busy solidifying their positions. Despite the excitement over church reopenings, the winds of controversy are blowing.

There are some who have already taken a stance.