Petition Text: 22668-IC-NonDis-O

We respectfully ask that, before we take any further steps in discussing the Church of Christ Uniting, we invite the United Church of Christ and other similar bodies, who have voluntarily taken upon themselves strong gay, lesbian, and bisexual advocacy roles, to rethink their understanding of ordinal sexual responsibility and ministerial discipline and rethink their conception of their ecumenical mission, which, by official action, considers the ordination of homosexuals as "a special gift to the Church of Christ Uniting from the United Church of Christ." We should not proceed further toward Church of Christ Uniting conversations until these groups review and, we hope, discontinue their attempt to legitimize homosexuality in the modern ecumenical movement contrary to ancient ecumenical teaching. We are unwilling to enter into a mutual acceptance of ministries that are essentially congregational in character and that run directly contrary to our historic consensus on sexual accountability of ordinands.

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General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn

Petition Text: 22668-IC-NonDis-O
1996 United Methodist General Conference