A letter from Bishop Carter in response to today's action by General Conference

May 1, 2024

Greetings, Clergy and Laity of the Western North Carolina Conference,
 
Today, the General Conference took historic action to remove paragraph 304.3 from our Book of Discipline. This action was affirmed by more than 93% of the worldwide body. There are two important implications for us in this.

The End of Discrimination against LGBTQ+ persons in our churches.
 
The most significant change adopted by the General Conference thus far is the removal of discriminatory language against LGBTQ+ persons from our Book of Discipline in paragraph 304.3.  I wrote about the origins of these few sentences two weeks ago in an open letter to pastors, lay leaders, and church council chairs. This language was introduced to our church fifty-two years ago when homosexuality was understood to be a disorder and a disease by the medical and psychiatric communities in the United States. These sentences have done great harm to many of our people in virtually every local church and have become an obstacle to our mission. Today’s action was a positive next step toward a future of “open hearts, open minds, and open doors.”
 
We are a Church of Traditionalists, Moderates and Progressives.
 
While these labels are not always helpful, the statement is true. Even after a five-year period of disaffiliations, we are blessed with people who have a core belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior (grace), a desire to live together in fellowship (connection) and an additional desire to grow in love with God and our neighbors (holiness).  
 
What does this mean?  Candidates for ministry who are LGTBQ+ will continue to be welcomed. Some of our churches, if they feel so led, may have same-gender weddings. There is no prohibition against either.  
 
At the same time, churches that are more traditional in conviction—the Book of Discipline identifies this, and our Cabinet practices this—will not receive appointed clergy or conduct services that do not align with their convictions (BOD, paragraph 427. 1b). 
 
We are a “purple” church, the recent Duke Endowment research disclosed, and we are a “worldwide” church (I commend to you Bishop Nhiwatiwa’s sermon from this General Conference).
 
Over one thousand of our people have volunteered and helped to host the General Conference in Charlotte; they have experienced the beauty of our international body and its diversity (1 Corinthians 12).  
 
United Methodist churches will have the freedom to respond to God’s call to ministry in ways that are best for their contextual and missional communities.  We will do this anchored in the grace of Jesus Christ, in connection with each other, and in our desire to grow in love with God and our neighbor. 
 
The Peace of the Lord,
+Bishop Ken Carter
Resident Bishop of the Western North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church
 
 

Download a copy of this letter here.