The United Methodist Church leadership has clarified that a recent ruling from its top court allowing pastors to determine if they can officiate same-sex weddings dispute objections from church trustees does not overrule regional bans on the unions. The United Methodist Judicial Council ruled last month that church trustees could not prohibit a pastor from performing a same-sex wedding ceremony. In a statement last Friday, the UMC Council of Bishops stated that the “decision has created some anxiety and consternation,” but stressed UMC regions that continue to ban same-sex marriage can still prohibit such ceremonies.

From May 26 until June 4 of 1940, French and Belgian forces engaged in one of the biggest evacuation operations ever undertaken at that time. About 198,000 British soldiers and 140,000 French and Belgian troops were hastily evacuated from the French seaport of Dunkirk to England. Naval vessels and hundreds of civilian boats were used in the operation.

The evacuation was necessary because Nazi Germany had invaded northern France and the Low Countries in May 1940. The Germans had overrun the region, and the Allied forces were trapped in an ever-decreasing pocket near Dunkirk.

Northern France was lost, the territory ceded to the ever advancing German offensive, and it was a call to evacuate now or be driven into the sea itself. The entire endeavor had devolved into one huge salvage operation.

Oddly enough, such a scene reminds us of the Gospel because the gospel is applied to an even more dire situation. You see, it was the garden that was lost, man was dead in his sins, the devil’s offensive against humanity continued to advance and something had to be done lest all of humanity would have been driven into eternal hell. And it was the gospel that simply has been, is now, and will always be, one big salvage operation of humanity itself. Only, instead of filling boats with soldiers, they are filled with the souls of men.

Such clarity of the gospel as always being one grand salvage operation came to mind with the release of the UMC Bishop’s four letters on Justice and Peace. Therein is a litany of what the Bishops present as priorities for the church. A Call for Peace, A Plea for a Ceasefire, A Rejection of Violence and a Stand for DEI. How grand a vision for the church. How noble these causes. And yet, there seems to be something missing. It’s that same thing that has always been missing all the more so for the last forty plus years. And that is the gospel.

You see, the church and her people were never called to advocate for peace, to reject violence and to make a stand for DEI as priorities for the church. The church was called to carry the gospel into the world. We were called to prioritize above every last single thing the ministry….the ministry of reconciliation. We were supremely called to be used as the means by which a rebellious sinner can be reconciled back to a loving God. And frankly, we have no business prioritizing anything else above that. Not making political stands for peace nor against violence, not pleading for a ceasefire and not making stands for DEI. Our business is supremely prioritized in conveying the gospel. Even Wesley himself is quoted as saying “”You have one business on earth – to save souls,” emphasizing the importance of saving souls as the primary purpose of one’s life on earth.

You see, it is not the calling of the church, nor was it ever, to conduct a church led DIY remodeling job of this planet earth via social and environmental causes. Why waste the time on a celestial ball that will only be consumed by fire and replaced with a new heaven and a new earth anyway? But it IS the calling of the church to engage in that grand generational salvage operation, saving souls to eventually populate that new earth and new heaven. May we get back to the business of loading the boats and saving souls from being driven into hell. May we simply return to the gospel.  OM

Daren Mehl’s recent CP op-ed astutely exposed the dangers associated with “Side B” Christianity, which he defined this way: “People attracted to the same sex, though remaining celibate in obedience to the Bible, still can call themselves ‘gay Christians’ and see their attraction as part of their identity which should be acknowledged like one’s race or nationality.”

Christians in my country are being massacred daily, and our government isn’t doing anything about it. Nigeria has become the most difficult place to live as a Christian. According to an April 2023 report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, at least 52,250 persecuted Christians have been killed in the past 14 years, simply for the crime of being Christian. In the past five years, violence has spread southwards to the middle belt of Nigeria, with radicalized Fulani herdsmen killing Christians in order to steal their land.

David C. Gibbs III serves as president and general counsel of the National Center for Life and Liberty (NCLL), a legal ministry that protects the rights of churches and Christian organizations nationwide, with offices in California, Florida, North Carolina, and Texas. A graduate of Duke University School of Law, Mr. Gibbs speaks regularly at churches and conferences across the country, while also litigating cases as a trial attorney.

The United Methodist Church’s highest court has ruled that pastors, not trustees, have the final say on whether clergy can officiate a same-sex wedding on church property. The United Methodist Judicial Council issued Decision Number 1516 last Friday, centering on whether trustees could stop a pastor from officiating a same-sex wedding on their church property.

Dear Pastor,

I wish I did not have to write this letter. I wish your story were an anomaly, a rare and isolated incident in the life of the church. Unfortunately, your experience is one of many, a tragic reminder of the pain that can arise from the very place meant to bring healing and hope. Over the years, I have walked alongside many pastors. I’ve listened as they recounted the betrayal, confusion, and heartache they endured. These stories emerge from a common pattern, a series of events that many unjustly fired pastors seem to experience. Maybe your story is fresh; the shock is still settling. Maybe your story is in the past, but the memories ring hard like glass shattering on a hard floor. What happened?

In a new round of rulings this month on lawsuits by breakaway churches against the United Methodist Church’s Alabama-West Florida Conference, judges in Coffee County and Dale County declined the denomination’s request that the lawsuits be dismissed.

I have read with great dismay the rulings which have come out of the Judicial Council since General Conference 20/24 regarding efforts by some annual conferences to allow congregations to leave the denomination using either a “gracious exit plan or by allowing the church to close and then allowing the members to purchase the property. Every effort so far in this direction has been ruled to be prohibited by the Book of Discipline now that Paragraph 2553, which allowed for disaffiliation, is no longer valid, having expired December 31, 2023.

A decision handed down last week by the highest court in the United Methodist Church (UMC) further erodes space for traditionalists within the denomination. Pastors will have sole discretion as to whether or not same-sex marriages will take place at local churches according to an April 29 ruling by the UMC Judicial Council.