4 reactions to United Methodist Church plan to split over homosexuality debate

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Twitter

Jack Harnish

Delegates and bishops pray before a key vote on church policies about homosexuality during the 2019 United Methodist General Conference in St. Louis.
Delegates and bishops pray before a key vote on church policies about homosexuality during the 2019 United Methodist General Conference in St. Louis. | Photo: UMNS/Mike DuBose

Retired United Methodist pastor Jack Harnish, member of the Board of Trustees at Adrian College in Michigan, called on the UMC to “take a deep breath” regarding the Protocol.

“First, all of this needs to be turned into legislation which will go to the General Conference in May, so we have at least five months of discussion and debate ahead of us and whatever comes, it will take several years to work it out,” wrote Harnish in a blog post published Sunday.

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“Second, we’ve been here before. Today there are numerous Methodist and Wesleyan denominations which were at one time part of the mainline Methodist family tree and globally there are almost 100 other Methodist denominations which have been spawned from the Methodist genes.”

Harnish expressed optimism amid the likely schism, reiterating that Methodists have “been here before and we have a long ride ahead of us.”

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