A confidential complaint has been filed against 36 United Methodist Church clergy who blessed a gay wedding in defiance of the official rules of the Protestant denomination.

The complaint was recently filed against clergy belonging to the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference for a same-sex marriage they officiated last November.

Bishop Peggy A. Johnson, head of the Conference, said in a statement given to The Christian Post by her office that the complaint will be processed according to the Book of Discipline. more >>

A decision by a United Methodist Church appeals committee that reinstated a pastor defrocked for officiating a same-sex wedding might be appealed.

Rev. Frank Schaefer, a pastor from Pennsylvania who had his clergy credentials recently restored by the Northeastern Jurisdictional Committee on Appeals, might lose them once more. The Rev. Christopher Fisher, who served as prosecutor on behalf of the UMC, has until Thursday, August 21 to file an appeal of the decision.

The appeal deadline marks 60 days before the annual meeting of the United Methodist Judicial Council, the highest court in the Protestant denomination. more >>

A United Methodist Church pastor defrocked for officiating his son's same-sex marriage had his clergy credentials reinstated by a church court on appeal.

Frank Schaefer, a Pennsylvania pastor defrocked last December, was reinstated Tuesday courtesy a decision from the Northeastern Jurisdictional Committee on Appeals.

In a statement following the decision, Schaefer called the appeals committee's decision "a hopeful sign for our LGBTQ community." more >>

Defrocked United Methodist Church pastor Frank Schaefer, who went against doctrine and officiated his son's same-sex wedding, has said that he will argue before a church panel on Friday that his punishment was illegal.

"I would like to get my credentials back," said Schaefer, 52, according to The Associated Press on Wednesday. "I'm hoping for a 're-frocking.'"

The pastor was officially defrocked by UMC in December after he refused to turn over his credentials following a meeting with the Board of Ordained Ministry. He was accused of violating his pastoral vows by performing his son's marriage to another man at a 2007 ceremony in Massachusetts. more >>

A group of conservative members of the United Methodist Church have signed an open letter to the supporters of a petition calling for the denomination to let individual congregations determine their stance on homosexuality.

At issue is the UMC's official position on homosexuality, which while recognizing the inherent worth of homosexual persons nonetheless declares the practice of homosexuality "incompatible with Christian teaching."

Posted on the website of the denomination's Good News Magazine last week, the open letter was addressed to Adam Hamilton, senior pastor of The Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, and Mike Slaughter, lead pastor of Ginghamsburg UMC of Tipp City, Ohio. more >>

An online petition about the United Methodist Church has called for the denomination to allow local congregations to determine their stance on homosexuality.

Titled "A Way Forward," as of last Saturday the petition calling for individual churches to decide whether or not to consider homosexuality wrong has garnered over 1,600 signatories.  "By moving the decision-making regarding homosexuality to the local church, we hope to end the rancor, animosity and endless debate that divide our denomination every four years at General Conference," stated the petition.

"What we propose would allow conservative, centrist and progressive churches to come to their own conclusions regarding this important issue and to focus on how best to minister in their own communities." more >>