United Methodists Would’ve Met This Week to Consider a Split. What Are They Doing Instead?

(RNS) — Were 2020 going as planned, United Methodists from around the world would be wrapping up a two-week meeting in Minneapolis, where they were expected to discuss a measure to split the denomination.

But, as it is, the coronavirus pandemic has forced people into their homes, closed businesses and canceled events well into the summer.

The quadrennial United Methodist General Conference has been postponed until next year — possibly until late August and early September 2021.

Many U.S. United Methodist leaders see the delay as a blessing, allowing more time and cooler heads to consider a split. But some have also expressed concern over continuing harm to many in the denomination eager to move on after decades of debate over the role of LGBTQ Christians in the church.

“Some people have said to me, ‘This gives us time to take our breath and see if there are new possibilities,’ and also there are some persons for whom the delay is continued injustice, and that’s harmful,” said the Rev. Kenneth Carter, resident bishop of the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church and past president of the denomination’s Council of Bishops.

“So to say the pandemic has become the agenda is not to suppress the need for justice and inclusion.”

Delegates to the General Conference were expected to take up a proposal to split the denomination, called “A Protocol of…