“As United Methodists we remain in covenant with one another, even in the midst of disagreement, and affirm our commitment to work together for our common mission of making disciples throughout the world.” United Methodist General Conference, 2004
The board of Good News affirms this statement of the unity of The United Methodist Church, adopted by the General Conference, based on our common covenant and common mission. Unity within the church is a goal we share with the 2004 General Conference. Unity, however, can only be attained when we share common commitments to our United Methodist doctrinal standards, as historically and ecumenically interpreted. These foundational beliefs provide the bedrock and motivation for our solemn covenant with Jesus Christ and with each other for common mission.
Therefore, we call upon the annual and jurisdictional conferences of the church to act in accordance with church law and doctrine. We call upon them to uphold our covenant and mission, despite disagreements over the issue of homosexuality. There can be no unity if annual conferences ordain and/or appoint self-avowed practicing homosexuals as ministers. There can be no unity if Annual Conferences allow clergy to perform homosexual unions or “marriages.” There can be no unity if annual conferences promote practices determined repeatedly by our General Conference to be “incompatible with Christian teaching.”
We will uphold the unity of The United Methodist Church as long as our common covenant is upheld by the actions of the church. Where entities of the church take actions that contravene our covenant and Discipline, however, we will recognize the splintering of that unity. In such situations, we will make every effort to offer encouragement, counsel, and assistance to those who desire to remain faithful to the covenant of United Methodism. We will network with those who support the Discipline of The United Methodist Church, and we will assist them in ensuring that the Discipline is enforced, by judicial processes or by any other means available. Failure to uphold our doctrines and Discipline is what could further threaten the already fragile unity of our beloved church.
Finally, we call upon the Council of Bishops to work to ensure that the Discipline is upheld in all regions of the church. It is this faithfulness to church doctrine and polity, not the words of a resolution no matter how heartfelt its approval, that will signal whether the United Methodist Church will move ahead in unity.