Methodists APOLOGIZE for Durham church pastor’s views on marriage

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Sadly, it is not what you would hope:

Pioneers in Durham doesn’t look too different from the other restaurants and bars on the periphery of downtown. It’s one of several converted auto shops on Geer Street, like Cocoa Cinnamon to the west and Hutchins Garage to the east. If you didn’t know better, you’d assume it was just another coffee shop; there isn’t a lot to indicate that it’s a church.

There are some smaller indications that something is different. If you walk by, you may notice how often it appears completely empty. You may also notice that there are no Pride flags anywhere — something that you may find on the doors of other businesses in the area. Pioneers Church was controversial before it even opened late last year, thanks to its affiliation with the non-LGBTQ affirming Association of Related Churches. At the time, head pastor Sherei Lopez Jackson said her personal beliefs, as well as the rules of the United Methodist Church, kept her from marrying LGBTQ couples. “I, personally, hold an interpretation of scripture that Christian marriage is a sacred covenant between one man and one woman and believe that sexual intimacy has the potential to be at its healthiest in that context,” she wrote in a set of Instagram slides.[…]

So, this pastor stands by the teachings of the Bible, thousands of years of history and natural law, and the rules of the United Methodist Church.  Yet, she and her church get branded “controversial.”

Some would argue that the United Methodist Church has gone so far left it has fallen off the planet.  The UMC has openly funded wartime enemies of America.  The UMC has funded and supported protests against American military campaigns WHILE our troops are in the field of battle.  Some would argue THEY are the controversial ones.

 

A church in Durham has to operate in basically the same way an underground church has to operate in Commie China.  Go figure.

Here’s more:

[…] On Tuesday, the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church sent a letter to neighbors in the Geer Street area, formally apologizing for planting a non-affirming church in the middle of a city that held North Carolina’s very first pride event and a rich history of protest.[…]

The gay rights movement is and has been all about respecting the views and rights of a minority.  In Durham, folks with conservative, traditional views and practices are a REAL minority.  Yet, the social justice crowd has NO use for that particular minority. It’s lockstep on leftism, or NOTHING.

There’s a reason that the conference recently lost about one-third of its churches.  There’s a reason that most of the world’s Methodists are now in Southern Africa.

MORE:

[…] “We aren’t perfect, but in the spirit of the United Methodist Church, we are striving to become more perfect in love and ultimately more like Jesus,” the letter said.

It’s disingenuous at best to suggest to suggest that opposition to same-sex marriage is equivalent to “hating” homsexuals.

MORE:

[…] It’s important to note that the United Methodist Church (UMC) still has an anti-LGBTQ rule on its books, preventing churches within the denomination from marrying same-sex couples and LGBTQ clergy from serving in the church.

In 2019, UMC set up a path for churches who wanted to keep the rule to disaffiliate from the church. In November, the NC Conference, which represents everything east of Alamance County, approved disaffiliation requests from 249 of its churches. Forty-one churches have disaffiliated from its western counterpart.

When the church’s governing body meets again in 2024, it’s likely that this rhetoric will be removed.[…]

Probably.  Most of the sensible, rational people have already left.

It’s absolutely amazing that they are apologizing for a church that abides by the UMC’s own documents.

MORE:

[…] Sure, the letter sent to Geer Street neighbors seems like a fairly easy thing for UMC to do. Although the council has apologized for Pioneers Church in the past, members of the community asked leaders to apologize in writing, explicitly listing the harms they brought to the Durham community.

Natalie Spring, one of the community members who organized a forum with UMC and Pioneers Church, says she read it multiple times to grasp that the apology was more than just corporate speak: it felt genuine. “I think it was a true sign of humility from the United Methodist Church, that they named the harm in planting Pioneers in a neighborhood,” Spring told me. “They interrogated their own processes of what led to it, apologized for it and then committed to making it right.”

Pioneers, on the other hand, was unaware of the letter until I called them this week. Lopez Jackson responded to requests for comment with a written statement, saying that UMC will continue to be “our neighbors and siblings in Christ.”[…]

Bad-mouth your own church to the media before sharing your thoughts with said church.  *Real nice.  Real Christian.* 

It was not long ago that leftists demanded respect for their beliefs.  Now, good luck on trying to get respect from them for beliefs that differ from theirs.