November 2, 2005
The highest judicial body in the United Methodist Church (UMC) has ruled 6-2 to remove a lesbian minister from office. In 2003 Irene “Beth” Stroud announced to her suburban Philadelphia congregation that she was living in a “covenanted relationship” with another woman. The UMC's Judicial Council also acted to reinstate Rev. Edward Johnson, pastor of South Hill United Methodist Church. Rev. Johnson had been placed on involuntary unpaid leave since last June for declining to accept a practicing homosexual as a member of his South Hill, Virginia, congregation.
Rev. Johnson maintained that while he welcomed all persons to his church, homosexual conduct is contrary to Scripture. Mark Tooley, a leader in the renewal movement within the UMC, welcomed the Judicial Council rulings. Methodism, he said, “is not moving in the direction of the Episcopal Church and declining liberal Protestantism.” Instead, it is moving “in the direction of global Christianity, which is robustly orthodox.”