New England Methodists Look To Annual Meeting For Answers On Denomination’s Future

By Sofia RudinJune 13, 2019

Mathewson Street United Methodist Church in downtown Providence. Photo by Sofia Rudin for The Public’s Radio

At the Mathewson Street United Methodist Church in downtown Providence, Rev. Jack Jones leads a weekly bible study group. Part of the conversation today: whether the United Methodist Church can remain one unified body.

Church member Robert Cubie weighs in, saying, “You’re talking about trying to find some kind of political coexistence with a group that is actively–”

“Being hostile,” Jones says. “I mean, they don’t want coexistence. And that’s why I say having another newer denomination might create a clearer… Because sometimes when you stand for everything you stand for nothing.

Mathewson Street has openly welcomed LGBTQ members for decades. But a vote by the global Methodist denomination earlier this year has thrown local churches like this one into turmoil.

At a special session of the United Methodist Church General Conference in February, delegates from around the world rejected a plan that would have allowed churches to take different paths forward. Instead, international delegates tipped the scales in favor of strengthening existing bans on LGBTQ clergy and same-sex weddings.

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