United Methodist Church of Eureka Springs has received nationwide publicity for its free ECHO Medical Clinic and is in the process of building badly needed affordable housing at ECHO Village. It has also been known for supporting the Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer (LGBTQ) community by serving ice cream and popcorn at Basin Park during Diversity Weekends. Church members have donated about $85,000 in the past four years to local non-profit groups including Purple Flower and the Good Shepherd Humane Society.
The Eureka United Methodist congregation is now trying to determine its next steps after a Feb. 26 vote at the United Methodist General Conference to strengthen its ban on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy.
Rev. Blake Lasater said their local congregation voted five years ago to become a reconciling congregation that supports gay marriage and full inclusion for LGBTQ members and clergy.
“I grew up in the Methodist faith,” Lasater said. “The reason why I’m a Methodist is because of our openness and acceptance of all people. We talk a lot about the gift of grace. God’s love is for everyone. And that is why I have been a lifelong Methodist.”
Lasater said a small minority of Methodists in America were able to ally with international members in Africa and Asia to prevail passing the anti-LGBTQ resolution. He said the group has taken seven scriptures in Bible to justify their discrimination.
“There is doubt those scriptures were translated properly,” Lasater said. “We are using English words for something they didn’t even know about it then. Jesus never said a word about it except that some people are born that way. We conveniently ignore other passages and suddenly make this the end all and be all of the Bible. There are tons of rules and regulations in the Bible that we don’t follow, that we think are kind of nonsense. Jesus talks thousands of times about what we should do with our money – help poor people – but we don’t get wrapped up over that.”
Lasater said he believes firmly that we are put here on this Earth to serve others and alleviate suffering, and certainly not to cause more suffering, which is what the general conference has done.
The overall vote by delegates was very close, only 54 votes apart. In the U.S., two thirds of delegates voted for openness and inclusion.
“We were simply outvoted by members in Africa and Asia,” Lasater said. “The U.S. government is actively petitioning these countries to change their laws that make homosexuality a crime, and I feel the church has given added cover to them to not do that.”
What will happen now? Lasater said they are waiting on their Judicial Council to rule on what happened at the conference. The New York Times reported March 14 that there may have been some voting irregularities.
A big concern is that United Methodist membership has been declining, a trend seen in most Christian denominations. The average age of a Methodist in the U.S. is 57.
“Most people under forty have no issue with people’s sexuality,” Lasater said. “They love Jesus. And when they see condemnation, bitterness and anger within the church, they don’t want to have anything to do with that.
“The church is broken. It is either going to find a way to heal or it is going to find a way to split. We are waiting to hear from some of our larger Methodist progressive churches. There is discussion of more conservative member churches leaving. We’re in a holding pattern to see which path we are going to take, but we are fully committed to the inclusion of all. If that pathway can’t be found with the United Methodist Church, we will make our own way.”
There could be far-reaching implications for a split in the church, which Lasater said has a huge international mission and ministry supporting hospitals, orphanages, schools and colleges.
“We risk blowing all that up with this split, and harming this mission,” Lasater said. “A lot of the talk going on now is how do we preserve this important work in the midst of the schism and division. The local people at our church are full of love in their hearts and they have been working and working to make the church open and inclusive. We open our hearts, minds and doors to all people.”
Local member Kim Stryker said the vote came as a shock to many in their congregation.
“It is heartrending because it is so far from first century Christianity teachings which are quite simply, ‘Love each other,’” Stryker said. “Honor God. Honor your father and your mother and love each other. That is what we were sent here to do. With this decision, what we are seeing is institutionalized hate. Other churches in Eureka Springs have been supportive of us. We’ve seen an outpouring of support from other churches. We didn’t know it was registering on other church’s radar screens and it has been lovely to have their support.”
Another member, Steve Roberson, said the vote angered him, but he never felt like he was really a Methodist.
“I was a member of this church family here in Eureka Springs,” Roberson said. “This congregation is very loving and accepting and that is why I attend this church. The name on the sign wasn’t really relevant for me. When we joined, I knew that, like most Protestant churches, they didn’t ordain LGBTQ and wouldn’t perform marriages for the LGBTQ in their churches.”
What bothers him the most about the vote is the hypocrisy. People opposed to LGBTQ rights quote a few Bible verses they say give them the Biblical authority to exclude LGBTQs. But the Book of Regulations, the law and doctrine of the United Methodist Church, has a position on divorce that is 180 degrees opposite from its position on same sex marriages.
“If you read what Jesus said about divorce, it would exclude the fault-free divorces so common in America,” Roberson said. “But the church doesn’t say anything about that. They do not condemn people for having divorced just because of irreconcilable differences. That they can quote Bible verses on one issue and be silent on other issues shows that the literal interpretation of the Bible isn’t always their driving force.”