Since the last General Conference took place, the United Methodist Church in West Virginia (WVUMC) has insisted that all viewpoints on sexual matters will be respected and that individual churches can act in accord with their conscience.
Recent conference actions demonstrate that this is not the case. The WVUMC chose to update its Safe Sanctuaries policy to include a section on “LGBTQ+ Youth” and, despite its vague language, it is anything but inclusive.
The Safe Sanctuaries program began in 1996 with the admirable goal of preventing abuse within churches. Each conference adopts its own policy, and individual churches are supposed to use these guidelines to formulate plans for their individual churches. Laity, who work with children, are supposed to receive Safe Sanctuaries training.
While the UMC’s Discipleship Ministries’ website has included guidelines on LGBTQ inclusion since the early 2010’s, not every conference chose to include them in their policies. The WVUMC was a conference that waited until after the General Conference made changes to The Book of Discipline regarding the church’s teaching on human sexuality.
In fact, the WVUMC’s policy prior to 2024 is remarkably clear of any references to gender identity or sexual orientation. Instead, the past policy focused on what it should focus on, reasonable standards to ensure no one would have access to abuse children.
The 2024 policy demonstrates a significant change in the conference’s public stance on the issue. This change is significant for several reasons. WV had a limited church exit compared with other conferences. One reason was that the WVUMC decided to narrowly interpret the wording about conscience in paragraph 2553 of The Book of Discipline. Its interpretation excluded traditionalists whom the conference claimed had no basis for conscience concerns.
It is significant then that the conference waited to include the “LGBTQ+ Youth guidelines”, which would have raised conscience concerns, until after General Conference and after the paragraph 2553 December 31st deadline. I have spoken with several sources in the state who went through Safe Sanctuaries training, who were surprised by the changes to guidelines. The conference waited to adopt the guidelines into the conference policy until the exit deadline was passed and churches were trapped.
While vague, the guidelines’ wording is anything but the neutrality WVUMC leadership promised congregants after General Conference. Guidelines include, “Avoid assumptions about a young person’s sexual orientation or gender identity; Respect and use chosen names and pronouns; Do not disclose information about someone you do not have explicit permission from that person to share; Stay educated on the proper use of terminology; Be intentional about creating and maintaining a safe environment and culture of awareness around derogatory language and bullying; Use gender-neutral spaces and terms as much as possible.”
The Discipleship Ministries’ website expands on these guidelines and makes clear it wants to “normalize” the behavior discussed.
These changes also impact the ability of traditionalists to participate in youth and children’s ministries. Do 85-year-old church ladies really need to keep up with modern gender terminology? According to the guidelines, they must. What do the guidelines mean by gender-neutral spaces? Little guidance is given in the WVUMC guidelines, but the Discipleship Ministries’ expanded guidelines seem to confirm the worst interpretation of the wording. Should parents be notified if their child “comes out” at a youth event? The guidelines suggest no. And traditionalists cannot affirm these requirements.
This is troubling because, if the guidelines represent the position of the conference, then ministry leaders, who require students to use restrooms according to their biological gender or who tell a parent about their child’s sexual decisions, will not have the support of the conference when challenged. Whether they say it publicly or not, the leadership of the WVUMC has decided that it has no room for traditionalists in their ministry to youth and children.
The policy itself makes clear that the church does not take a neutral stance on these issues, “While there is much discussion ongoing in The United Methodist Church about human sexuality, we are obligated as Methodists to “do no harm.” No theological position of the church changes our need to protect the children, youth, and vulnerable adults in our congregations.”
The guidelines will also be of concern to more traditional parents. Safe Sanctuaries was created to ensure the safety of youth, but the new guidelines have the potential to do the opposite. The new guidelines will make families feel uncomfortable in allowing their children to participate in ministries of the church.
Significantly, they also shift the focus of the policy away from its original intent. Churches should work to ensure the children in their care are safe from sexual abuse. The new guidelines focus on woke virtue signaling rather than the significant task of making sure churches are safe for children.
For congregants wondering if they can stay inside the WVUMC as traditionalists, the answer seems to be no. Sooner or later they will be expected to adopt a position that violates their conscience. When they feel they cannot do so, all the WVUMC’s talk about neutrality will do them no good. The WVUMC will not support them in the exercise of their conscience.
Adoption of the guidelines in the WVUMC is simply one more example of the WVUMC’s exclusion of traditionalists from its vision of the church going forward.
Comment by Diane on February 20, 2025 at 9:47 pm
What a disgusting put down of “85 year old church ladies”! (“Do 85-year-old church ladies really need to keep up with modern gender terminology?”) I’m not quite there yet, but as a nearly 76 year old woman, I do indeed work at keeping up with “modern gender terminology”. My much younger friends appreciate my efforts and include me in their activities. Great way to keep the mind and body active is to be intergenerationally involved with younger folks in and outside the church. Be positive, be non-traditional. I walk with a cane, but still go to the Y everyday.
Comment by Amor on February 20, 2025 at 10:16 pm
Diane, if your motivation is to seek relevant to young people to be accepted and appreciated than I’m afraid your motives are misplaced. While we all have things to learn from younger generations that does not mean that we should adopt the ethical worldview of the world just because many young people have. We need to be a guiding light to God’s love and truth. What is the point of drawing in hoards to young people if you must forfeit your soul to that end?
Comment by Jim Johnson on February 20, 2025 at 11:18 pm
Thanks for the article. Looks like they finally made a good update to Safe Sanctuary policies so all youth will be respected and welcome. I’m truly sorry you don’t feel that way
Comment by John on February 21, 2025 at 1:32 am
I was brought up as a youth under the practices of safe sanctuary. To say that its policies have “traditionally” only been concerned with preventing sexual abuse is a gross understatement. Certainly protecting children and youth from being abused or exploited is of utmost importance, but the policy also always recognized the importance of protecting these persons emotionally. We know that adolescence is hard and that feelings of embarrassment, self-consciousness, and shame are very real for many youth walking around. It’s bad enough without others needlessly piling it on with teasing, bullying, and shaming them, especially adults whose words often carry more weight and are capable of leaving deeper scars than they realize. Do No Harm.
Comment by Tim Mc on February 21, 2025 at 7:58 am
UMC neutrality is a lie. Bishops, District Superintendants, Pastors have lied to the lay people for years. They had an agenda to accomplish.
The first guy to speak at General Conference last May got it right, “If you aren’t onboard with what we are about to do, my recommendation is for you to get out of here!”
If they would only allow those that want to leave the UMC, with their church buildings and checking accounts. Oh no, the UMC can’t do that, they want the churches buildings and money.
Sounds like Judas Iscariot all over again. History repeats itself.
Comment by Marta on February 21, 2025 at 10:12 am
I’m sorry but encouraging youth to continue their fantasy that they can be what they are not by changing a ‘she’ to a ‘he’ or ‘meow’ since some of these children believe they can identify as animals is not healthy or protective. These children need to know God loves them just as they are not as their peers and some adult encourage them to be. Liberals think they are supporting these children when they are damaging them. I am a counselor and reality is where we all need to live.
Comment by John on February 21, 2025 at 11:32 am
Marta,
Do yourself a favor. Stop claiming that there’s a mad outbreak of young people identifying as animals and that schools or liberal institutions are supporting it. There is no evidence of this. It’s just a scare tactic used by right-wing propagandists. It shows that they don’t have enough confidence in their case against transgender identity to let it stand on its own.
Comment by Gary Bebop on February 21, 2025 at 11:37 am
“Safe Sanctuaries” should not be cover for platforming sexual novelty to children. Children are vulnerable to aggressive advocacy by adults. The temptation to repurpose church life around “re-norming” is very strong. The activists can’t help themselves. They must do it.
Comment by Chris Jenkins on February 21, 2025 at 12:01 pm
Jesus was not a “traditionalist”
Comment by David Crass on February 21, 2025 at 12:41 pm
I do not see how a church could bill itself as a Safe Sanctuary if it would reveal to parents that their child has come out at a church event. Some children and young people will get thrown out of their families if the families knew they were gay or trans.
How is keeping a young person’s sexual identity safe going to endanger other kids? Will somebody tell me?
Comment by Amor on February 21, 2025 at 12:57 pm
While there may not be a bevy of children identifying as animals that is not to say that there are none. We have them in our small town. Though the larger issue is the proliferation of children identifying as the opposite gender and the propensity of adults who encourage mental illness instead of offering proper help.
Further, the notion that Jesus was not a traditionalist and therefore supports modern progressive agendas commits the philosophical fallacy of a faulty conclusion and equivocation. To suggest that Jesus supports modern liberal theology and so-called progressive changes because He illuminated God’s will and instituted some changes to the Law does not logically follow. That is not a license to change any and everything and especially when those changes clearly align with secular ethics. It is also worth mentioning that Jesus was known to narrow positions on sexual ethics instead of broadening accepted sexual behavior e.g., He taught that lust was the same as committing adultery.
Comment by Brian on February 21, 2025 at 1:01 pm
Every single member of the UMC who joined before 2024 joined a church describe homosexuality as “incompatible with Christian teaching.” No one forced anyone to join a church that teaches sexual ethics that offend them. So why are so many so determined to force the church and members to change their long established beliefs? Beliefs they held when they chose to join a particular church that shared those beliefs…it just seems vindictive. There were already progressive churches out there, and even if there weren’t, nothing was stopping folks from starting a church that teaches exactly what they think it should.
Comment by Mike on February 21, 2025 at 1:34 pm
“Jesus was not a “traditionalist”” Depends on your definition of “traditionalist”.
Jesus said that He came to fulfill the Law. If that doesn”t make Him a traditionalist, I don’t know the meaning of the term. He certainly would not fit into todays so-called “progressives” who flaunt their agenda even if it means going against what has been the teachings of the church for centuries.
Comment by Wilson R. on February 21, 2025 at 2:49 pm
As a lifelong Methodist/United Methodist who has spent a lot of time on church Staff-Parish Relations and Trustees committees (the two entities that would deal with issues like this), I can confidently say that hardly anyone besides the pastor and the members of these committees will have ever read these Safe Sanctuary guidelines. If they did read them, it wasn’t more than once unless an actual problem arose. They are certainly not promulgating them to 85-year-old Sunday School teachers to make sure they use the preferred pronouns of their congregation’s children and youth.
The reality is that a lot of churches today is that there will be a few young people who either openly identify as gay/lesbian or, more likely, are coming to realize that they are gay/lesbian. Just about all of us of a certain age—even those who, like me, grew up in rural churches—recall fellow students in church who were widely thought to be LGBTQ but were still in the closet. And there were always triggers–from carelessly hurtful words to outright ridicule and bullying–that would make these people feel like they were in an unsafe and unwelcoming space.
So if you’re committed to the ideal of a safe sanctuary for everyone, first you have to accept that there are some commonsense practices to follow. And that’s what most churches do, without making adults feel like they have to walk on eggshells about they/them pronouns, etc. You don’t let people get bullied. You respect everyone’s dignity. You call people by the name they want to be called by.
And if you say that these simple signs of respect for others makes the space unsafe for you as a traditionalist, then I would suggest that your real problem is that you were never committed to sharing space with people whose identity you regard as an abomination. And, therefore, many of you traditionalists choose to leave, just as you did when Black pastors and female pastors (and, Lord help us, Black female pastors) got appointed to your churches.
Meanwhile, please keep it real. When it comes to the actual effect they have on the daily life of churches, these Safe Sanctuary guidelines don’t even rise to the level of a molehill. They’re not on anybody’s radar but those who are just looking for yet another reason to be outraged.
Comment by Marta on February 21, 2025 at 5:29 pm
To John,
Sorry , it’s not just a scare tactic to say kids identify as animals. I am on a foster care review board. We had a child who identified as a cat and we had to acknowledge this identity. I’ve seen kids wearing cat costumes. This isn’t made up.
Comment by Dan on February 21, 2025 at 8:07 pm
So, can a furry UMC pastor bark their sermon and expect the congregation to affirm this? Folks, let’s call this out for what it is, and has been for some time now, spiritual warfare. If the people who are coming up with all these guidelines truly think they are making “safe” spaces, then they are deluded. If not, then they are evil and need to be confronted with the Word of God. That being said, these young people need to be shown love, compassion, empathy, and intensive mental health services, except for the small minority who actually have chemical and hormonal issues that require medical intervention, and no, I’m not talking about gender affirming care.
Comment by Gary Bebop on February 21, 2025 at 11:06 pm
Sarah Stewart’s premise is real and true for current UMC culture. There is significant reporting on this by “resisting” pastors within the UMC. (John Munier, for one.) But they face impossible career obstacles because faithful teaching of Wesley’s biblical perspective has been overridden by cultural dogmas and the sexualized ethos now sanctioned by General Conference. Don’t be taken in by the charmers.
Comment by Lila on February 22, 2025 at 9:01 am
We grew up Methodist, married in the Methodist church and raised our boys in the Methodist church……this wokeness us why we are all now Baptist !!
Comment by John on February 22, 2025 at 2:57 pm
Dan,
Do you know many furry pastors?
Comment by Different Steve on February 22, 2025 at 5:20 pm
“A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others”
― L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Comment by Carol on February 22, 2025 at 5:23 pm
And this is why I left the Methodist Church, where I had been my entire life, about 15 yrs ago. I don’t recognize the UMC anymore.
Comment by Joseph Andruzzi III on February 22, 2025 at 7:14 pm
There’s only one way to look at this and that is from the viewpoint of Martin Luther and John and Charles Wesley. The UMC is an affront to God and the Methodist Church; it is now a cult. Having openly gay Pastor’s and marriage ceremonies within the Church is nothing short of sacrilege, period. This is why I attend a non- denominational evangelical Church that follows the traditional Wesleyan Arminianism Methodist teachings.
Comment by John Wilson on February 23, 2025 at 1:11 am
Sad, we have here in this blog a traditionalist that does not recognize that they are bullying and for whom the safe sanctuary policy had to be amended. We must protect our children, youth and young people from traditionalist views that seek to exclude the least, the lost, and misunderstood LBGQT+ in our community. As much as we try to include everyone, we cannot tolerate traditionalists that exclude people. The exclusive nature of the traditionalist position on LBGQT+ self-awareness is the opposite of Christian teaching of love. Bottom line is Christianity cannot include all things for all people. We have to exclude traditionalist heresy because that view of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. I regret that some of our United Methodist teachers have misunderstood which parts of homosexuality are compatible with Christian teaching and failed to teach ignorance is wrong.
Comment by binkyxz3 on February 23, 2025 at 1:12 am
Wilson R — Your pop psychological analysis of a progression from racism to sexual deviance is tenuous and self-serving. More broadly, the UMC is childishly conflicted by the charge of saving souls while making everyone feel good. Pitiful & apostasy.
Comment by Wilson R. on February 24, 2025 at 10:13 am
Binky: God saves souls. The charge of the UMC is to make disciples.
Comment by Stephanie Jenkins on February 24, 2025 at 4:06 pm
Parents should ALWAYS be given information about their children. And if you would like your average sunday attendance to rise, let all the talk about sex, trans, reparations, BLM, me too, defund the police, LGBTQXYZ stop at the door. Let people believe whatever they want. Just talk about Jesus.
Comment by Different Steve on February 24, 2025 at 5:48 pm
Battling bishops sue the Trump administration for ‘their’ migrant millions
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/02/battling_bishops_sue_the_trump_administration_for_their_migrant_millions.html
Comment by Different Steve on February 24, 2025 at 7:27 pm
You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent in this work. And go not only to those that need you, but to those that need you most. It is not your business to preach so many times, and to take care of this or that society; but to save as many souls as you can; to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance.
John Wesley, John Emory (1853). “The Works of the Rev. John Wesley”, p.219
Comment by Thomas on February 24, 2025 at 8:03 pm
“LGBTQ inclusion” mens exclusion of sin. For some reason God created only two genders, men and women, and marriage and sexuality as only possible in the sacred union of one man and one woman. If there are sexual minorities who have same-sex attraction, or are conflited with their gender, to include them means living according with the Christian faith and sublimating their unnatural sexual tendencies. There are ministries who help these people like Living Out and Courage International. UMC on their attempt to include everyone, also included sinful lifestyes and as such as rejected the Christian faith. Conservatives who are still at UMC should join GMC, or other denominations, and thats all.
Comment by Terry Polen on February 24, 2025 at 8:40 pm
The Bishop who made that comment to open the General Conference is actually from the Northern Panhandle of WV. SAD! Lord Jesus please lead the church back to you 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Comment by George on February 25, 2025 at 7:58 am
John! Marta is not fibbing. Right here in Kansas City (mid-America), there are public schools who have children acting as though they are puppies and cats. Our children and grand children have told us about it. Stop bullying her. It’s your own head buried in the sand. When did we decide to allow children and some woke parents decide that deviant behavior is the norm? Even now, churches are falling into this sick culture. It’s only going to get worse. It will be a very cold day when I am forced to accept this warped deviant behavior as normal. If they aren’t coughing up hair balls or chasing their tails, they aren’t what they pretend to be. One more thing. There are freaks of nature. It happens, but 99.95% of humans are either XX or XY. You can’t change this fact no matter how much you try.
Comment by David Kingsworthy on February 25, 2025 at 8:45 am
This piece perfectly reflects the reasons my wife and I left the UMC 5 years ago. The leadership and membership of our church began trending heavily toward the LBGTQ+ mindset just prior to Covid time, and though we tried to fight a rearguard action, we conceded the battlefield. To be clear, we tried with love and restraint to uphold Scripture, and no one outright spat in our face; but we were made to feel unwelcome as bigots.
Comment by Tim Mc on February 25, 2025 at 8:49 pm
I will never forget the looks I received from people I have known my entire life, when I stood up at one of our disaffiliate meetings and said, “I think we should disaffiliate.”
My church did not disaffiliate. You just don’t know who you are going to church with until something like this happens.
It was time to go find a new church that believed in the historical teachings of the original Christian Faith and believed the Bible is the inspired Word of God.
Comment by Tim Ware on February 26, 2025 at 12:00 am
Well…..from the comments here, it’s obvious that Satan is alive and well, and the controlling factor, in the UMC, maybe even in Global. Good grief you people, listen to yourselves!
Comment by Wilson R. on February 26, 2025 at 12:11 pm
Satan is alive in any church where people treat mercy as a weakness just because the secular leader believes in mercilessness.
Comment by Tim Ware on February 27, 2025 at 12:51 am
WilsonR,
From your comments on here, it’s obvious you’re one of the most hate-filled people on here. You may show what you call “mercy” on a selected few, but you have utter disdain, and yes hate, for all who don’t agree with you. It’s obvious. And you feel perfectly justified in your hate.
Comment by Different Steve on February 27, 2025 at 10:38 am
What is a cult?
There is no single definition of a cult, nor is there a legal one. Cults can have vastly different ideologies, but they share a few core similarities. Cults have strict rules and values. The most extreme beliefs — the ones they eventually become known for — are rarely presented early on to new members. They are led by a persuasive figure, like slick gospel leader Jim Jones or the wild-eyed hippie Charles Manson, and they are usually highly hierarchical.
Jones’ Peoples Temple, for example, began as a progressive church that celebrated all races during a time of segregation. Members were lured in with the promise of racial equality and free social services, and Jones normalized violence, coercion and subservience that ended in mass murder in Guyana.
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/alleged-kill-orders-cult-zizians-bay-area-20184964.php
Comment by Wilson R on February 27, 2025 at 10:44 am
Sounds like projection
Comment by Differenet Steve on February 27, 2025 at 12:59 pm
4 Dangerous Qualities of “Dark Empaths”
Characters who can wreak a special kind of havoc.
The Dark Empath personality has high levels of narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and empathy.
The Dark Empath is potentially more of a danger than a person with the Dark Triad traits.
Dark Empath traits can be initially appealing because they create a superficially attractive person.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/lifetime-connections/202306/how-to-identify-a-dark-empath-4-dangerous-traits
Comment by Different Steve on February 27, 2025 at 1:07 pm
I know you are but what am I?
Comment by Gordon Hackman on March 3, 2025 at 3:06 pm
“As much as we try to include everyone, we cannot tolerate traditionalists that exclude people. The exclusive nature of the traditionalist position on LBGQT+ self-awareness is the opposite of Christian teaching of love. Bottom line is Christianity cannot include all things for all people. We have to exclude traditionalist heresy because that view of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.”
And there it is. Everyone is included except the people whose views don’t agree with our view that everyone should be included. It is forbidden to forbid.
The reality, as this commenter recognizes, is that genuine Christianity and the ideology of the sexual revolution are utterly incompatible understandings of the world. If you embrace one you will reject the other. The irony is that the commenter believes themselves and those like them to be embracing a truly “accepting” and “welcoming” worldview when all they are really doing is substituting they own moral viewpoint and dogmatically enforcing it on others (ie. practive acceptance as we demand it to be practiced or else you are not accepted here). They are what they hate.
Comment by Marco Bell on March 3, 2025 at 6:19 pm
I thought the IRD had matured in their understanding of humans, but apparently, they still conflate LGBTQ+ individuals as sexual predators, or perhaps I understood their position differently, to suggest that children who identify as Trans, Bisexual or Gay are at a greater risk of being violated by sexual predators.
I enjoyed UMYF meetings for fifteen years growing up, and we all knew several friends in our group who were Gay. There was never any issue regarding their sexual orientation. We loved each and every one who attended!
Perhaps you can clarify the WVUMC Church’s issue so I might understand?
Thank you, I look forward to your enlightening.