Ivory Coast Methodist Church Rejects Defining Marriage As Lifelong Covenant Between “Two People Of Faith”
PHOTO; First United Methodist Church in Monrovia
By Out Staff Writer
Ever since the United Methodist Church General Conference in the US reached a decision to embrace homosexuality on May 10, 2024, the UMC in Liberia has remained publicly silent on the issue, but their fellow Methodists in neighbouring Ivory Coast have voted to leave the United Methodist Church.
At the meeting in the US early this month, United Methodist General Conference, the church’s global legislative body, voted to overturn every ban on LGBTQ people. The historic changes include a new definition of marriage as a lifelong covenant between “two people of faith,” rather than solely between a man and a woman, and a repeal of its ban on LGBTQ clergy, although Reverend Jerry Kulah, a delegate from Liberia, was quoted as saying: “We do not believe we know better than the Bible.”
The General Conference also struck down a 52-year-old stance on homosexuality being “incompatible with Christian teaching.” At A Meeting In The US: United Methodist Church Holds Historic Vote in Favour Of LGBTQ Inclusion – News Public Trust
The Conference gave a new definition of marriage that it is a lifelong covenant between “two people of faith”, meaning between male and male, female and female or the opposite sex.
But some sources in the UMC in Liberia say members in Liberia have been told by the Church’s hierarchy, who attended the conference in the US, to play a low profile of the move and not go public for now.
To the contrary, their fellow United Methodist Church members in the Ivory Coast have decided to kick against the decision to embrace the LGBTQ practice in the church.
According to the report, “members of the Cote d’Ivoire Conference, meeting in special session on May 28 voted to leave the United Methodist Church.”
