Delegate calls Conference not to do harm

Fred Brewington (New York, USA, lay) called on delegates to the General Conference “not to cause pain, not to do harm” by the decisions them make about human sexuality.  “We must now take it to heart that there is a claim by our brothers and sisters who are gay and lesbian and transgender that there is pain that they suffer…when we stand and refer to our brothers and sisters as being unholy we do harm…I pray that we come to our senses so that we don’t have to stand and say forgive me for causing you pain…”


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Retired Bishop Peggy A. Johnson. Photo courtesy of the author.

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The Methodist Church’s 1956 General Conference meets from April 25 to May 7 in the municipal auditorium in Minneapolis. On May 4, the first Friday of the legislative assembly, the delegates voted to make women eligible for full clergy rights. “Now it is up to us to prove in clear and deep witness to the whole church our consecration and our loyal devotion to the work of the Kingdom of God,” said Margaret Henrichsen, a General Conference visitor, after the vote. In 1967, she became the first U.S. woman appointed district superintendent. Photo courtesy of Archives and History.

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Seventy years ago, the Methodist Church supported full conference membership for women clergy — a decision that would have a resounding impact when The United Methodist Church formed in 1968 and even today.

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