United Methodist Church Ordains Transgender Deacon Who Identifies as Neither Man or Woman
Peter D'Abrosca
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The United Methodist Church ordained its first “non-binary transgender” Deacon in June.
“Barclay, a transgender person who identifies as neither male nor female and thus uses the pronoun ‘they,’ was commissioned on Sunday as the first non-binary member of the clergy in the United Methodist Church,” wrote the Aquila Report.
The deacon’s full name is Reverend M Barclay, who came out initially as a lesbian woman before deciding that she was in fact transgender. The ordaining bishop was forced to use non-binary pronouns during the ordination ceremony, as preferred by Barclay.
“Pour out your Holy Spirit upon M,” the bishop said. “Send them now to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, to announce the reign of God and to equip the church for ministry.”
The official rules of the church require that clergy members be either celibate or in heterosexual marriages, and that they only perform heterosexual marriages. Now the UMC has homosexual clergy who perform homosexual marriages, meaning that all of the church’s rules have been broken and are now rendered meaningless.
One megachurch in Texas is close to leaving the denomination over its increased liberalization and movement away from the word of God.
“Windsor Village United Methodist Church of Houston, which has approximately 18,000 members, is undergoing a process of prayer and discernment for possibly leaving the UMC,” according to the Christian Post.
The UMC is in the midst of a raging debate over homosexuality and same-sex marriage. It is considering changes to its Book of Discipline, which says homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching.” The church will hold a special “General Conference” in February to hash out the issue.
Floyd LeBlanc, chairman of the Windsor Village Staff-Parish Relations Committee said that the church is holding a series of prayer gatherings and fasting once a week as part of its decision making process.
“We have invited guest speakers to bless, prepare and sustain us during this time. Bishop Tudor Bismark (from Africa) was with us recently and we look forward to a visit from Bishop Raphael Green (from Missouri),” he reportedly said.
BLP Passage Ends.
“While M’s journey over the last few years has included gender identity, all of those who were commissioned or ordained on Sunday have been on some kind of journey that has brought them to new places of faith, life and relationships,” said Bishop Sally Dyck. “Likewise, I hope the church will find itself at a new place in the near future when it comes to full inclusion.”
All of a sudden, the United Methodist Church has stolen the talking points of a women’s and gender studies program on a liberal arts college campus.
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