“I just hope we Methodists can find common ground” and prevent a schism from happening.

Scott Faldon, 49, Fort Smith, Ark.

Member of Goddard United Methodist Church

My great-grandfather was a Methodist preacher, my mother helped found a couple of Methodist churches, and I’ve been a Methodist all my life. A schism has been brewing for a bit now, and this might be the proverbial straw breaking the camel’s back. I just hope we Methodists can find common ground and prevent it from happening.

I feel this is very generational. Younger people, and my generation, I don’t think we have that much of a problem with it. But the older generation, the baby boomers, who are still in power in church leadership, they tend to. There are so many churches that skew so much older.

For the entire time that I’ve grown up in the church, there have been homosexual members serving in various roles, whether as music leader or Sunday school teacher, or something. So it’s just a matter of admitting that they’ve been a part of the church for decades. There’s no shame in it. They love the Lord and want to serve the Lord and serve their communities.

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Image Stacey Sarnicola

“It’s holding us back to be still fighting this.”

Stacey Sarnicola, 52, Brooklyn

Member of Park Slope United Methodist Church

The United States and other liberal-minded countries need to split from the African and Asian churches. That is the only resolution I can see. The people in my church have a committee that’s just about going to church conferences and trying to change the policy. Every year they come back disappointed.

They’ve been fighting this for the 20 years I’ve been there. Our country is progressing. Most Americans agree with marriage equality and gay rights. So it’s holding us back to be still fighting this. If the United Methodist Church is dwindling in the U.S., that’s why.

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