Inclusiveness

It passes!!!

A petition was just passed at 67% to amend the constitution so that paragraph 4, Article IV has been changed in this way (strikethrough is old text that is being removed, bold is new text that is being added):

Inclusiveness of the Church--The United Methodist Church is a part of the church universal, which is one Body in Christ. The United Methodist Church acknowledges that all persons are of sacred worth. All persons without regard to race, color, national origin, status, or economic conditions, shall be eligible to attend its worship services, participate in its programs, receive the sacraments, upon baptism be admitted as baptized members, and upon taking vows declaring the Christian faith, become professing members in any local church in the connection. In The United Methodist Church no conference or other organizational unit of the Church shall be structured so as to exclude any member or any constituent body of the Church because of race, color, national origin, status or economic condition .. All unbaptized persons willing to be baptized and recite the appropriate vows, and all baptized persons willing to recite the appropriate vows, shall be accepted into membership in any local church in the connection.

Praise God! This is a great statement of FULL inclusiveness (ALL means ALL!), and in my mind overrides the lack of such inclusiveness in the membership petition that did not pass the other day.

We've still got a long way to go... but it is good to have a breath of fresh air after these long, hard days we have faced.