Leader of Methodist Church in Ireland Rev Dr John Alderdice welcomes 10-year-review holding fast to definition of marriage - but treatment of some LGBT people is criticised

The leader of Irish Methodism has welcomed a 10-year review which has held firm to its definition of marriage - but did criticise the church’s treatment of some LGBT people.

Rev Dr John Alderdice was speaking after the church's annual conference in Belfast last week heard a report from a review on human sexuality which was commissioned in 2014.

The working party carried out ten years of engagement on sexuality with particular focus on "same-sex relationships".

Reporting its findings, the committee said it "did not at any time" consider changing the understanding of marriage as being "between one man and one woman" and the "only appropriate relationship” for sexual relations.

The new President of the Methodist Church in Ireland, Rev John Alderdice.

However it found that there was also "a depth of hurt and anxiety in the Church around matters of sexuality".

It also highlighted "inconsistency of approach" where people engaging in "same-sex dating" had been asked to step aside, while a blind eye was turned to "sexually active, unmarried" heterosexuals.

And it issued a generic but unreserved apology "for failures in pastoral support and care" on the issue of sexuality.

The group did not offer an apology specifically to the LGBT community, nor confess to "homophobia". However, neither did it place any explicit bar on church membership.

Rev Dr John Alderdice, President of the Methodist Church in Ireland (MCI), welcomed the findings.

“The discussion at Conference on Human Sexuality was respectful and the variety of voices demonstrated the breadth of opinion within the Methodist Church in Ireland," said the Belfast Central and South Superintendant.

"I welcomed the fact that Conference affirmed that everyone is welcome to be a member of the Methodist Church in Ireland and to participate in the life of the Church.

"Conference did not change their understanding of the nature of marriage as being between one man and one woman, indeed that was not even debated.

"Following discussion, we stated that adherence to that sexual ethic is the goal of discipleship and the standard for spiritual leadership and teaching roles, and we stressed the importance of maintaining those principles in a compassionate way. This is what I will seek to uphold as President of the Church.

"I also wholeheartedly welcomed the unreserved apology for any occasions in which in our actions, words and attitudes we have fallen short of the way of Jesus.”

Steven Smyrl, who is a member of the church council of the Methodist Church in Sandymount in Dublin, welcomed the apology.

He was previously dismissed as an elder by the Presbyterian church because he is in a same-sex marriage.

Mr Smyrl said that as "one of the many LGBT+ members of MCI, I very much welcome the unequivocal apology given at last week’s annual conference which addressed the past hurt caused by the Methodist Church".

He added: "The report on human sexuality received by the conference couldn’t have been more explicit in its declaration that all are welcome in the Methodist Church and, most importantly, can participate in the life of the Church."

He said this was in contrast to a resolution by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in 2018 which declared that "same-sex couples" are not eligible for communion and that their children could not be baptised.

Asked how the church would deal with the issue in future, where LGBT or heterosexual people in active roles in the church are not complying with church policy, an MCI spokesman said this was a pastoral matter.

“As it has always been, these matters are first and foremost pastoral and, in any situation, where someone in leadership in the church is living inconsistently with the beliefs of the church, we would seek to have respectful conversations with them about their situation and how they would best serve in the church going forward,” he said.

“The Report recognises that behaviour or belief that does not align with the Church’s teaching is not necessarily a bar to serving in the Church. However, it will be a factor in discerning what roles are appropriate for an individual as they grow in relationship with Jesus. This is the same for human sexuality as it is for any other matter.”

In 2021 the Methodist Church in Britain voted to become the largest denomination to permit same-sex marriages.