An update on the ongoing progress of resolving matters of human sexuality was released today by the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church.

The Commission on a Way Forward The Council of Bishops Executive Committee’s July 19-20 meeting in Chicago devoted much of its agenda to finalizing plans for launching the Commission on a Way Forward. The full Council had previously referred the design and implementation of the Commission to the Executive Committee.

We began by acknowledging the profound dissonance between what the Council had proposed to the General Conference in May and the reality within the church in July. The landscape has changed dramatically. The reported declarations of non-compliance from several annual conferences, the intention to convene a Wesleyan Covenant Association and the election of the Rev. Karen Oliveto as a bishop of the church have opened deep wounds and fissures within The United Methodist Church and fanned fears of schism.

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