Broadway United Methodist Church’s (BUMC) longtime efforts to include and celebrate LGBTQ+ people are now more closely aligned with the rest of the denomination’s policies.

During the 11-day General Conference of the United Methodist Church in North Carolina, hundreds of congregations voted on May 2 to reverse the denomination’s ban on gay clergy and approved a new definition of marriage that includes same-sex couples.

“All these years, we’ve been living in alignment with the gospel’s call to love all people, but against the denomination’s Book of Discipline, as it stood,” said Rev. Alka Lyall of BUMC. “Now, we can tell people that our entire denomination welcomes all people when, in the past, we had to say our church was welcoming but the denominational language was still exclusive.”

Since 1986, BUMC has enthusiastically included and celebrated LGBTQ+ people, regardless of the wider church community’s discriminatory rules and practices, Lyall explained.

Many people have left Broadway over the years because they were “tired of the denomination not moving forward,” Lyall explained. So, Lyall hopes these changes within the broader United Methodist Church community will inspire more faith in Broadway’s mission.

During the conference, delegates removed a 52-year-old declaration from the denomination’s official teachings that deemed “the practice of homosexuality … incompatible with Christian teaching.”

The General Conference implemented a new definition of marriage, which describes a covenant “between two people of faith” and recognizes the couple might not always involve a man and woman. The denomination also removed its longstanding ban that prevented “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained or appointed as ministers.

“I’m so grateful for this new energy and change in spirit that we’ve seen here [at the conference],” Lyall said. “It’s one thing to make these changes on paper, now I’m looking forward to seeing the work happen and for us to live into what we have legislated here.”

The late Rev. Gregory Dell was suspended by the broader church community for conducting same-sex holy unions at Broadway in 1999. But, he later elected to remain part of the denomination in 2001 to work within the church for change.

Dell died in 2016, but was remembered by the community for creating a safe haven at Broadway for LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized groups. Both before and after his own trial for marrying a same-sex couple, Dell protested United Methodist Church conferences about the church’s position on the LGBTQ+ community, once arm-in-arm with the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the grandson of Mohandas K. Gandhi.

Continuing Broadway’s social justice mission, Lyall has participated in caucuses to advocate for more inclusive denominational policies since she was ordained in 2005. 

The last time the denomination met was in 2019. Since then, thousands of conservative congregations disaffiliated because the United Methodist Church stopped enforcing its bans on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ ordination.

“The churches and people that felt they couldn’t live with this call to be a fully inclusive church have been leaving,” Lyall said. “Those who remain realize that the church needs to reflect what the gospel calls us to do. The spirit here has been wonderful and positive as we’re making history.”

Alongside these new changes, Lyall hopes to see United Methodist churches continue to evolve and do more to eradicate racism, promote gender equity and prevent climate change.

“There are a lot of things we need to continue to work on,” Lyall said. “We want to be a church that does what Jesus calls us to do. We want to do right by the earth and help people. We don’t claim to do everything right all the time, but we try to keep moving in the right direction.”