Archive - Marriage and Relationships 2018

Please note - this is an archive of material written after the 2018 Conference. Please see Marriage and Relationships 2019 for the latest information.

The 2018 Conference directed the Marriage and Relationships Task Group to bring a report to the Conference in 2019 setting out a number of theological arguments and recommendations concerning the most pressing issues in the Church’s understanding of relationships and marriage.

The Conference also adopted a Notice of Motion which directed the Task Group to ensure that the recommendations to be brought to the Conference include options for “a way forward that is consistent with the existing commitment to live with contradictory convictions” and enable, amongst other things, “those who feel called by God to solemnise same sex marriages to do so” and “protection for ministers, probationers, members and churches prevented by conscience from participation in such services”.

There were several comments in the debates at the Conference that, despite numerous opportunities over many years for consultation about the Church’s understanding of relationships and marriage, many individuals and local churches had not engaged much in discussion of the pressing issues. The Task Group is keen to encourage such conversations in every part of the life of the Church in this current connexional year, leading up to the Task Group’s presentation of its report to the Conference in 2019.

Here is a video created from a presentation given by members of the Marriage and Relationships Task Group to the Representative Session of the Methodist Conference 2018. It ends with a few questions to prompt discussion.

To download an mp4 file of this video for viewing offline visit our Vimeo page and click 'download'.

For a more formal statement of the decisions of the 2018 Conference and of the processes leading up to the presentation of the Task Group’s report to the 2019 Conference and beyond, see  Decisions of the 2018 Conference and Process for Conferences of 2019 and 2020 (Word doc)

Further resources can be found below.