Methodist Delegates in Rebellious Mood : Convention: In a signal of their discomfort with liberalism, they reject easing the church’s stand on homosexuality and vote to move the ministries board out of New York.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —  The United Methodist Church, it is often said, is a microcosm of America.

And, indeed, like the rest of the nation, delegates to the church’s General Conference, the top policy-making body of the 8.9-million-member denomination, are unhappy with their bureaucracy.

In a throw-the-rascals-out mood, they are pulling back from policies and programs that defined mainstream Protestantism through much of the 1960s and ‘70s.

On Monday, in a marathon day of legislative business, the 998 conference delegates dramatically signaled their discomfort with liberalism by sharply rejecting any easing of the denomination’s stand on homosexuality. Now, in the denomination’s Social Principles, homosexuality is described as incompatible with Christian teaching.

In an even more pointed signal to the United Methodist bureaucracy, delegates voted to move the denomination’s Board of Global Ministries out of New York. They approved the move even though they have no other site in mind, are uncertain what it will cost and are unclear about what effect it might have on the denomination’s mission overseas.

The board and its 400-plus employees have come to serve as a lightning rod for discontent. To many in the pews, the board is a bureaucracy that symbolizes decades of support for liberal issues at home and abroad, one often portrayed as arrogant and isolated from concerns of grass-roots Methodists.

Speaking for large numbers of delegates, the Rev. Charles Lippse of Johnson City, Tenn., said: “The board simply has become a bit callous and big, insensitive and out of touch.”

But the tilt toward conservatism here is by no means firm. The vote was extremely close on moving the mission board out of New York. A mere 15-vote difference separated those urging that it stay in New York from those wanting the move. And supporters of the New York location managed to amend the resolution in a way that delays the move until sometime after 1996 and allows the General Conference of 1996 to reverse the decision.

Ambivalence was also evident in votes on homosexuality. Although the vote to reaffirm the church’s 20-year-old teaching that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching was overwhelming--710 to 238--the margin of victory for retaining the traditional language was about 5% smaller than the vote at the 1988 General Conference.

And delegates also adopted and recommended to congregations by a vote of 767 to 190 a lengthy study document that is more open in tone toward gays and lesbians than would be suggested by the earlier vote in favor of the traditional teaching.

The document strongly defends civil rights of lesbians and gays, including economic rights of gay partners who live together.

The action on homosexuality, punctuated by raucous foot-stomping by supporters of change, leaves the denomination polarized on the sensitive issue. The divisions reflect similar conflicts in other mainline denominations, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

“It’s going to take 10 years, or 20 years, or 25 years, but this church will change its position,” said the Rev. Tex Sample of Kansas City, Mo., a supporter of the effort to drop the incompatibility language.

Although conservatives are pleased with the results, they seem to be driven less by ideology than by general discontent with the denomination’s Establishment.

In elections to the Judicial Council, the denomination’s nine-member ecclesiastical Supreme Court, delegates rejected the only two incumbents seeking reelection.

But neither of the new members is aligned with conservatives. And in an open seat for a clergy member of the council, delegates elected the Rev. Zan Holmes of Dallas, who is generally considered a progressive. He strongly advocated keeping the Board of Global Ministries in New York.

Another United Methodist issue that reflects national concerns is money. Delegates steered their denominational ship on a fiscal middle course Wednesday, adopting a $471-million budget that turned back increases sought by the church bureaucracy but also rejected Draconian measures favored by a vocal grass-roots minority.

The money supports work of the national church in a host of areas, ranging from theological education to fighting hunger and supporting missionaries.

Now, United Methodists put about $2.9 billion in the collection plate each year, but the bulk of that--80 cents of every $1--stays at the local level. Less than 4 cents goes to the national agencies.

At the same time, the general economy, including the national recession and the Reagan Administration cutbacks in social spending, have put enormous pressure on local churches to spend their money at home. For many congregations, priorities in giving have shifted from regional and national church agencies to anti-poverty programs, such as soup kitchens, aid to homeless people and other welfare efforts.

Compounding fiscal problems, church officials say, the membership base of the church has dropped by 250,000 people over the last four years.

In other actions, the conference agreed to contribute $21,000 to a special fund for relief and rebuilding efforts in Los Angeles in the aftermath of the riots.

The money was collected in a special offering taken on Tuesday morning in response to a special message on the Los Angeles unrest adopted by the conference Monday.

The money will go through the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Also, the church’s nearly 37,000 congregations are being asked to take an offering June 7, Pentecost Sunday, for the Los Angeles relief and rebuilding effort.