The annual conference to set policy for the Iowa Methodist Church opens in Ames today. Church leaders will face a growing movement among parishioners to change the direction of their church. David Stanley is one of three co-chairs of the “Methodist Laity Reform Movement.”Stanley says the group conducted a survey that shows overwhelming disagreement with many of the major policy issues approved at last year’s annual conference. Stanley says the fundamental issue of concern is what the church stands for. He says the annual conference a year ago failed to approve a resolution affirming “Jesus Christ as son of god, savior and Lord” and he says they also failed to pass a resolution recognizing the authority of scripture.He says church members are also against the leadership stance on several other issues such as same-sex marriage and homosexual rights goes against what the members of the church believe. Stanley says the problem is the clergy control 50-percent of the vote at the annual conference. He hopes church leaders will take a look at this poll. He says it should “at least sound an alarm that makes the church bureaucracy and leadership realize they’re out of touch with a large share of the people in the pews back home.”Stanley says the Methodist Laity Reform Movement organized just a few months ago and already has 15-hundred members. He says the movement is growing as Methodists across the state seek a way to change the direction of their church.There are just over 200-thousand Methodists in Iowa. Stanley is a republican political activist who leads the group “Iowans for Tax Relief.”
