The denomination’s social principles were revised during its quadrennial 2024 General Conference, when delegates voted to remove from the UMC’s rule book a statement added in 1972 that called homosexuality “incompatible with Christian teaching.”

(RNS)—Asbury Theological Seminary, a 103-year-old Kentucky evangelical seminary, is no longer approved as a school for United Methodist candidates for ordained ministry, the school announced Thursday (June 25). It attributed its removal by the United Methodist Church’s university accrediting body to the school’s objections to a new version of the denomination’s social principles that no longer solely affirm heterosexual marriage.

In its acknowledgment of the decision, the seminary based in Wilmore, Kentucky, said “this outcome reflects a determination made by the UMC rather than a shared resolution.”

A statement from the UMC General Board of Higher Education and Ministry said that the June meeting of the denomination’s University Senate included the removal of both Asbury and Northeastern Seminary in Rochester, New York, from its “list of approved non-United Methodist schools.”

The organization, which determines which schools may be attended by United Methodist ministerial students, also said it was notified during its most recent review period that Palmer Theological Seminary in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, and Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, requested removal from the same list.

But the new juncture with Asbury was notable due to recent UMC developments.

Asbury President David Watson said in a statement, “The Senate’s requirements, particularly those related to the UMC’s 2024 Social Principles concerning ‘Human Sexuality’ and ‘Marriage,’ are not aligned with Asbury Theological Seminary’s institutional ethos and the historic witness of the Christian faith.”

The statement continued, “We affirm marriage as sanctioned by God, which joins one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union for life, as delineated in Scripture, and provides the sole context for sexual intimacy, helping to ensure the blessings of that relationship as God intended.”

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