A regional body of The United Methodist Church has elected its third openly gay bishop, the first since the mainline Protestant denomination changed its rules to allow noncelibate homosexuals to be ordained.
The Rev. Kristin Stoneking, a United Methodist studies professor at the Pacific School of Religion, was elected a bishop by the UMC Western Jurisdiction at their meeting held last week in Spokane, Washington.
Stoneking who was elected on the 11th ballot, received 65 votes out of 94 valid ballots cast. Her term of service begins on Sept. 1, according to The Christian Post.
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Addressing the regional body shorty after being elected, Stoneking stated that saints were “ordinary people” who “love without limits,” echoing the theme of the gathering.
“Western Jurisdiction, you love. You love big,” she said. “We know that there are saints who continue to walk among us and I’m only here because of the saints who have poured love into me. The love that flows through each of you, the love that has been offered.”
“I’m so humbled at this time, at this incredibly momentous opportune time for us as a denomination to lean in to all of the doors that are opening. May we all be humble learners. I commit to you to be a humble learner,” she said.
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Stoneking is the third person in a same-sex marriage to be elected bishop by the Western Jurisdiction, as the regional body had previously elected Bishop Karen Oliveto in 2016 and Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth in 2022, both in defiance of the denomination’s rules prohibiting the ordination of noncelibate gay clergy.
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