KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two Kansas City area church leaders reacted to new inclusive policies approved this week by the United Methodist Church leaders at a national conference.
On Wednesday at a conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, delegates with the United Methodist Church made changes to their church policies.
More changes came Thursday when it comes to the LGBTQ community within the United Methodist Church.
The church voted to revise its social principles, removing the language "homosexuality is incompatible with the christian teachings."
"We love you; we are going to take care of you; we are going to take care of all of you," Margeaux Seymour said.
For years, the conversation in the United Methodist Church has been difficult for people like Seymour.
"I can't tell you how many conversations I've been apart of, and there is always this side of, 'But not you,' or, 'We are so excited and welcoming, but not you,' or 'We will get there, but not you,'" Seymour said.
Now, Seymour says it's a great feeling to finally be fully welcomed into the United Methodist Church as a member of the LGBTQ community.
"To finally have you and all of you makes me so excited," Seymour said.
Brad Bryan, a lead pastor at Keystone United Methodist Church, says turning the page on policy and church teachings after 52 years won't be easy.
“Really, creating a space that is all inclusive and opening to everyone and welcoming to everyone means that a whole lot of people are going to have to get over themselves really quickly," Bryan said. “Just because those of us who are celebrating and happy about this doesn't mean we are happy about people leaving the church or more division happening."
Open to ordaining and officiating weddings for LGBTQ members of the church, Bryan says this policy change won't hurt the mission outside of these walls.
“When you get down to that nitty-gritty and that specific, you can focus on what your church has to do and who your church has to help; focus on who your church needs to help in the neighborhood," Bryan said.
Margeaux has been waiting nine years to have faith at the center of her marriage.
She'll soon get married in June to her fiance Kelsi, and the pair can now say "I do" in church.
“It's really surreal to have spent your entire life feeling a little bit less than, and then to have that be acknowledged significantly that in fact I am, and several of us are fully loved and fully supported in the eyes of God," Seymour said.
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