Me, I'm a church orphan. I stumbled into The UMC because I read the Articles of Religion and thought, "I'd like to belong to a church that believed that." Also, First UMC of Terre Haute was just up the street from our first apartment. So I don't have a lifelong sense of belonging that I'm defending; I'm a United Methodist by choice and commitment, and so long as I can live out what I was looking for when I came in, I'm happy to stay. Only if General Conference makes it impossible for me to stay with my conscience intact will I leave.
As John Denver sang a long while ago:
Love is why I came here in the first place,
Love is now the reason I must go;*
Love is all I ever hoped to find here,
Love is still the only dream I know.
*If I must.
