They were a diverse lot, a multitude from around the globe who spent 11 days at the David L. Lawrence Convention, Downtown, deciding the direction of the United Methodist church for the next four years.

	Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette Members of the the Mytishchi UMC Choir, of Moscow, Russia, sing a hymn Thursday morning at the United Methodist Church General Conference, Downtown. The conference concluded Friday. Click photo for larger image.

African delegates wore colorful traditional dress. Colleagues addressed each other in French, Spanish and Swahili. Supporters of a church inclusive of gays and lesbians draped themselves in rainbow-colored collars. When it was over, they went home to Mozambique, Moscow and Monroeville.

"It felt like coming to a United Nations meeting," said Sunshine Bird, a delegate and preacher's wife from Georgia. "I knew this was global, but I didn't expect this magnitude."

In all, there were some 900 delegates, 68 bishops, and thousands of clergy and observers who came to town to sing, preach and pound out church business. More than half, 56.6 percent, came from rural churches, which care for 2.9 million worshippers.

The issues -- money, sexuality and power-sharing -- have been enough to tear other denominations apart. And, while the 8.3 million people who make up the United Methodist body could not even agree to disagree on the role of openly gay people in the church, they left the conference on Friday night a church unbroken.

In the nation's second largest Protestant church, conservatives held sway on some of the more controversial topics. But the gathering revealed a church that has grown more liberal. In 1976, 80 percent of the delegates voted to condemn homosexuality. At this conference that gap narrowed -- 55.5 percent voted to reaffirm the condemnation.

And the church continued to move beyond a past singed by racism. There was an appreciation service for blacks who stayed with the denomination when others left because of segregation. And money was approved to boost Hispanic, Native American and Korean ministries. The church's traditional reliance on holy conferencing -- giving all people a voice -- perhaps carried it through these difficult issues.

John Wesley, the founder of Methodismin 18th-century England, believed that bringing the body together was good for the church. In coming together, the church hammers out the laws and principles that guide its faith. It isn't always pleasant, but it is family.

The Rev. Charlotte Abrams of Omaha compared the often contentious debate on gays and lesbians to disagreements between her two daughters. "They will never see eye-to-eye on many matters, but I must decide to love them both."

Still, it was a difficult conference for gays. The church strengthened its stance against homosexuality, reaffirmed that openly gay people can't be ordained, and the denomination's highest court, the judicial council, ruled that the church's Seattle area bishop could not appoint Karen Dammann as a minister because she is a self-avowed practicing homosexual.

"The church is continuing to hurt people," said the Rev. Gilbert Caldwell of Denver, who said the struggle over sexuality reminded him of the fight to end racial segregation in the church in the 1960s.

"The church is living in the midst of pain," said the Rev. Martha Orphe, district superintendent of 45 churches in the Pittsburgh area. "But we have a greater hope in something other than pain. That's what keeps us from being separated."

Supporters of gays in the church said denying ordination is not the only form of exclusion. The church says all are welcome, but many times gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people are shunned from the church directory or can't teach Sunday school.

"It's condemning," said Sue Laurie, of the Reconciling Ministries Network, an unofficial Methodist group advocating more inclusive measures.

At the conference, there were 180 international delegates, the most of any General Conference. However, there were almost seven times as many American delegates. Many international delegates thought the conference focused too much on issues important to the United States.

"The church does not think globally," said the Rev. Erlene K.P. Thompson of Liberia.

If not for the majority perspective, delegates with roots to the Third World believe they could have raised the volume on other concerns. That is part of the reason the Rev. Jacques Pierre, and his sister, Judith Pierre-Okerson, both from Florida, came to the conference. The only Haitian-American delegates, they wanted a broader debate.

"Other views are cast out," said Pierre-Okerson, asking where was the debate on the wars in Afghanistan and Palestine; about people going to bed hungry, children orphaned by AIDS in Africa? "They all took a backseat to homosexuality" she said.

As the sessions shut down late Friday night, delegates left with the church still intact, for now. After the heated debate over gays and lesbians, the conference survived a stunning proposal on Thursday. A statement, crafted by conservative alliances in the church, called for a task force to study how to break the church into two.

The Rev. Bill Hinson, a leader with the Confessing Movement, said that after three decades of arguing the church still had "irreconcilable differences" over the role of gays and should agree to amicably split.

The proposal, which never made it to legislative action, was unexpected and launched waves of discontent among the delegates. Friday morning, delegates sent a resounding message: They voted 869 to 41 to reaffirm that the church stands as one body.

The vote showed the majority of United Methodists will work in holy conference for the next four years -- until the next General Conference -- on keeping the church intact, said the Rev. John Schol, a West Chester, Pa., minister who worked on the unity resolution.

After four years, said Schol, "we will come back a stronger denomination. We've sent a very clear message. We're not splitting, we're a unified, United Methodist church."