Here grace has a special significance. That position remains in the church's Book of Discipline . Only the General Conference, which meets every four years, can speak officially for the denomination, which has 8.4 million members in the United States and more than 1 million in other countries. Bishops attend the General Conference but do not vote. Given these actual conditions, he called for a fresh Christian understanding of marriage.
Marriage is a gift.
Reception of that gift is affirmed as the couple stands before God and with the witness of the people of God. The couple and the community take vows together. Marriage is not principally a bond between two people or simply a good in itself or a fulfillment of two individuals, Langford said. Marriage is the bond of two persons with God and within a community of faith. Marriage is an expression of embodied grace.