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Wesleyan Church Adjusts Alcohol Guidelines

Though the Wesleyan Church adjusted its alcohol guidelines, Houghton College’s policy regarding alcohol consumption will remain the same, according to Vice President of Student Life Rob Pool.

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The Wesleyan Church, Houghton College’s sponsoring denomination, decided to reevaluate its longstanding membership policy at its general conference in June. According to the denomination’s website, the church discontinued its two-tier system of membership in favor of one single membership body. Characteristic of the former system was alcohol use: “community membership”, the lower tier, did not prohibit alcohol use. “Covenant membership”, the level a Wesleyan must reach to serve in various leadership functions in the Wesleyan Church, prohibited drinking. “Attendees can have a sense of belonging around the core scriptural beliefs of The Wesleyan Church without the church putting an expectation of spiritual maturity upon them prior to belonging”, the denomination said in a statement issued in August.

Those who wish to serve in ministerial positions, direct Sunday school programs, serve on church boards, and similar leadership positions are still required to abstain from alcohol.

Houghton College, along with Kingswood University, Southern Wesleyan University, Oklahoma Wesleyan University, and Indiana Wesleyan University are considered ministries of the Wesleyan Church, according to Pool. While changes in the denomination’s policy would not “directly change” policies at these schools, “they would inform them” Pool said. The Community Covenant, signed by faculty, staff, and students still stands in regard to Houghton’s alcohol free policy. “I have not heard of any faculty, staff, or students proposing a change to the campus alcohol policy,” he said.

Assistant resident director Ian DeHass ‘17 said “ In res life, we take our cues from the denomination, but I think we all value a space where alcohol isn’t an issue that we have to consider. We know people from other schools that allow alcohol, and most of their time is spent in conduct hearings, and for us that’s not really where we want to spend our time. We want to spend our time thinking about diversity and thinking about how we can best help our students grow. And I think that reason alone is good enough reason for why we wouldn’t want to add alcohol into the picture at Houghton.”

Pastor of Houghton Wesleyan Church, Wes Oden, said the change “really doesn’t have anything specifically to do with alcohol, but with membership requirements. As I understand it, they have moved [alcohol] from membership requirements to a different section of the Discipline. Instead of [abstinence] being a requirement [for membership] it becomes a matter of taking responsibility over what it means to be a member of the Body of Christ.”

Joseph Jennings, Superintendent of the Western New York District of the Wesleyan Church, said “I don’t expect any changes to be made in the policies of any of our Wesleyan colleges” regarding alcohol. He said he expects Houghton College’s alcohol policy to stay as is “for at least the next ten years.”

Though the Church’s new guidelines are expected to go into effect this month, Pool said any change in Houghton College’s alcohol policy would need to be initiated by a petition to amend the Community Covenant.