FILE - The Rev. Michael Briggs, left, and the Rev. Ken Malcolm, right, hug as they walk after Episcopalians overwhelmingly voted to allow religious weddings for same-sex couples Wednesday, July 1, 2015, in Salt Lake City. When the United Methodist Church removed anti-LGBTQ language from its official rules in recent days, it marked the end of a half-century of debates over LGBTQ inclusion in mainline Protestant denominations. The moves sparked joy from progressive delegates, but the UMC faces many of the same challenges as Lutheran, Presbyterian and Episcopal denominations that took similar routes, from schisms to friction with international churches to the long-term aging and shrinking of their memberships. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)