I'm a practicing Methodist, and I think your first paragraph is pretty accurate. People are encouraged to think about issues using the "Wesleyan Quadrilateral" - Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. Our annual conference (different than the General Conference, the national body that sets policy for the church) recently sent back a charge to local congregations to begin to discuss issues of earth stewardship/improving the "green-ness of our churches", limiting/stopping gambling (talk of a riverboat casino near Cincinnati), watching spiritually unhealthy things on TV (there's some new show about swingers, apparently), and, as the lay leader put it, "Christian Homosexuality". See, it's one issue among many, and I think that you'll find more Methodists up in arms about the gambling than gay marriage.

As to your second paragraph, I think you're referring to what is known in UMC-speak as "Reconciling Congregations".