Reconciling Ministries Network

The Signs of Love Conquering Fear Are Everywhere!

A Letter from the RMN Board of Directors

The signs of love conquering fear are everywhere! Supporters of Reconciling Ministries are doing more than ever before. The RMN Called to Witness campaigns in 2011 celebrated 67 regional events where 1595 reconciling persons engaged strategy, reconciling process, public narrative storytelling, and building teams. Of the 682 participants at Sing a New Song, over 100 were young adults.  We placed 500 calls to United Methodist delegates to General Conference. We gave $891,812 to support the mission locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally through Reconciling Ministries Network.

Your generosity made it possible for RMN to gather in coalition with the Methodist Federation for Social Action and Affirmation in early 2011 to plan Love Your Neighbor for both a regional and churchwide impact. Now we are living into the reality of a multinational church and underwrote our first staff persons to engage central conference relationships. You even helped us contract with media experts to conduct focus groups in Cote d'Ivoire and test messages in Uganda, Liberia, South Africa, and other countries to find common cause and build bridges.

Can We Sing a Song from The Same Page

By Peter L. DeGroote

(The following has been written with input from several long-term companions on the reconciling journey. I am thankful for their help but they are not responsible for errors of fact or judgment.)

Marriage equality was legally established in New York because Governor Cuomo required that the various, and sometimes competing, LGBT groups get on the same page. His support required their unity, which he saw necessary for success.

This lesson of “the same page” runs through my mind as I think about the various LGBT related resolutions heading to General Conference, which is often as convoluted and nefarious as any state legislature. Chief among them are those that would provide the following:

• Elimination from the Discipline of the declaration that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teachings.” (¶161.F)
• Elimination of the Disciplinary prohibition of the ordination of LGBT candidates.  (¶304.3)
• Allow the celebration by our clergy and in our churches, at the discretion of the pastor, in those civil jurisdictions that have approved civil unions or marriage equality laws.  (¶341.6)
• Complete removal of all restrictions and prohibitions on the celebration of marriage or civil unions by our clergy and in our churches. (¶341.6)
• Acceptance of the fact that the church suffers from institutional discrimination toward LGBT people and that all negative provisions concerning them should be removed from the Discipline.

Some argue the first priority should be elimination of the declaration that the practice of “homosexuality” is incompatible with Christian teaching. First adopted into the Social Principles in 1972, it served as the foundation for the exclusion from ordination, the ban on celebrating marriage/unions, and even the Judicial Council’s finding that local pastor can deny membership to LGBT people. Those supporting this priority claim that removal of the cornerstone would result in all else eventually falling.

Supporters of resolutions allowing for ordination of LGBT folks point to the many instances of highly qualified people being denied ordination, giving up their calling, or leaving the UMC for another denomination. Further momentum arises from those conferences that do not do not consider sexual identity a relevant factor in determining the qualifications of their candidates, the result being the routine ordination of otherwise qualified LGBT candidates. Further, the recent declaration of support for LGBT ordination by 33 retired bishops brings this into focus for many, their rationale being a clear statement of the many issues. (Note: the retired bishops proposal would eliminate only one of the two versions of the incompatibility language. The foundation declaration at ¶161.F would remain.)

The marriage equality resolutions differ in scope. The first allows for the celebration of marriages in those civil jurisdictions having adopted civil unions or a marriage equality law. It arises out of the many challenges faced by local churches and pastors in those jurisdictions: How do we respond to the pastoral needs of our LGBT members and community expectations?

Those who support the broader marriage equality resolutions take note of the quiet celebration of marriages and civil unions in our churches for quite some time, even where there is no civil legislation to provide a legal context.  For many a church marriage remains a marriage in the minds and spirit of the couple, the pastor, and the congregation. To them, restricting the celebration of LGBT marriage to those civil jurisdictions that have passed the necessary legislation not only seems prejudicial but an abandonment of the Church’s prophetic role, turning the church into an agency serving the state.

Back to the all on “the same page” lesson:  The above alternatives, and others, are related but energized by different experiences and values. Could they all pass? Could a single omnibus resolution including them all pass?  Can we figure out a strategy that allows us to find agreement on priorities and prevent our working against each other?

General Conference procedures further complicate the matter. As in most civil legislatures, resolutions first go to a legislative committee that can endorse, recommend against, combine, or let them die. Further, all LGBT resolutions will not go to the same committee. While the committee assignment of resolutions is not yet entirely clear, our ability to relate to the work of several different legislative committees is a critical factor. It is possible that some of us will go our own way without regard to an overall strategy, thereby diluting our ability to influence the outcomes.

One of the major advantages we have is that many of the people necessary to help us figure out a strategy will be at Sing a New Song in Port Huron, Ohio at the end of August. I do hope we are able to find a way that we can all sing from the same page.

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Peter is a second career pastor who has served in several churches in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Prior to his ordination, he was a secondary-school teacher, a university lecturer in Government, an Associate in a government related professional association, CEO of a national financial institution. Peter was involved in Mid-Atlantic Affirmation, served on the National Council of Affirmation, and sat on the Board of the Reconciling Congregations Program, the predecessor name for RMN and has worked with BWARM (Baltimore-Washington Reconciling United Methodists).

Holy Ground at Annual Conference

Rev. Sharon Seyfarth Garner - Lakeside, Ohio   June 2011

Here are a few words that you won’t often hear in relation to clergy session at Annual Conference – “We were standing on Holy Ground.”  However, this year at the East Ohio Annual Conference Clergy Executive Session, there we stood.  We experienced the power of a prophetic moment as we honored the decision of one of our beloved colleagues to leave the United Methodist Church and transfer her ordination credentials to a denomination that would honor both who God called her to be and who God created her to be.

We were progressing through the usual, long list of votes when we came to the transfer of credentials to another denomination. Our “yes” vote opened the door for Rev. Jennifer Steinfurth Brown to say farewell to the United Methodist Church and to begin a meaningful, new chapter of ministry.   When Jennifer stood to request a moment of personal privilege, the Holy Spirit rushed in like a mighty wind and filled the auditorium.  Dozens of colleagues rose and stood silently to show our support for Jennifer and to honor the years of dynamic ministry that she had shared with us.  As Jennifer began to speak, the Bishop stopped her.  She was “out of order” by attending the clergy session since she had technically transferred her membership several months ago, and we had just affirmed this by a formal vote moments before.  He was doing what those in charge are expected to do – uphold the rules.  However, this moment of holy conferencing was bigger than the “rules.”  I believe that our Bishop recognized this when he went on to say that Jennifer would be allowed to speak if someone from within the conference would invite her to do so. A clergy colleague made the necessary motion, and the subsequent show of hands became yet another sign of our collective affirmation.

With great courage and grace, Rev. Jennifer Steinfurth Brown began to speak again.  The Pentecostal presence of the Holy Spirit swirled in our midst. She shared words of love for the United Methodist church that had nurtured her since her birth.  She shared that she had been called to ministry even before she understood her own sexual identity.  She shared her struggle in the discernment process that led her to the faith-filled decision to leave her beloved United Methodist Church and join a communion that could embrace both her call to ministry and her sexuality.  She was bravely telling the truth of her own story.  As she spoke, additional colleagues who were moved by her words rose silently to show their support.  We stood together - humbled, amazed, tear-streaked and proud of the brave witness by our friend and colleague.  We were standing on Holy Ground.

As is often the case with transformative moments, there is both a sense of joy for new beginnings and sorrow for what will no longer be.  I am filled with profound joy that Jennifer has found a place where she can openly be the minister that God has called her to be. She can share her beautiful, blended family with her congregation. She will thrive! Yet, I am also filled with profound sorrow that our United Methodist Church was unable to embrace her on this journey. It is truly our loss. I began my own journey into ministry in the same Probationary Cluster as Jennifer over 15 years ago. I consider her to be one of my closest colleagues and dearest friends. Not only do I miss her now, but I miss the shared ministry that we would have celebrated together as lifelong United Methodist clergy. My heart is aching.

I pray for the day when the Spirit of Pentecost will permeate our church – when each one of us will be empowered to speak the truth of our own story and all will be understood. Only then will our beloved ‘cross and flame’ truly represent the tongues of fire that proclaim God’s love to all people.

Download Methodist Good Bye Speech

An Inclusive Congratulations

by Leland G. Spencer IV

Annual Conference season has arrived, so I wanted to take a moment to express congratulations to everyone who is being/has been commissioned or ordained at annual conference this year. Especially to allies and LGBTQ people who have navigated the arduous process of candidacy, I say, congratulations. I'm glad you're working from the inside to make the whole church a place that shares God's inclusive heart.

I also want to congratulate Reconciling United Methodists with different relationships to the candidacy process, as I think these relationships are valid, valuable, and under-appreciated.

I say congratulations to LGBTQ people and allies who have been deferred or denied because of who you are. Perhaps you were honest about your identity or your supportive views, and such honesty led to your exclusion. I'm sorry this happened, and I'm sorry that Boards of Ordained Ministry sometimes function as gatekeepers rather than bodies that exist to recognize and celebrate God's gifts for ministry in the lives of the called. But I say congratulations for your exclusion. The voices of religious and political authority who have a vested stake in the status quo will often work hard to protect it, and that sometimes means keeping out those with other perspectives. In the fact of boards that are especially draconian, you could have chosen to equivocate or even transfer to a more open conference, but you made a difficult and courageous decision. Congratulations.

And I say congratulations to those who feel called, but have voluntarily withdrawn or extricated themselves from candidacy. That, too, is a difficult and courageous choice, and one I made four years ago. It is one that means understanding our call in new ways, like being present for people who have had bad religious experiences and need an affirming voice from an intelligent layperson who doesn't represent the institution as such.

Finally, I say congratulations to those who remain in candidacy or process for ordained ministry, but do so in different denominations. We'll miss you in the UMC, but I'm glad you've found a place your gifts will be recognized and celebrated. I'm sorry you had to leave this denomination to find a home, but that, too, is a difficult and courageous choice.

This season of the year is a difficult one for me, as it always means revisiting the painfulness and difficulty of whatever choices allies and LGBTQ people who are called to ordained ministry in the UMC make. Right now, none of these options are fully adequate (and none of them are all bad). All of them, I hope, offer us glimpses, albiet incomplete, of how to be about the reconciling work of loving God and loving our neighbor.

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Leland G. Spencer IV, a lifelong United Methodist, is a PhD student in the department of communication studies at the University of Georgia, where he researches religious rhetoric as it intersects with gender and sexuality. Leland holds an M.A. in Communication from the University of Cincinnati (2009). While in Cincinnati, Leland served as the worship intern at the Wesley Foundation. Leland served as a part-time local pastor at Mapleton United Methodist Church in the East Ohio Conference from 2005 until 2007 when Leland withdrew from the candidacy process because of the United Methodist Church's exclusive position about the ordination of LGBT persons.

A Statement of Counsel to the Church - 2011

Out of concern for the welfare of all God’s people, and, out of special concern for the people of The United Methodist Church, we, United Methodist Bishops – retired, believe The United Methodist Church should remove the following statement from The Book of Discipline (2008):

“…The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.  Therefore self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church.”  ¶304.3

Our lives and ministries over the years have included prayerful, thoughtful consideration of our Holy Bible, our Wesleyan heritage, reflection on our experience of the church and world, and our conviction of God’s intention for a world transformed.

With this statement of conviction and counsel we seek:

• To affirm that the historic tests of “gifts and evidence of God’s grace” for ordained ministry override any past or present temporal restrictions such as race, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.
• To urge the Church, ecumenical and denominational, to change the manner in which it relates to gay, lesbian and transgendered persons in official statements, judicial proceedings, and in congregational life.
• To declare our conviction that the current disciplinary position of The United Methodist Church, a part of our historical development, need not, and should not, be embraced as the faithful position for the future.
• To make known our names and shared personal conviction on this matter and to encourage other church and Episcopal leaders to do the same.

With increasing frequency we observe and experience the following disturbing realities and know them to be detrimental to the mission of a Church of Jesus Christ:

• Laity and clergy, gay and straight, withdrawing membership or absenting themselves from the support of congregational and denominational Church life in order to maintain personal integrity.
• Young adults, especially, embarrassed to invite friends and expressing dismay at the unwillingness of our United Methodist Church to alter its 39-year exclusionary stance.
• Closeted pastors, currently called and ordained in our church, living divided lives while offering effective appreciated ministry.
• Bishops being drained of energy by upholding Church Discipline while regarding it as contrary to their convictions.
• Bishops caught between care for the Church by reappointing an effective gay or lesbian pastor and care for the Discipline by charging them under current legislation.
• Seminary leaders desiring greater flexibility and openness from the church in order to advance their mission of identifying, recruiting, enrolling, educating and spiritually forming Christian leaders.
• Christian gay men and women understanding themselves called of God to seek ministry opportunities within their United Methodist family Church home, but having to decide between:
  • leaving to go to accepting denominations, or
  • staying and praying for change, or
  • challenging Church law and accepting punitive actions.

Our United Methodist Church, ashamed and repentant in the past, ended official and unofficial restrictions on candidacy, ordination and appointment for reason of race, gender and ethnicity. We believe the God we know in Jesus is leading us to issue this counsel and call – a call to transform our church life and our world.

United Methodist Episcopal Leaders-Retired

Sharon Z. Rader

Donald A. Ott

Beverly Shamana

C. Joseph Sprague

Melvin G. Talbert

S. Clifton Ives

Joe A. Wilson

William Lewis

Forrest Stith

Susan Morrison

Susan Hassinger

Judy Craig

Dale White

William Boyd Grove

C. P. Minnick

Kenneth L.  Carder

Roy I. Sano

Joe Yeakel

Kenneth Hicks

Joseph Humper

Monk Bryan

Jesse DeWitt

Jack Tuell

J. Lloyd Knox

Charles W. Jordan

J.  Lawrence McCleskey

Marshall L. Meadors, Jr.

Franz Schafer

Sheldon Duecker

Fritz Mutti

Cal McConnell

Leontine T. C. Kelly

On Asking & Telling

by Leland Spencer

I have to confess that I'm conflicted about the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Of course, as a feminist and a reconciling United Methodist, I support the right of any person to have any job without regard to her or his sexual orientation (or, for that matter, sex, gender, gender identity, or gender expression); however, something about supporting any effort that increases the number of people in the military doesn't sit right with me. If DADT is repealed, queer folks will have the same rights to get shot or have their bodies blown to bits as anyone else. Is that really the kind of equality we're working for in this movement? I'm not trying to be flippant; my concern is serious. If an underlying theme of this movement's work is human dignity and the sacred worth of each person, is that compatible with increased militarism?

Not having sorted entirely through this paradox, its very existence brings me to another: The UMC also has a DADT policy, but we describe it with bigger words and no contractions. And, clearly, I support the repeal of the church's version of DADT. Therefore, a fair question based on my concern in the first paragraph is whether adding out, practicing queer people into the current structure of the church actually does anything for human dignity. My initial answer is yes, and that the church and the military are different. I am privileged to have had moments in my life where I've seen the church at its best, so I know the church can be a source of hope in connecting people with the resource of faith, and indeed, in resisting evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.

So, I conclude that I support the repeal of both DADT policies, though I am substantially more ambivalent about the first than the second.

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Leland G. Spencer IV, a lifelong United Methodist, is a PhD student in the department of speech communication at the University of Georgia, where he researches religious rhetoric as it intersects with gender and sexuality. Leland holds an M.A. in Communication from the University of Cincinnati (2009). While in Cincinnati, Leland served as the worship intern at the Wesley Foundation. Leland served as a part-time local pastor at Mapleton United Methodist Church in the East Ohio Conference from 2005 until 2007 when Leland withdrew from the candidacy process because of the United Methodist Church's exclusive position about the ordination of LGBT persons.

What MOSAIC Means to Me

by Justin Hull

In August of 2008 I reached a crossroads. I was getting ready to take the big plunge into being a certified candidate for becoming a pastor in The United Methodist Church. I had been working on the inquiry candidate process, and it was completed. I knew I had been called by God to serve in a very dramatic way.

However, there was one thing that I knew was still a “problem” of being gay even though I tried to bury it is as much as possible. I live in a very small town in West Virginia; so I started to look (as I have done before) to the Internet for answers.

I found answers through MOSAIC. I found a video of a man testifying on God’s call in his life while being openly gay. I found a blog of another guy who answered a lot of my questions. I found another video of the guy who I know and who was the worship leader of the West Virginia Annual Conference testifying at General Conference. The biggest difference of all from my previous times of looking for answers on the Internet was people. I know queer theology, but I did not know any LBGTQ Christians until then. Theology is important. I discussed and read theological resources, but people are the difference. I had an instant connection with these people because I have always been at home in The United Methodist Church.

As you can tell by my story the Internet was and is an important resource for me. It is a great way to reach out to places like a small town in West Virginia where a young man struggling with his sexuality can find hope. Today, I am an out and openly gay Christian who is ready and willing to testify to God’s love for everyone. I am glad to be working on the communication and theological resources team for MOSAIC. We are a group of LGBTQ young adults and allies working for equality in The United Methodist Church for all people.

I hope everyone reading this blog finds hope in midst of a denomination that says, “Open Hearts, Open Doors, Open Minds”, but does not really mean it. What scares me is the reality that I might have to find a different denomination to fulfill my call. Even if I have to switch to a different denomination, I always want to be working for equality in The United Methodist Church. However, I always have hope. I find courage in the witnesses of other churches that have been prophetic by standing up for marriage equality in the face of possible consequences. I find hope that The United Methodist Church will change. Our only Reconciling Congregation in West Virginia, Asbury, gives me hope. The people of MOSAIC and RMN give me hope.

MOSAIC, a young adult group affiliated with RMN working for the full inclusion LGBTQ people has started their own blog. This is a blog post from the point person for the blog. You can find the blog at mosaic.typepad.com

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Justin Hull lives and grew up in Moundsville, WV and is the point person for the MOSAIC blog. He works in the West Virginia Annual Conference for equality and plans to attend Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. full time in the fall.

Episcopalians Confirm a Second Gay Bishop

"A majority of bishops and dioceses of the Episcopal Church have approved the election of the church's second openly gay bishop, The Rev. Mary D. Glasspool, a decision likely to increase the tension with fellow Anglican churches around the world that do not approve of homosexuality." - The  New York Times, Thursday, March 18, 2010

by Rev. Gilbert Caldwell

"Some of my best friends are Episcopalians/Anglicans". These friendships developed during the Civil Rights Movement in Boston and at protests/demonstrations around the nation. I was able to attend the enthronement of Bishop Desmond Tutu in Capetown, South Africa and one of my models for ministry has been that of the late Episcopal priest, Rev. Paul Washington, who was Priest at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia. The Church of the Advocate hosted the second National Black Power Conference (that I attended) in 1968, and the first ordination of women in the Episcopal Church (that I did not attend) in 1974.

It was said of the ministry of Father Washington that, "his leadership allowed the church to support rights rallies and protests and he with others developed what was called a Theology of Black Power. He believed that God intended all people, regardless of their race or gender to be vessels of God's power."

Despite its embrace and affirmation of God's expectations of intentional inclusivity of all  people, the Episcopal Church in America and as a member of the world-wide Anglican Communion has been viewed by some as violating Biblical tradition by ordaining women and electing women and Gay persons as Bishops. Bishop-elect Mary Glasspool now joins , V.Gene Robinson as  the second openly gay Bishop in the Episcopal Church.

What are the contradictions that some of our sisters and brothers in the Episcopal Church/Anglican Communion wrestle with as they resist inclusivity? Some do not believe that either women or gays should be ordained as clergy. Some believe that women, but not gays have the right to be ordained. Some believe that women can be ordained as Priests, but not elected as Bishops. Some believe that women should be ordained as Priests and elected as Bishops, but that gay persons should not be ordained as Priests nor elected as Bishops. And of course, praise God, there are Episcopalians/Anglicans who believe that the God who expressed Self in the person of Jesus Christ, "Calls" persons to ordination as clergy and election as Bishops, regardless of their gender, race or sexual orientation.

Audre Lorde is described as "one of the most important radical black feminists of the past half century. Her writings and speeches grappled with an impressive broad list of topics, including sexuality, race, gender, class, disease, the arts, parenting and resistance..." She writes; "There is no hierarchy of oppression." (I Am Your Sister, Collected and Unpublished Writings of Auddre Lorde, edited by Rudolph P. Byrd, Johnetta Betsch Cole, Beveryly Guy-Sheftall, Oxford University Press, 2009)

I return to the folk wisdom of my South Carolina grandmother, "Mama Irene" and paraphrase her "saying" that I have quoted over-and-over again. This time attempting to make it relevant for some of the struggles that some Episcopalians/Anglicans and United Methodists are having, accepting the God-given gifts for ministry that have been, that are, and will continue to be offered by same gender loving clergy, be they of the Anglican Communion or The United Methodist Church.

"There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, (regardless of our race, gender or sexual orientation), that it doesn't behoove any of us to talk about (or deny ordination and ministry) to the rest of us" (Whatever our race, gender or sexual orientation may be).

Thanks again, "Mama Irene". You understood as I have heard people say, "The ground at the foot of the Cross is level". You believed with Audre Lorde that there is no "hierarchy" of good folk or bad folk.

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The Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell is a retired United Methodist Minister who lives in Asbury Park, N.J. He was active in the Massachusetts unit of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and participated in the civil-rights movement throughout the nation. In 2000, he, with others, organized the RMN Extension ministry United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church (UMOC), an organization committed to the full inclusion of LGBT people in every aspect of church and society. His recent book, Something Within: Works by Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell is available from Church Within A Church.

Two Questions - Two Answers

Posted by Rev. Gilbert Caldwell

from TIME, March 22, 2010, 10 Questions. The South African Archbishop's new book makes the case for goodness. Desmond Tutu will now take your questions

What is your favorite Bible verse, and why? Satu Rahikainen, Tampere, Finland

Romans 5: 8. "Whilst we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." It sums up the Gospel wonderfully. We think we have to impress God so that God would love us. But he says,No, you are loved already, even at your worst.

Do you support the appointment of gay and lesbian clergy? Phillip Reinheimer,Penn Valley, California

Of course. If I don't support them, why support the appointment of any other person? Their sexuality is as much a part of who they are as my race is. They don't choose it. I don't choose it. Two of my chaplains when I was Archbishop were gay. One is now a bishop, and the other is the dean of a cathedral.

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The Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell is a retired United Methodist Minister who lives in Asbury Park, N.J. He was active in the Massachusetts unit of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and participated in the civil-rights movement throughout the nation. In 2000, he, with others, organized the RMN Extension ministry United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church (UMOC), an organization committed to the full inclusion of LGBT people in every aspect of church and society. His recent book, Something Within: Works by Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell is available from Church Within A Church.

an unlikely testimony

by Anonymous Clergy Candidate

when i first came to see LGBTQ people as a part of God's image, it was a process of years and months. it took multiple people intervening in my thought process, pastors hinting at other ideas of love, and friends giving me room to doubt.

when i realized i was a bisexual, it seemed to happen in a moment.  there was the initial thought a few years ago that it might be something i would think about, but i didn't “get it” until recently.  there i was sitting next to someone i had known and spent time with on multiple other occasions, and all i could think about is how beautiful she was to me in so many ways, and how lucky i was to be sitting with her.  it hit me that night – how amazing it is to finally see something after so many years.  as i went home, i cried tears of joy and surprise at what God was doing in my life.

i didn't make a conscious decision to change my orientation.  all i did was sit in the moment, and that was all it took for me to finally see another part of who i am.  since that night i've experienced a whirlwind of emotions.  i don't know if my feelings will be returned, but what i do know is that i have supportive and loving friends.  no matter what happens – even if she is the only one who makes me feel this way – i am so thankful that i am at a place where i know God loves me and has made me in God's image. i do not feel alone, and that is because of the movement of the holy spirit.

i don't know if i will ever be able to share this publicly in another way, but i want all of you to know that your work and witness matters.