North America's oldest Mennonite congregation, Germantown Mennonite
Church in Pennsylvania, was cut loose from the Franconia Conference in
the 1990s for taking a welcoming stance. I was told that the
conference ministers, at Pastor Richard Lichty's request--for symbolic
meaning, escorted him out of the church. He returned to the
congregation, which then as a church no longer affiliated with the
larger Mennonite body, "re-ordained" him by congregational
authority. A couple of googles on the church tell more of the story.
I see that there is another pastor there now, and I think that is a
fairly recent development.
On 3/6/06, *garland robertson* < pastor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:pastor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Members and Friends of Austin Mennonite Church
Thank you for the reflective discussion concerning the situation
of the Hyattsville community. I appreciate the concern and desire
for insight that this subject has generated among us.
Whenever I invite persons to join us for worship, I am usually
asked some direct questions about our congregation. Most often
the questions relate to the role of women and to the homosexuality
issue. My response is that we welcome to full participation all
persons regardless of physical or cultural distinction who desire
to follow the way of Jesus. Whenever I am asked to clarify 'the
way of Jesus,' I speak about the prophetic call for persons to
honor justice, mercy, and respect in their relationships with
others. I explain that Jesus embraced this aspect of traditional
religious expression and in addition validated the existing
teaching that in the quest to live in relationship with the
creator God one need only to follow a simple guideline: do unto
others that which you would like them to do unto you. Some
persons have responded to my invitation explicitly because of my
assurance that homosexual persons will be welcome in our community.
The matter of how the MC USA relates to the homosexual issue takes
shape from the discussion about family in item 19 of the
Confession of Faith which speaks of marriage as a relationship
between a man and a woman. There is no explicit reference to
homosexuality in the confession. I know that in the Western
District Conference, the Bethel College MC has printed in their
bulletin every Sunday their welcome of all persons regardless of
sexual orientation. Because they are such an influential
community, I do not expect that any other church in WDC who also
publicly acknowledges this attitude would experience any negative
response from the conference or other communities in WDC. It is
interesting that in the Allegany conference, 25% of the initial
vote was in favor of Hyattsville's membership policy, and 35% of
voting delegates supported Hyattsville's continued full membership
in the conference even after Hyattsville refused to adjust their
membership policy to reflect the expectations of other more
dominant congregations. This I believe this discrepancy indicates
significant support, although not majority.
I know there can always be unpredicted consequences whenever
positions are published on controversial issues. Yet, as your
pastor I do not want this concern to be the final determination
for me in how we respond to these complexities. I desire the
final impetus for a decision to rest on the measure of how our
behaviors conform to the pattern displayed in Jesus's relationship
with sinners—with persons like us. It seems Jesus trusted the
spirit's capacity to guide persons into the life that God has
intended . My intent in ministry is that we are always moving
toward learning to trust this same capacity.
Please continue to share your reflections with us. May it go well
with you. Sincerely,
Garland Robertson
//...always hold firmly to the thought that each one of us can do
something to bring some portion of misery to an end//
--
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A Moment of
Peace: http://www.soulofthegarden.com +++ Waging Peace:
http://www.afsc.org/iraq
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--
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A Moment of
Peace: http://www.soulofthegarden.com +++ Waging Peace:
http://www.afsc.org/iraq
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