Reconciling Ministries Network

Take a look at the RMN website, it has information about the process. My church, Columbine United in Denver, in 'affiliated' with the UMC, UCC and Presby. While they are not official in their stance they have a welcoming statement that includes all GLBT persons and are told in membership class that they only people that are not welcome there are those who cannot welcome ALL people. We can't ask for more.

Today, the Greenwich Time printed an editorial praising our stance! http://www.greenwichtime.com/editorial/ci_13731398

Great article!

Well said, Joey. God created you as you are. So follow that call to minister to others. Thanks for sharing your writings with the rest of us.

Joey, I know exactly how you feel and I am glad you were able to share this with your friend. I am 40(something) - lol - and I had to learn how to be heterosexual in my teens, not something that came naturally for me - but many of us have had too. I also denied any relationship with God because I knew God knew what I was feeling - and everyone told me God was not excepting of this, so in order for me to be accepted I had to pretend to be like them.

This just makes me incredibly sad to think about this and know that there are many young people who are still doing this.

I have a friend, pastor, who taught me it is ok to have a relationship with God and be me. At the time she did not know who I really was, but all the same her care for me made sense and showed me that God loves me, i just had to learn to love God, myself and then be able to love others. FREEDOM !!! I still write this with tears in my eyes, looking back on the prison I had to live in and the joy I know now. ... Read More

Well, it has been a while now (or maybe not that long, it just seems like it)- I am divorced (and my ex-husband is now being loved for who he is, not loved out of some need to fit in and be accepted - can u tell, no guilt there...LOL... but I take solace in the fact that I was finally able to do the right thing, not always the easy way, but the right thing), I have two teenagers who are my pride and joy, I have a faithful, loving partner and I am finishing up my M.Div. I am going to be ready when the UMC will recognize me and look me in the eyes to tell me that I am compatible with Christian teaching and will be ordained. In the meantime I will continue to have conversations with people in our church to change their hearts and teach them a new, more loving Christianity. I will continue to hold our church accountable to loving everyone as Children of God. Loving others in their reality, not making them conform to who it is the institution believes they should be and then love them.

Some of the conversations I have been involved in most recently (this past week) has been on the UMNS facebook page. Check it out if you want - join in and help change peoples hearts, so that we can change their minds and the BOD. I think this is a good forum for conversation, in that there are many who are reading those threads of conversation who may not ordinarily expose themselves or have exposure to such conversations or come on to RMN and read our posts here. In that forum we are not only changing hearts but we are also letting people who are still afraid to come out that there are those willing to speak and working towards full acceptance.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart bring honor and glory to God.

Peace to you and thank you for being so strong and brave !

Thanks Gilbert--excellent essay.

Agreed Mike --- excellent essay.

Love Gil Caldwell.

Troy is right. If one's issues with the denomination stopped with sexual orientation inclusiveness, it's worth it to soldier on with the denomination. Unfortunately, for some of us, the entire controversy over sexual orientation - like the earlier ones over race and gender - merely distract from the real issues, which are much, much larger.

I am so proud of this website. Its definately a first step. But, still strange that the UMC can vote that talking about the horrors of "homophobia and discrimination" is OK, but actually allowing gay people to "be gay" or become officials in the UMC is not discrimination shows that Methodists have some strides to make!

Joey, I like the sentiment. But on days like this I begin to doubt that we make the world a better place through the UMC.

Peter, do you not have Faith that we make the world a better place through the UMC? It takes a drop of water to carve out a rock - but eventually the rock has a big hold in it! We are that drop of water - and any good we gain for the opposition to Homophobia and Heterosexism is a gain for the LGBTQ community!!!

Still trying to find where the denomnation spells out just how/where homsexuality is incompatible

Maybe it's time to cut my losses and walk away. To Joy: or add on, Open <3s Open Minds Open Doors unless you are gay.

"if God is still Judge"

Yes, GOD is the judge, not some idiotic youth group leader. And until God judges, good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. But it isn't bad to use science to prevent bad things from happening.

It is so sad to hear statements like that.

Well put Martha....FEAR is entirely too powerful of an emotion! Isn't love supposed to me so much stronger? "Love one another as I have loved you."

What is the fear about? LGBTQ is not an infectious disease. So it couldn't/shouldn't be contamination. Is it a fear of rejection by other congregations? Standing up for right before it is popular is a crucifiable virtue, but a virtue nonetheless. Is it that people will leave the congregation? That has happened before for other reasons but where ... Read Morethere is love, others will come. Oops but they may be LGBTQ, huh. Is it that they may find out that LGBTQs are normal human beings? Then folks will have to wonder about themselves, their children, their friends. They may also find the wonder in themselves as their own humanity expands. Better yet, they will have a new experience of the abundance of God's grace. I guess that's a frightful thing.

The Washington Post has been hoodwinked by its own reporter. If he had acutally attended the Thursday evening event he would have known that the sactuary at Asbury Church, which seats 500, was overflowing. He sat in a chair, read various press releases, and made a few telephone calls. And one wonders why their circulation is down.