On Sunday, May 7, the Christ Church congregation will be asked to vote on the Reconciling Congregation Statement printed below. That vote will be preceded by a short presentation about
Reconciling Congregations, followed by a time for the congregation to offer comments and questions about what it will mean for Christ Church to become a Reconciling Congregation. On that Sunday also,
Dr. Philip Wogaman, Interim President, Iliff School of Theology, will deliver a sermon on homosexuality and the United Methodist Church.
Reconciling Congregation StatementChrist Church United Methodist is called to the ministry of reconciliation, as asserted in the United Methodist Book of Discipline. We celebrate our human family’s diversity of sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, age, faith history, economic status, marital status, physical and mental ability, and educational background.
We affirm that all people are created in the image of God and, as beloved children of God, all are worthy of God’s unconditional love and grace. We welcome the full inclusion of all people in the life and ministries of Christ Church United Methodist as we journey toward personal and social reconciliation and transformation, calling out the gifts of all.
We embrace as a gift the diversity of our congregation. We recognize that there are differences among us, but believe that we can love alike even though we may not think alike. We invite all people to join us in our faith journey toward greater love, understanding, and mutual respect.
What does it mean to be a Reconciling Congregation?Reconciling Congregations are expected to:
1. Make a public statement of inclusion that particularly mentions “sexual orientation.” The idea of creating “Reconciling Congregations” originated as a specific response to the public stance against homosexuality that has been taken by the United Methodist Church. However, sexual orientation may be listed in the Reconciling Congregation Statement as one among a number of ways of identifying the diverse groups that are welcome in a Reconciling Congregation. In the CCUM statement, we have chosen to make it clear that Christ Church also welcomes persons of different “gender identity, race, ethnicity, age, faith history, economic status, marital status, physical and mental ability, and educational background.”
2. Indicate in some public way that we are a Reconciling Congregation. The Administrative Board recommends that we include the following statement in our bulletin:
We welcome the full inclusion of all people in the life and ministries of Christ Church United Methodist. We invite all people to join us in our faith journey toward greater love, understanding and mutual respect.The Board has further recommended that we add the following sentence to the sign on Colorado Boulevard:
All are welcome in this place.3. Designate one Sunday a year as a time to renew our commitment to being a Reconciling Congregation.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT I am amazed at my lifelong ignorance of homosexuality. I have spent my ministry dealing mostly with the uses, misuses and abuses of sex among heterosexuals. But I did not understand (or worry about) my energetic, popular youth fellowship leaders who did not date. I was grateful for the Wesleyan Service Guild women, some of whom lived together and cared for each other for 50 or 60 years. My grandmother housed schoolteachers who ate at the same table, slept in the same room and prayed together in church…. So I began to explore Scripture and to talk with homosexuals and their families…
—UMC Bishop Richard B. Wilke
If I were to give a one-sentence answer to the question [How I changed my mind], it would be: “I changed my mind when I changed my heart.” …So what are we to do if we are to change the mind of the UMC to make it more inclusive to all of God’s children? We change its heart. We help all of our people to experience the hurt, the pain, the trauma, the rejection which our present policy inflicts on good and faithful Christians.…We understand on an issue such as this that changing the heart is a prerequisite to changing the mind.
—Bishop Jack M. Tuell, United Methodist Church, Claremont, CA
The United Methodist Church is a church of great promise. It is a church we love and call home. As a multicultural caucus, United Methodists of Color For A Fully Inclusive Church (UMOC) is committed to seeing the church live out the gospel of inclusivity and preach the love of Christ throughout our society.
—United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church