I am very pleased to announce that I have just signed a contract with Cascade Books (Eugene, OR) for them to publish the manuscript that emerged from this eCircle on “Christian Faithfulness and Human Sexuality.” The title for this book will be Respectful LGBT Conversations: Seeking Truth, Giving Love, and Modeling Christian Unity. George Marsden […]
Our task in this essay is to outline where we see agreement in approaches, where we have concerns, key questions avoided by the other institutions, insight gained from reading about their processes, and finally, any surprises. Thanks to Jeff and Jessica for their excellent essays. I appreciate their approaches to dialogue and am grateful to be part of this group.
From my discipline of Communication Studies, I teach that communication competence involves three aspects: knowledge, skill, and motivation. In all three of our cases, we desire to be in good relationships, and those relationships are dependent on competent communication. I will use this model of communication competence to examine our processes.
I have to be honest, I am having a very difficult time speaking critically into a context and process in which I am not fully engaged. Perhaps that is one reason I have been asked to be a model of respectful conversation.
I think we live in a “bumper sticker” mentality kind of world, where we can too easily question authority or give our advice without the context of relationship, history or without the risk of accountability.
I believe that critique must always belong in the context of community and relationship.
First, I want to thank Julie and Jessica for telling their stories and the stories of the ministries they help to lead. It is encouraging for me to know that I am not alone in trying to lead these hard but important conversations, and that other sisters and brothers in Christ are leaning into the same conversations with care, intentionality, and grace.
As I read both of your entries, I found myself nodding my head over and over again in agreement. Julie, I’ve admired Eastern University from afar, and while I never knew the University’s mission statement (“faith, reason and justice”), it seems to fit perfectly. One of the things I most appreciate about the conversation you all are having is the maturity of the President and the Administration to allow the hurt and concerns of students and faculty to come to the forefront and the willingness of the President to both apologize and to lean into the conversation. That to me is a sign of a great leader.
Zion is unique when compared to many of the other churches (not just Mennonite churches) in the area, in that many of our congregants have moved into Northwest Ohio from “outside.” While the majority of people who live in Northwest Ohio are lifelong residents, with families who go back generations, Zion has many people, mostly professionals, myself included who have moved to the area due to work in the local businesses. However, while we have many people who have moved into the community, our congregation has not really changed much in 20 years. We have people come and go, but for the most part we are a consistent body of believers.
This has created an interesting dynamic within our congregation. While we are perceived as mostly affluent and well educated, we do have congregants who are lifelong residents, with deep ties to the community, a community that is very traditional and very conservative. However, the majority of those who find themselves in leadership within our congregation tend to be the well-educated and relatively well-traveled segment of our congregation.
Zion would describe herself as a fiercely Anabaptist Mennonite congregation, with deep roots in the Mennonite Church and strong connections to the Mennonite Church’s institutions of higher education and because of this Zion has become known within the community and the Conference as the “Progressive/Liberal” congregation, although not everyone within the congregation would agree.
Let me start by saying it is an honor to be included in this Circle, and I look forward to both sharing the story of the church I lead, Sammamish Presbyterian Church (SPC), as well as being in discussion with Julie and Jessica. I can’t wait to hear their stories and learn from them as well.
The charge given for this part of the conversation is to provide a case study regarding how the topic of homosexuality has worked its way through the local church or institution we lead. My plan in this post is to first provide a little context of the church I pastor, explain where we landed as a congregation in relation to the decisions regarding same-sex ordination and marriage, and share a few things we learned along the way.
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