Missionary Renegade: "The Spirit is moving swiftly in The UMC. It's time to elect an openly gay bishop!" Reconciling Ministries Network in Chicago, Illinois, United States for Tuesday, 28 June 2016 "The Spirit is moving swiftly in The UMC"

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

"The Spirit is moving swiftly in The UMC. It's time to elect an openly gay bishop!" Reconciling Ministries Network in Chicago, Illinois, United States for Tuesday, 28 June 2016 "The Spirit is moving swiftly in The UMC"

"The Spirit is moving swiftly in The UMC. It's time to elect an openly gay bishop!" Reconciling Ministries Network in Chicago, Illinois, United States for Tuesday, 28 June 2016 "The Spirit is moving swiftly in The UMC"
Three openly gay candidates running for bishop in The UMC

"As gay preachers of the gospel, these leaders followed Jesus into the margins of the church’s life where they pursued love and justice risking their own livelihoods and security. They know what it means to follow Jesus into futures yet unknown and what it means to live in the promise and hope of a new creation whose reality is an unfolding dream. They have comforted the poor, the afflicted, and those in need while challenging the powerful and the privileged to grow more deeply into the full stature of Christ. "
Read more from executive director, Matt Berryman, about why now is the time to elect a gay bishop in The United Methodist Church.
Read more from Matt Berryman

Matt Berryman
Executive Director, Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN). “It’s Time” for full inclusion in The United Methodist Church. www.rmnetwork.org/itstime
-------
Now is the time for openly gay episcopal leadership in The United Methodist Church
With hearts full of gratitude and joy, Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) celebrates a truly historic moment in the life of The United Methodist Church (The UMC). On the heels of the 2016 General Conference, the Spirit of God is now raising up three openly gay candidates for the office of bishop for election at the meetings of the Western and North Central Jurisdictions in just a few weeks.
Building on the courage and work of the saints who have gone before, Rev. Dr. Karen Oliveto, Rev. Frank Wulf, and Rev. David Meredith are called by God to serve the church in sharing their gifts of visionary leadership for the life of the world.
These candidates for election to the office of bishop come to this moment in history just as the General Conference — the governing body of The UMC — shifted its own weight toward a vision these candidates have been announcing for years as preachers of the gospel. The vote to establish a commission to examine and offer revision to anti-LGBTQ policy united a majority of delegates around the common desire to end discrimination and division. The vote, an expression of the Spirit’s leading, inaugurates a new moment in the life of The United Methodist Church that continues to grow and grow as Annual Conferences around the US resolve to ordain openly LGBTQ clergy, to affirm the image of God in our transgender siblings, and to publicly declare an unwillingness to conform with all aspects of anti-LGBTQ policy.
Now more than ever, The UMC needs leaders who have a sense of God’s work among the marginalized and whose ministries anticipate the unfolding reign of God in the world. Each of these candidates have dedicated their lives and ministries to the shepherding of people toward a vision of love that has not always been easy to see. Karen, David, and Frank have made it their business to provide the whole church not merely with God’s comfort but also with challenge to move us forward into a more just and inclusive future.
As gay preachers of the gospel, these leaders followed Jesus into the margins of the church’s life where they pursued love and justice risking their own livelihoods and security. They know what it means to follow Jesus into futures yet unknown and what it means to live in the promise and hope of a new creation whose reality is an unfolding dream. They have comforted the poor, the afflicted, and those in need while challenging the powerful and the privileged to grow more deeply into the full stature of Christ.
As those who have stood outside the circle of the church’s grace, they point to the spirit of the law as opposed to the letter of the law, they call for a riskier and more costly discipleship, and they invite us to see as they see — to stand at the margins and to join the redeeming, restoring, and reconciling work of God for the sake of the church and the world.
We have before us three called, qualified, and deeply faithful leaders whom God has gifted the church for such a time as this. We believe the new creation has begun — it’s time for The United Methodist Church to move boldly forward into the future and elect its first openly gay bishops to the glory of God and for the unfolding of a new future together.
-------
Reverend Frank Wulf
The information on this microsite (upcmasterplan.usc.edu) reflects archival data last updated in 2008. For the most accurate current information on the University Village Specific Plan, please visit village.usc.edu.

Member, USC Master Plan Advisory Committee
Pastor, United University Church
Reverend Frank Wulf, pastor of United University Church, is devoted to his parishioners, who include both USC students and residents of the surrounding neighborhood. As a member of the USC Master Plan Advisory Committee, he wants the master plan to keep in mind community needs, along with the necessities of the students. Wulf said he considers his role on the committee to be a bridge between the two entities. Both groups, he believes, want to see an improvement in the quality of life, particularly with respect to key issues of concern such as crime and affordable housing.
Wulf, who has served United Methodist and Presbyterian congregations since 1979, grew up in San Diego. He attended seminary school in Pasadena and pursued a graduate degree in religion from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary in New York City. After 11 years on New York’s Upper West Side, he longed for a West Coast homecoming and returned to Southern California in 1997. For eight years, he served as the United Methodist Campus Minister for the Wesley Foundation serving the UCLA campus.
In 2005, Wulf was transferred to the church adjacent to USC to work with residents and students. Upon relocating to the area, he observed that the relationship between USC and the religious community was more vibrant and healthier than what he had observed at other universities.
Wulf believes that the master plan will address the university’s as well as the community’s concerns, and eventually will benefit everyone. “The neighborhood knows that USC is an institution that promotes education and the community,” Wulf said. “Both can live together in a productive and creative way.”

-------

Two more conferences pass resolutions of non-conformity

This past weekend both California-Nevada Annual Conference and Pacific Northwest Annual Conference passed resolutions that declare an end to their conforming with anti-LGBTQ policies and practices of discrimination. Both conferences also commissioned and ordained numerous out LGBTQ deacons and elders. Though there have been a few very painful set-backs, the majority of this annual conference season has been led by a swiftly moving Spirit of justice and inclusion. Keep an eye out later this summer for a complete report on LGBTQ related legislation from Annual Conference season. In the meantime, check out the link below for just some of the highs and lows.
Annual Conference news
Do No Harm Iowa organizing to support Rev. Anna Blaedel

On the floor of the Iowa Annual Conference, Rev. Anna Blaedel shared an important testimony through a point of privilege about being a queer minister in The UMC. A complaint was filed against Rev. Blaedel shortly after. Read this powerful piece about the Church, Orlando, and LGBTQ pain from Rev. Blaedel here and if you're in the Iowa Conference, consider extending your solidarity by signing or sharing the petition to Bishop Tremble below put together by the Do No Harm Iowa team.
Be in solidarity with Rev. Anna Blaedel
Complaint against Rev. Cynthia Meyer moves to trial preparations

In a letter to the Great Plains Annual Conference, Bishop Scott Jones announced this weekend that the Committee on Investigation has referred the charges against Rev. Cynthia Meyer to trial. The Bishop will proceed in preparation for a trial even as Rev. Meyer, her counsel, and the counsel for the church continue to discuss the possibility of a just resolution. As the process continues to unfold throughout the summer, we pray the loving and just way of God will prevail. ‪
Read about the next steps in Rev. Meyer's caseCase against Rev. Meyer referred to church trial
The case against the Rev. Cynthia Meyer, who stated in a letter to her district superintendent earlier this year that she was in a committed homosexual relationship, has been referred to a church trial.
The decision was made June 21 by the Committee on Investigation, whose function is similar to that of a grand jury. It is comprised of Great Plains Conference clergy and laity, with duties outlined by The United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline in paragraph 2706. The committee conducted a hearing June 21 at the conference office building in Topeka, Kansas, and announced its decision June 24.
Under the Book of Discipline, the denominations book of law and procedure, the Church does not allow self-avowed, practicing homosexuals to serve as ordained clergy.
The Committee on Investigation’s decision does not imply Rev. Meyer’s guilt or innocence, but rather means reasonable grounds exist to bring her to a church trial, the date for which is yet to be set but likely will take place later this summer at a to-be-determined location.
Read the June 24 letter Bishop Jones has sent to all clergy and lay members to annual conference.
Prior to the announcement of the committee’s decision, parties for the Church and for Rev. Meyer agreed to a face-to-face meeting at some point in August with a mediator from the Just Peace Center for Mediation and Conflict Transformation, a United Methodist organization based in Washington, D.C., that states its mission is to prepare and assist leaders and faith communities to engage conflict in ways that strive for justice and reconciliation. That face-to-face meeting is expected to take place despite the committee’s referral of the case to a church trial.
“I am very sorry that we are moving toward the holding of a trial, and yet it appears to be a necessary next step following the preaching of Rev. Meyer’s sermon last January," Bishop Scott J. Jones said. "I still hold out hope that the just resolution process will reach an agreement that upholds the Book of Discipline. I ask that all parts of the Great Plains Conference keep Rev. Meyer and all parties in their prayers as I am doing.”
According to the Book of Discipline in Paragraph 2707, a church trial is considered to be “an expedient of last resort” in disputes within the denomination. A guilty verdict could result in the revocation of credentials for ordination, suspension or a lesser penalty.
The case against Meyer is one of several actions against clergy in the United States over issues associated with human sexuality. The General Conference, the Church’s top governing body that meets once every four years, convened May 10-20 in Portland, Oregon. The actions taken by more than 850 delegates from around the world included the adoption of a proposal by the Council of Bishops, the denomination’s executive branch, to set up a special commission to review every paragraph in the Discipline regarding human sexuality. The council could call a special General Conference prior to the scheduled 2020 gathering in Minneapolis, Minnesota, likely to deal only with matters pertaining to human sexuality.
The General Conference’s decision contains some ambiguity. It expresses a desire by the Council of Bishops to “continue to explore options to help the church live in grace with one another – including ways to avoid further complaints, trials and harm … .” But it closes with the phrase “while we uphold the Discipline.”
During the Great Plains Annual Conference session June 1-4 in Topeka, Kansas, clergy and laity from across Kansas and Nebraska approved an “aspirational resolution” urging counsel for the Church and counsel for Rev. Meyer to agree to refer her case back to the resident bishop to seek what the Discipline calls a “just resolution.” In such a process, the bishop can seek the assistance of a third-party mediator. Such a process is allowed in the denomination under Book of Discipline Paragraph 2706.5c3. The resolution is non-binding, meaning representatives for both sides in the case are not required to do so. Throughout the process, both parties still could resolve the issue. A just resolution could be agreed upon at any time.
The case began Jan. 3, when Rev. Meyer preached a sermon at Edgerton United Methodist Church in which she said she was in a “committed relationship” with another woman characterized as a “covenant.” She sent a copy of the sermon to her district superintendent, the Rev. David Watson. On Jan. 5, Rev. Watson, filed a complaint against Rev. Meyer alleging that she is a self-avowed, practicing homosexual.
The complaint process, outlined in the Book of Discipline, has included a time of discussion and inquiry that eventually led to the Committee on Investigation’s hearing June 21 in Topeka.
Despite the trial, Rev. Meyer will continue to serve the church in Edgerton, Kansas, throughout the remainder of the complaint process.
In his June 24 letter to all clergy and lay members of the annual conference, Bishop Jones said all people engaged in the process covet prayers.
“I hope to avoid a trial and still uphold my covenant vows,” Bishop Jones said. “Nevertheless, our church’s constitution guarantees Rev. Meyer the right to a trial, and we may end up having one. I believe that all of us will do the best we can to follow the General Conference’s admonition that we seek to live in grace with each other while we uphold the Discipline of our Church.”
Stories Related to the Rev. Meyer Case (in chronological order)