Becoming a Reconciling Congregation
Mount Olivet UMC’s journey to becoming an inclusive, welcoming community of all persons did not happen overnight. As much as many would like to think there is a simple switch to flip and all of a sudden hearts and minds will be changed, the truth is that no such switch exists. The process for Mount Olivet began five years before we chose to affiliate with Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN).
In 2014, in the wake of the Rev. Frank Schaefer being defrocked by the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference, the Mount Olivet community created a task force to design a process for reflection and discernment on how Mount Olivet could live out their vision statement as a congregation in relation to our LGBTQ+ siblings. Out of this came a series of Holy Conversations. These conversations were intentional, honest, and at times heart-breaking.
Three factors prompted these conversations:
As citizens of this country, we see attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community changing with signs of greater acceptance / tolerance (i.e., civil recognition of gay marriage, workplace discrimination protections, etc.)
As Christians, we try to reconcile the scriptural writings and traditional beliefs with Christ’s message of love for all and discerning how this reconciliation process impacts our message to the LGBTQ+ community.
As part of the Methodist denomination, we have witnessed the varied responses to LGBTQ+ issues, notably same-sex unions, at all levels of the global United Methodist Church - from the local congregations up through the General Conference.
Out of the Holy Conversations five recommendations surfaced:
Offer a specific welcome by the Mount Olivet community to all persons, specifically including the LGBTQ+ community.
Commit Mount Olivet resources and support to ensure words of welcoming are accompanied by actions.
Initiate the process for Mount Olivet for becoming a Reconciling Congregation.
Establish formal outreach and dialogue with area United Methodist congregations that are on similar journeys of discernment, in order to deepen our understanding and sensitivity on LGBTQ+ issues and strengthen our faith.
Continue the Mount Olivet community dialogue and discernment, with the goal of deepening community understanding.
The Church Council adopted, and the congregation began to work toward the implementation of all of the recommendations, except for the third as it was the recommendation that caused the greatest concern among those who found themselves as traditional compatibilists and traditional incompatibilists.
Mount Olivet has been living into its statement on inclusivity since it was adopted by the Church Council: “We welcome all persons into the life and ministry of our congregation regardless of race, culture, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, family or socioeconomic status, education, politics, physical or mental ability or health, or faith history.”
The work of being an inclusive congregation is not easy nor does Mount Olivet take this lightly, which is why when General Conference 2019 ended, our congregation knew they needed to act.
At the request of the Lay Leadership, we gathered in the days following GC2019 to discern a way forward for Mount Olivet. We developed a survey for the congregation and a series of town hall meetings to allow ample opportunity for every person at Mount Olivet to have their voice heard. Jan Lawrence, the Executive Director of Reconciling Ministries Network, spoke to the congregation about what joining RMN would mean for Mount Olivet. “What are we committing to?” was the most commonly asked question leading up to the town hall gatherings.
Because we had already had the series of Holy Conversations and our statement of inclusivity had been approved by the Church Council, the only thing left for the congregation to do was to reach a consensus on whether or not to join RMN.
On June 8, after thoughtful discussion by the Church Council and weighing all of the comments given during the three town hall meetings and reviewing our survey results, the Church Council reached consensus and Mount Olivet joined RMN.
And that was the easy part.
Looking ahead as a Reconciling Congregation and with General Conference 2020 on the horizon, we are now engaged in conversation to figure out what joining RMN means for our congregation. The next steps are not clear to us. There are some in the community who believe joining the network is enough while others believe we have larger steps to take if we truly want to live into the desire to be an inclusive community.
The easy part is done and now the hard work begins.
We desire to be a community where our statement of inclusivity is not merely a page on our website, yet we also want to be a place where those who are not there yet, who need more time to discern for themselves what inclusivity in the Church means, have a place at Mount Olivet as well. We do not want inclusivity in our community to make us inherently exclusive. That is where the hard work begins.
We have not perfected our identity as a Reconciling Congregation but with God’s help and a little bit of grace we may just figure it out.
Useful links:
Statement on Inclusivity - https://mountolivetumc.com/wayforward
Holy Conversations - https://mountolivetumc.com/holy-conversations
Congregation RMN Survey - https://mountolivetumc.com/survey