On
February 4th I was informed by Covenant leaders that they were terminating
their partnership with me as a church planter and Christ Church: Portland as an
official church plant of the Evangelical Covenant Church. The reason: my
personal convictions and advocacy for the full inclusion and participation of
LGBT Christians in the church at all levels of membership and leadership,
receiving the same call as any other Christian would to discipleship and faith,
community, fidelity in relationships.
In
terms of my position on human sexuality, I agree with the arc of the Covenant’s
position, which: upholds celibacy in singleness and faithfulness in
heterosexual marriage as the Christian standard. I only differ in my
convictions that the call to celibacy in singleness and the call to Christian
marriage be extended to both “straight” and “LGBT” followers of Jesus in our
churches.
In
2004, the ECC’s Board of the Ordered Ministry offered this word, which stood as
Covenant policy on human sexuality matters, with the caveat that "The
following is a report from the Board of the Ordered Ministry to the 119th
Annual Meeting in 2004. It represents what we have discerned thus far.”
For more on the
Covenant’s position, read: http://www.covchurch.org/…/Human-Sexuality-Guidelines-for-M…
In
the run-up to that official 2004 declaration, and all along the way since then
in my licensing and ordination conversations, church-planter’s assessment, and
in private consultation with ECC leaders at all levels of local, regional
(Conference) and denominational leadership I shared that I believed the policy
statement was incomplete, and the call to continued discernment, as inferred by
the Board of the Ordered Ministry, was a good word that we should continue to
reflect on. I was urged that the Covenant was a safe place for me to hold these
personal convictions and that discernment would be, of course, an ongoing matter
as we rooted ourselves in Christ, dwelled deeply in the Scriptures, listened
with pastoral ears to our local communities, and followed the movement of the
Holy Spirit.
I,
in no way whatsoever, believe that LGBT inclusion is an essential matter of
faith. For me, it comes down to my pastoral sensibilities and concern for my
local community and broader ministry context. It's my pastoral convictions that
undergird my advocacy on such matters, as they have in my advocacy around
poverty, racism and global health.
Let
me be clear: There are wonderful, faithful Christians who seek to include LGBT
persons in their local ministry contexts and congregations, stopping short of
Christian marriage. They are doing wonderful work on anti-bullying and other
such challenges that the LGBT community face every day.
I
count such congregations and their leaders as companions and colleagues in the
great journey with Jesus we’ve each been magnificently gifted by a God who
loves us with a love we can barely comprehend. We're better together.
My
sincere hope and desire was that we, in the Evangelical Covenant Church, could
maintain our historic ethos of Christian freedom on such matters.
In
recent months, as I heard the testimony of faithful Christians who happened to
be gay, the narratives were immensely similar: experiences of exclusion,
alienation, with many suffering from clinical depression or suicidal thoughts.
Hearing these stories happened during a season in which I was pigeon-holed by
Covenant leaders to articulate my personally held convictions once again. I
could no longer keep fully silent on these matters. In fact, I heard God
calling me out to speak faithfully on such matters.
As
a result, we lost not only our faith family support system in the Covenant
church, we lost the next two years of funding. Curiously, I remain ordained in
the Evangelical Covenant Church and will have a meeting with ECC leaders in
March or April to further understand the parameters of such an ordination,
serving a former Covenant church plant.
I
share this testimony, an open letter to my Covenant friends, to live in the
light of my convictions. I share it out of a spirit of love and unity, not
hostility or division. I share it in the hope that in the end love and faith
triumph over conflict and fear.
I’m
also excited to share that you’ll hear from members of Christ Church’s core
team a week from now, about who they are and why they’re excited to be part of
our brand new congregation, taking root in Portland. Stay tuned.
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