Open and Affirmg is the way many the Uned Church of Christ (UCC) clare wele and cln of gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT),
Contents:
- ALLOW FEMALE PASTORS TODAY AND EXPECT GAY CLERGY TOMORROW, MIKE LAW WARNS
- GAY PASTORS, FEMALE CLERGY AND THE GOSPEL
- FIVE EVANGELIL PASTORS WHO BACK GAY MARRIAGE
- LUTHERAN GAY AND LBIAN PASTORS ARE 'REAL PEOPLE'
ALLOW FEMALE PASTORS TODAY AND EXPECT GAY CLERGY TOMORROW, MIKE LAW WARNS
David Gura speaks wh Rev. Kimberly Stt about last week's meetg of the Uned Methodist Church's Council of Bishops and s impedg vote on whether to orda gay pastors. * gay female pastor *
She has two gay brothers, a lbian sister and a transgenr son. 3 ln members, Pastor Rohrer had been barred om the church bee of s “polici agast gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr and queer dividuals, ” acrdg to Pastor Rohrer’s bgraphy on the Grace Evangelil Lutheran Church Megan Rohrer Pastor Rohrer was ordaed 2006 through the Extraordary Candidacy Project, now known as Extraordary Lutheran Mistri, which origated the early 1990s ristance to an Evangelil Lutheran Church policy that required s gay clergy to be celibate. ”In July 2010, Pastor Rohrer was one of seven openly gay pastors who had prevly been barred om mistry to be regnized as clergy members by the Evangelil Lutheran Church a news nference after the pastors were regnized, Pastor Rohrer relled facg challeng while growg up South Dakota and endurg discrimatn, such as havg holy water thrown at them the name of exorcisg them.
“There was once a time when suici was better bee I uld not image beg openly gay and a pastor. LGBTQ youth often hear om their church, “jt don’t be gay, and if you are, don’t tell about , bee we don’t want to stggle wh , ” Flipp said.
Allowg women to serve church wh the tle “pastor” is a slippery slope that will lead to acceptance of gay, lbian and transgenr pastors next, acrdg to a Virgia pastor llg for an amendment to the Southern Baptist Conventn’s nstutn. “History shows that once a nomatn allows female pastors ’s ually jt a matter of time until they affirm practicg homosexuals as pastors.
GAY PASTORS, FEMALE CLERGY AND THE GOSPEL
“Generally speakg, history shows that once a nomatn allows female pastors ’s ually jt a matter of time until they affirm practicg homosexuals as pastors. He then c the years female pastors were allowed the Amerin Baptist Church the USA, the Epispal Church Ameri, the Evangelil Lutheran Church Ameri, the Prbyterian Church (USA) and the Uned Methodist Church and lks those cisns to later acceptance of gay and lbian clergy. “They are now hemorrhagg over homosexual ordatn, and ’s the nservativ who are leavg.
Currently, The Uned Methodist Church do not sanctn gay and lbian ordatns or same-sex marriag. If the SBC don’t act to stop acceptance of female pastors, won’t be long until SBC church “start openly supportg homosexual clergy, same-sex marriage and eventually transgenrism, ” he warns. Kimberly Stt about last week's meetg of the Uned Methodist Church's Council of Bishops and s impedg vote on whether to orda gay pastors.
The Uned Methodist nomatn has over 6 ln members the Uned Stat, and they're divid over the qutn of ordag gay misters. She left the church for seven years and me back to be s first Black, female, openly gay pastor, and she jos now om Phoenix.
FIVE EVANGELIL PASTORS WHO BACK GAY MARRIAGE
KIMBERLY SCOTT: Thank you, So this bate over ordag gay clergy has been gog on for a while, sce the late '60s. And then the other part was always send-gusg myself - whether or not I was supposed to be open about my sexual orientatn, whether or not I was supposed to play the game of don't ask, don't Jt so that I'm clear, is the church's official stance on homosexualy today ambiguo or is pretty clearly fed and you'd like to see changed? It clearly stat that you nnot be an openly-practicg homosexual and be ordaed the Uned Methodist Church.
It also stat that although all human begs are of sacred worth, homosexualy is patible wh Christian teachg. S., church have gone beyond what the Book of Disciple says to make the church open and accsible to gay and lbian clergy like Do you know other pastors who aren't as open as you or haven't been able to be as open as you - have ma this choice to keep this important si of their liv quiet or secret om their ngregatns?
LUTHERAN GAY AND LBIAN PASTORS ARE 'REAL PEOPLE'
The bate around homosexualy is not somethg that most Ain and third-world untri are - really re about. Que a few iends have been sharg this story about the Prbyterian Church (USA) movg toward the acceptance of gay clergy on a natnal level.
I do know that I believe gay and lbian Christians should be able to serve openly mistry at all levels. "Neher of mean to equate sexualy wh genr, and has to be te that fewer groups orda openly homosexual persons than orda women. In most s, the refal to orda women or to treat homosexuals wh fairns, digny and grace, stem om a certa kd of biblil hermentic that als wh Scripture very limg ways.
It fosters sexism, homophobia, domtic vlence and a host of needls, tragic anxieti men and women who haven't been raised ntexts where the renciliatn of their doubts about supposedly Biblil genr rol and sexuali on one hand, and their ep longg for a relatnship wh the radilly welg God of J on the other, is enuraged or even of fah, we mt do better than this.