| MFSA News September, 2001 Clergy Alliance Formed: Movement for an Inclusive Church Continues to Grow The Clergy Alliance of the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) became a reality at the July 26-29 National Convocation of RMN held in Tacoma, Washington. Sixty-seven United Methodist clergy representing every region of the United Methodist Church in the United States declared the birth of the movement. Over the next several months United Methodist clergy throughout the denomination will be invited to become part of the Alliance. The goal and purpose of the Alliance is to provide a network of support and strategy for clergy committed to a fully inclusive church and ministry. The movement will challenge UM Church policies and practices that exclude or discriminate against people because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, or other condition of identity. The Clergy Alliance will organize and work nationally and regionally in three distinctive ways: 1. Working within and working to change the denomination’s discriminatory policies and practices regarding sexual orientation and other identities. This effort will attempt to develop and support the fullest ministry of and for inclusion within the parameters allowed by the denomination’s Book of Discipline. It will include participating in denominational legislative and election strategies, sharing resources for permitted inclusive ministry and establishing a network of support and communication. 2. Commitment to radical obedience to the gospel’s mandate for full inclusiveness. This arena challenges the unjust laws and policies of the denomination through non-violent confrontation. The commitment will include both support (financial and other) to those injured by such witness and strategy to develop plans for individual, collective and mass witness. 3. The establishment of a Professing Church. This “church within a church” draws on the model of the Confessing Church movement that emerged during World War II in Germany in resistance to the national church’s collusion with the Nazi government. The Professing Church will focus on developing the parallel infrastructure and resources needed for full inclusive ministry. It will function as both an incubator and model for an emerging church celebrating the fullness of the diversity created by God. It will be less focused on attempting to directly interact with the denomination than it will be committed to enabling faithful ministry by participating clergy and congregations. Clergy in the Alliance will be directly involved in one or more of these initiatives. They also will commit to support those involved in the other profiles and to support the Alliance as a whole. Those adopting the above model for the Alliance named an organizing group to select a permanent leadership team and to begin the work on developing the work of the Alliance. The organizing group will meet in early fall. The Rev. Gregory Dell, pastor of Broadway United Methodist Church in Chicago, Illinois and the Rev. Marilyn Meeker-Williams, pastor of Bering Memorial United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas were named as co-coordinators of the Clergy Alliance. |