Methodist bishop’s backers inspired
Some join a network that sees human sexuality as “a good gift from God.”
The message was aimed at church youth days after a Methodist court ruling that further hardened the denomination’s stance against gay leaders — “Loved Just as You Are,” said a banner near tables of cookies in Arvada last Sunday.
And in Denver, the pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church aimed for soothing words the week after the court said the denomination’s first openly gay bishop was in violation of church lawas a “self-avowed practicing homosexual.” The decision “disappointed some folks, comforted others and confused many,” the Rev. Michael Dent wrote, adding that the diverse congregation is “challenged to live together in a beloved community.”
Across Colorado, Methodist ministers invited their congregations to talk last week about the April 28 ruling regarding Bishop Karen Oliveto, who was allowed to remain as bishop of the Mountain Sky region but could face sanction, suspension or a trial because she is an open lesbian. One such meeting at First United Methodist Church of Colorado Springs drew nearly 100 people, who were split on whether they support the bishop.
The Western Jurisdiction’s election of Oliveto, who has been with her wife for 17
years, was immediately protested last summer by the denomination’s more conservative South Central Jurisdiction, which includes Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma andTexas. The turmoil that followed, culminating in a 6-3 decision from the church’s highest court, has turned a spotlight on the decades-long division within the United Methodist Church regarding same-sex marriage, gay ministers and LGBTQissues in general.
A growing number of Colorado’s 210UnitedMethodist churches have joined a Chicago-based Methodist organization called the Reconciling Ministries Network, which believes “human sexuality is a good gift from God.” The network’s website now includes 28 members in Colorado, and some members hope the latest controversy over the bishop’s sexuality will spur more to join the network that has been around for decades. Congregations, and break-off groups within a congregation, that have joined the network do not want to leave the Methodist denomination— they want other churches to join them in accepting everyone.
“I’m hearing more and more congregations and individuals committed to a church that wel- comes all people,” said Oliveto, who has been overwhelmed by supportive letters and Snapchat messages. “I’ve especially seen it with young people. We are seeing signs of a generational change, and I think it’s bringing us all to a place of beloved community where every person is valued.”
The Methodist court’s ruling was convoluted: The bishop was not removed fromher post as her supporters most feared, and she was allowed to continue leading nearly 400 churches in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana and Idaho. The Western Jurisdiction — which encompasses most of the states from Colorado to the west, including California — was allowed to determine whether to suspend the bishop or hold a trial. Yet, the ruling also made clear that the church’s lawagainst clergy who are “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” applies even to those in a legal, same-sex marriage by saying Oliveto is in violation of that law.
Oliveto is the denomination’s first bishop to speak out openly about her sexuality, a breakthrough in a denominationwhere homosexual clergy typically have stayed silent or celibate.
Now the four fellow bishops in theWestern Jurisdiction are conducting a “ministerial review” of Oliveto’s case. They have received a complaint against her from within the district, and the process at this point is a private, personnel matter. A trial would be a “last resort” that likely would not happen for years, Oliveto said.
Oliveto called the court’s ruling that she is violating church law a “soul-crushing” verdict for LGBTQpeople and their families. “I am very aware that we are a divided church,” she said.
The Rev. Michael Nickerson, pastor of the progressive Aspen Community United Methodist Church, one of the first churches in the region to join the Reconciling Ministries Network, said the court’s ruling defining a same-sex marriage as “practicing homosexuality” was a “blowpsychologically” to those who support LGBTQ people. “What they did is increase the definition of what a selfavowed practicing homosexual is,” said Nickerson, who performed a same-sex wedding for the first time in 1979, before there was aMethodist rule against it.
The process of becoming a “reconciling congregation” involves self-examination about whether the congregation is welcoming to all people, not just gay people, but minorities and those who are homeless or poor. “It’s not about gay or not gay, it’s really about accepting everyone,” Nickerson said.
At Arvada United Methodist Church, which has 750 members and joined the reconciling network in 2000, members are ready to “stand up and showour values,” said Katherine Plummer, a retired teacher. More than 360 members signed a letter of support in 2014 for Pennsylvania Methodist minister Frank Schaefer, whowas disciplined for performing the samesex marriage of his gay son. The church organized a “you are loved” celebration for youth last Sunday because leaderswanted to make sure youth knew where their “church family” stood on the issue of the gay bishop.
“At this point with the bishop, wewant to go beyond just sending her cards and messages of support,” Plummer said. “We want to state our opinions in the state and region. Wewant her to be seen not as a lesbian bishop, but just a bishop.”
Some pastors of Colorado churches that are not part of the network, including ParkerUnited Methodist Church, declined requests for interviews, though others told TheDenver Post howdifficult it is to hold a congregation together when members are split on issues such as gay marriage.
After the meeting at the First UnitedMethodist Church of Colorado Springs last week, a gay member of the congregation told his pastor hewanted a church that focused on the teachings of the Bible, not on political issues. The church’s leader, the Rev. Kent Ingram, who supports the bishop, said his church has not pursued a Reconciling Ministries designation because the church does not want the designation to define the church or “become the central focus of a congregation.” Even gay members of Ingram’s congrega- tion do not want to attend a “gay” church, they just want to attend church, he said.
“Those of us not pursuing those designations run the risk of being seen as not supportive of the cause,” Ingram said, noting pastors areworking to “hold churches together.” He calls “reconciling ministries” and other designations “hyphen designations,” as in they are hyphenated additions to the name of the church. “Anything to the left of the hyphen to define a church can became the central focus of a congregation. Not always, but it has that potential,” he said.
At Trinity in Denver, Pastor Dent said churches that have not sought the reconciling designation, including his, are not necessarily against gay rights or samesexmarriage. Trinity “has a tradition of open doors, open hearts and open minds,” he said, and asked his congregation to pray for the denomination’s worldwide “Way Forward” committee, which has the task of trying to figure out howtheMethodist church can remain one body with such opposing views on homosexuality.
In his bulletin, Dent included a question from the Bible posed by Jesus: “If we love only those who agree with us, what more are we doing than anyone else?”
Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593, jenbrown@denverpost.com or @jbrowndpost