mennonite – Protestia

Mennonites Go Gay, Passing Resolutions Affirming Same-Sex Marriage

The largest Mennonite denomination in the United States has gone gay, passing a resolution in June, with 55.7% of delegates committing itself to full LGBTQ inclusion in the church, and in a separate vote, 82.8% of members repealed previous prohibitions from pastors officiating same sex weddings, declaring in part:

Current policies of Mennonite Church USA do violence to LGBTQIA people by failing to
affirm their full, God-given identities and by restricting their full participation in the life,
ministries and rituals of the broader church. The rejection of LGBTQIA people by MC USA has
silenced and denied ministry callings, torn apart families, forced parents to choose between their
church and their child, and caused many LGBTQIA people to leave the church. In some cases,
rejection by their faith community is a factor in LGBTQIA people self-harming or even dying by
suicide

…Excluding LGBTQIA people from the church is a rejection of God’s joyous delight in the diversity of creation and a denial of the Divine image and breath animating all humankind… It is a denial of the work of the Holy Spirit who empowers LGBTQIA Christians to give and receive every gift in the body of Christ.

In the last 25 years, the denomination, which can trace its roots back to 16^th century Anabaptists, has been dying, going from 135,000 members in 1998, to 62,000 in 2021. This will surely exacerbate the situation, with many conservative churches likely to leave on account of it.

According to MC USA Executive Director Glen Guyton. “This weekend, we did the demanding work of struggling together as the body of Christ. We will continue to live into our Renewed Commitments of following Jesus, witnessing to God’s peace and helping those we encounter to experience the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.”

h/t The Dissenter

It’s Official. Mennonite Church USA Officially Caves on Marriage

(Juicy Ecumenism) Membership Guidelines in place for 20 years that prohibited Mennonite Church USA pastors from officiating same-sex marriages have been repealed.

The May 29 move by the historically Anabaptist denomination’s Delegate Assembly meeting in Kansas City, Missouri followed an earlier unanimous vote by the 10-member Executive Board on April 16 to send a proposed resolution to “retire” the guidelines. Anabaptist World has coverage of the assembly here.

“Pastors holding credentials in a conference of Mennonite Church USA may not perform a same-sex covenant ceremony. Such action would be grounds for review of their credentials by their area conference’s ministerial credentialing body,” the now-retired Membership Guidelines read.

Delegates voted 404-84, or 82.8 percent in favor, to retire the Membership Guidelines, according to Anabaptist World. A subsequent vote of 267-212, or 55.7 percent in favor, approved a “Repentance and Transformation” resolution, written by the Inclusive Mennonite Pastors group. That resolution confessed harm to and affirmed the spiritual gifts of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) people and commits to inclusive actions to “embody a theology that honors LGBTQIA people and relationships with all future MC USA theological statements”.

The Mennonite Church USA is significantly smaller than mainline Protestant churches, but remains the largest Mennonite denomination in the United States and…to continue reading click here.

Editor’s Note. This article was written by Jeffrey Walton and published at Juicy Ecumenism