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e-Review Florida United Methodist News Service | ||||||
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Florida church becomes reconciling congregation By John Michael De Marco | Sept. 28, 2010 {1221} Lakewood United Methodist Church has further cemented its hospitality toward all people by becoming a Reconciling Ministries Network congregation. The St. Petersburg-based congregation voted 30-2 this year to formally identify with Reconciling Ministries, a five- to six-year process of teaching, conversation and reflection. Reconciling Ministries, based in Chicago, is a growing movement of United Methodist individuals, congregations, campus ministries and other groups working for the full participation of all people in The United Methodist Church. “Our hope in Christ envisions ‘One Family Tree’ that thrives as persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world,” the Reconciling Ministries website reads. As of January, the network included 295 reconciling congregations, 35 reconciling campus ministries and 89 other reconciling communities and ministries. The Rev. Tracy Hunter, Lakewood’s senior pastor, said the vote was “pretty representative” of members’ views about becoming a reconciling congregation. “That number is probably a pretty accurate reflection of folks who struggle with this in such a way that they would vote against it,” she said of the two people who voted “no.” Hunter said church leaders worked hard to provide as much information as possible to members about the process and what becoming a reconciling congregation would mean so there would be no surprises for anyone. “It’s one step for Lakewood of hopefully a longer process,” she said. “It feels hopeful for me to be the pastor of a reconciling congregation in terms of where the larger church may be moving in the future.” Lakewood has nearly 120 active members whose average age is about 60. It is located in south St. Petersburg in a diverse neighborhood that transitioned from middle to upper class whites to a middle and working class mix of whites and people of Caribbean descent. “(The Reconciling Ministries designation) means serving in a congregation that’s not just open and affirming for folks who are gay and lesbian, but who have kind of embraced the diversity of the neighborhood in a way that’s not fearful,” Hunter said. “They had some choices in the 1960s or ’70s about moving from the south side to another location, but they remained. I think that decision was more accidental than intentional, but still those folks remained and worked very hard to connect with the community.” Yolanda Giovannetti, who identifies herself as a lesbian, has attended Lakewood for about a year, after being raised Catholic and experimenting with the Metropolitan Community Church denomination. She said she heard about Lakewood from a friend and discovered immediately that the church “was totally different than what I’d ever expected.”
“Everyone was really open … and not until months later when I got to know a lot of people at the church, I told pastor Tracy I wanted to tell my story,” Giovannetti said. “I came up and explained my whole life story and said I was gay. After that, (it felt like the whole congregation was) just holding me and being even more open. I was shocked, and I didn’t know what was going to come out of it.” Giovannetti emphasized that she was not advocating for Lakewood to adopt the reconciling designation, nor is she seeking to be part of a “gay church.” “It just has to be a loving congregation, with an open pastor,” she said. “When they started talking about reconciling, I wondered whether I needed to be part of things. I didn’t want to be the one holding the torch saying, ‘Let’s do this.’ It was nice to see that the church took it on themselves. I thought it was interesting that in my life I turned to a different denomination and a different group of people to be loving and open-arms.” Hunter has served as pastor at Lakewood for eight years, following the Rev. Barbara Odom, an African-American pastor and the first female appointed to lead the congregation, who died during her appointment there. After Odom’s death, the congregation “was really grieving and kind of on the brink of some really significant ministry in terms of connecting with the neighborhood,” Hunter said. “Part of my first few years was walking with them in the midst of that grief.” When the church began working through the reconciling process, Hunter said, members already thought the church was a reconciling congregation. “We probably were, but it was kind of by accident,” she said. “There are folks who are gay and lesbian and plenty who have children or grandchildren who are — and lots of other folks who have friends who are. Part of the journey was hearing those stories and having a place that was safe enough for folks to talk about people they cared about and being able to invite them to church and expect that they would be welcome.” The church’s official welcoming statement reads: “LUMC seeks to be a church with ‘Open Hearts, Open Minds and Open Doors’ and is dedicated to reaching out to all God’s children. Jesus calls us to the ministry of reconciliation and grace. Therefore, we invite and welcome all persons of every age, gender identity, racial and ethnic background, sexual orientation, marital and socioeconomic status, nationality and immigration status, physical and mental ability to participate in the life of this faith community. We embrace the beautiful and amazing diversity of God’s creation in south St. Petersburg and identify ourselves as a reconciling congregation.” “I’m really excited for them,” said the Rev. John Powers, superintendent of the Gulf Central District, who informed congregations in the district of the church’s designation in his July newsletter. “Tracy did an excellent job of leading them. The team that led them to this did a very good job about being very open about what Reconciling Ministries is all about. They were up front with the values or guiding principles of the organization. The decision they made was a very informed decision.” Powers said the church conference at which the vote was taken felt like “a very informed celebration.” “It wasn’t so much a debate over whether or not to do it, but a testimony about what the whole process meant to people individually and to the church,” he said. “There was a member of the church who is a lesbian who had tears in her eyes talking about how she had found a family and how the church had been so open to her.”
Although The United Methodist Church “does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching,” according to the Book of Discipline, the church’s law book, the church also affirms that “God’s grace is available to all.” The Discipline further implores families and churches “not to reject or condemn lesbian and gay members and friends” and to commit themselves “to be in ministry for and with all persons.” St. John’s United Methodist Church in Miami Beach is the only other reconciling congregation in the Florida Conference. The Rev. Melissa Pisco, who was appointed to St. Paul United Methodist Church in Jacksonville July 1, was the pastor at St. John’s when it voted to embrace the designation. Powers said he knows of at least one other church that has pursued the Reconciling Ministries study and has demonstrated hospitality to gay and lesbian persons without having yet taken a vote on the designation. In terms of Lakewood’s next steps, Hunter said she plans to offer Bible studies on Reconciling Ministries subject areas, as well as reach out to young people who are at risk for suicide or depression. “Or even something as simple as offering space for student groups,” she added. Each church decides how to live out the designation, she said. Both Hunter and Powers said they had not heard any objections to the Lakewood designation from anyone in the district or conference. “For people who have concerns about it, we’ll say we are in a denomination that has a very broad range of views on many subjects,” Powers said. “This is certainly one of those; it’s a hot button. There certainly are others on the other side of the spectrum, and we need to be respectful of their views, as well. My role as the district superintendent is to try to help us to be respectful of one another and listen to one another.” “We didn’t have as much pushback as we anticipated,” Hunter added. “Between Jesus and John (Wesley), we should be able to manage this in ways that are Spirit-filled and not fearful.” More information about the Reconciling Ministries Network is available at http://www.rmnetwork.org/. News media contact: Tita Parham, 800-282-8011, tparham@flumc.org, Orlando *Parham is managing editor of e-Review Florida United Methodist News Service. |
