Letter to a Friend

On Sunday, my church, Mount Hope United Methodist Church (UMC), announced that the pastor of about a decade will be transferred in July. A church leader then requested that the congregation send input to help match  Mount Hope with a new minister. This is an e-mail I wrote to him.

Hi Mark,

On Sunday, you asked for input as to what the next Mount Hope pastor should be like. I want to share a brief story that might highlight one characteristic of a good match.

 After we moved back to Lansing for graduate school, Rebecca and I tried churches for about a year before we settled at Mount Hope. We weren't looking for a UMC specifically - to be honest, the list we worked off was of gay affirming churches. I had grown up in a church that blamed LGBT people for many of the problems of American society and considered the gay agenda to be one of destruction and hedonism. Rebecca didn't grow up in the church, and we had both gone to Riverview as undergrads, which was much less political than the church I attended as a young adult. However, Riverview was very big and I never felt as though I had become part of a community there, even after four years, so we wanted a change.

 We visited many churches that welcomed LGBT individuals, but didn't seem to joyfully greet Jesus himself. We were seeking a place where we could fellowship with other believers whose faith and worship were vibrant. We noticed on the list of gay affirming churches that there were some UMCs, so we decided to try the Oasis service. After our first visit, we couldn't tell whether we would be ostracized or judged for being lesbians.

Confronting this head-on, I sent Pastor Bill an e-mail asking what the church's position was. He explained that the official stance is that homosexuality isn't compatible with a Christian lifestyle, but "that my longing and hope would be that you would indeed find within our local church community of Mt Hope and Oasis a church family that will accept you without asking you to change.  I would understand if our official position is more than you want to deal with, but I would be honored if you would offer us the grace to welcome you and continue our journey in Christ together."

This kind of sensitivity to us as a group of people who often feel that the church, and by extension, God, does not love us is one reason that we have continued attending Mount Hope. While I know that the new pastor must respect the official position, I hope that he or she will be willing to extend open arms to all families who come in the church doors.

Blessings,

Erin