Brethren Church at odds
over first openly gay pastor
By Chris Meehan
RELIGION NEWS SERVICE
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Matthew Smucker never planned to be a pioneer in
the fight for gay rights in his small Protestant denomination. But the
34-year-old development officer at Chicago Theological Seminary has become
just that.
In early June, the former Kalamazoo resident made history when he became
the first openly gay person to be ordained to the ministry in the 135,000-member
Church of the Brethren.
Then a month later, delegates to the Brethren's Annual Conference in
Louisville, Ky., voted by a two-thirds margin to start a process that could
lead to the revocation of Smucker's ordination. While some people are outraged
by the sequence of events, the reaction from a man who says he is only
following God's call is more subdued.
"It really saddens me what is happening," said Smucker, who was ordained
June 9 at Skyridge Church in Kalamazoo.
"The conference decision doesn't affect me immediately. But this does
make me wonder: Where is the prophetic voice in our church?"
Smucker said he didn't start this process to challenge authority. Rather,
he said, he was simply following a call to preach and teach. But now things
are different.
"I plan to keep walking on this journey as far as I can. I have nothing
to lose and a lot to gain." He said he hopes his efforts will create opportunities
for others in his situation.
Michigan officials of the Church of the Brethren will meet in August
to review the vote taken by the national church. It was the Michigan district
of the church that agreed to Smucker's ordination, a move that has stirred
powerful emotions and caused division among the church's factions. Church
officials say the district has some leeway in the matter, but there is
no precedent for such a case.
"I have no knowledge of what will happen next," Marie Willoughby, superintendent
of the Michigan district, said. "But nearly all of the Churches of the
Brethren in Michigan strongly oppose the ordination of practicing homosexuals
on biblical grounds."
Delegates to the Louisville meeting reaffirmed a 1983 policy paper on
human sexuality, saying: "We consider it inappropriate to license or ordain
to the Christian ministry any persons who are known to be engaging in homosexual
practices, and will not recognize the licensing and ordination of such
persons in the Church of the Brethren."
While nearly all Brethren churches in Michigan may oppose the ordination,
that isn't true for the church at large. Others in the church point out
that of the 900 delegates at the recent convention, nearly 300 opposed
the motion to keep gays from the pulpit.
"I take that to mean that as many as three churches out of 10 in our
denomination might accept gay clergy," said the Rev. Debra Eisenbise, pastor
of Skyridge Church in Kalamazoo.
"You had a very diverse group of people speaking out on this topic at
the convention," added Eisenbise, who was at the church meeting as an observer.
Evident in the battle raging among the Brethren is an issue that has
divided mainline Protestant churches for years and shows no signs of ceasing.
Currently, the United Church of Christ is the only mainline Protestant
denomination that has a national policy allowing for ordination of openly
gay people to the ministry.
Original
Link URL