Former WCG Elder Writes Open Letter to Grace Communion International

A former elder/minister of the Worldwide Church of God has written an open letter to Grace Communion International about it's treatment of gays and lesbians in the church.  This would also apply to LCG. PCG, UCG and many of the other splinter groups.  They all have gay and lesbian members in their midst.  You can read his entire entry here: Open Letter  on The Progressive Christians Alliance blog

I have written this in both in honor of NC GLBT Pride Month, and also to help create a dialogue within the denomination in which I was originally baptized and ordained.

Friends and family in Grace Communion International (Formerly the Worldwide Church of God):
Greetings!

I am a long-lost spiritual family member, writing home to share some of my story and invite you into a conversation I should have entered with you a long time ago. I write this open letter to Grace Communion International hoping to see you become all God has called you to be.

Recently my wife Katharine and I were blessed to meet representatives of Faith in America, the faith-based organization founded in part by Reverend Jimmy Creech, and to read his autobiography telling of how he stubbornly stayed within the United Methodist Church fighting for that denomination to fully recognize its gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered members as fully loved and embraced by God in Jesus Christ by granting them full acceptance and welcome within that community. As his book Adam’s Gift demonstrates, this did not occur (at least yet) as a result of his efforts. Instead Rev. Creech was eventually de-frocked for the stance he took and removed from his post as a pastor in good standing with the United Methodist Church.

What struck me as I read his words was the courage this pastor had in the face of stifling pressure and resistance. He chose to not compromise the principles of the Gospel of Jesus while also refusing to give up on the church that ordained him. Though many felt Pastor Creech was attempting to destroy the United Methodist Church, for Creech he chose to stay and fight because he loved and believed in his church to the point he would not give up on it. Creech chose to believe that the heart and core of what it meant to be United Methodist was to be people who do justice, love mercy, and who walk humbly together with their God as Micah 6.8 describes. He dared to believe at great cost that in fact his denomination was not being true to its own best principles, that it was denying itself by its unjust actions. He loved it enough to not abandon its sheep to the wolves of injustice but instead to do as anyone who loved another would do when they saw them abandon their own best interests: call them to be true to themselves again.

Reading Creech’s words convicted me in a very deep and personal way and is what has inspired this confession.

You see I grew up within a tradition that I loved, that helped awaken the spark of saving faith in Jesus Christ within me, that nurtured me spiritually, where my mentoring and training in ministry went on, and where some seven years ago I was ordained into the ministry of Jesus Christ, a ministry which I continue to serve in today.
Yet shortly after my ordination I faced a dilemma I came face to face with a great injustice at work in that community of churches. While serving in Worldwide Church of God I became exposed to the great injustices experienced by many of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning members of my denomination.

This came first when a member of my congregation came to me for counsel and feedback about how to handle his struggle with his sexual orientation. He admitted to me that he was gay. He had seen therapists about his sexuality and found it could not be changed. Yet the church taught he could never have a loving faithful relationship with another man. And what’s more even though he followed its teaching he was rejected, treated like a pariah in the congregation. I gave him the feedback I had been taught to give in Worldwide Church of God and found it only made things worse for him. And his questions as a gay man about the Scriptures I shared shook up my theological apple-cart and sent me studying the texts more carefully.