Calgary church accepts homosexual practice

CALGARY, ALTA.

South Calgary Inter-Mennonite Church has decided to welcome people "regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation". The church does not keep a membership list, but every year adherents take part in a covenanting service. The church's position means that practising homosexuals in a committed relationship are allowed to take part in the covenanting service and be full participants in the congregation. The decision was made in October, 1996, but did not generally become known until Oct. 5 1997, when 50 people from the congregation attended a Supportive Congregations Network retreat in Canmore, Alta.

The Supportive Congregations Network is a program of the Brethren/Mennonite Council for Lesbian and Gay Concerns. The Council is a 20-year-old organization which is not endorsed by any Mennonite conference. The Network is simply a list of congregations in the Mennonite tradition that have adopted a written statement saying they will accept gay, lesbian and bisexual members as full members. Seventeen Mennonite congregations in North America have adopted such a statement. South Calgary and Olive Branch Mennonite Church in Ontario are the only Canadian churches that are full members of the Network.

The South Calgary Church was started as South Calgary Mennonite Brethren Church in 1976. However, it later became an inter-Mennonite Church, joining the Conference of Mennonites in Alberta (the regional branch of the General Conference Mennonite Church, often known as GCs) and the Northwest Mennonite Conference (the regional branch of the Mennonite Church, often known as MCs). It has not had a church building of its own until it purchased one this spring, and currently has a "membership" of about 90. Two women, Anneli Braul and Brenda Dyck, currently share a three-quarter-time position as co-pastors. The church began looking at the issue of homosexuality in 1990, after a member of the congregation reported that he was homosexual. Another man in the congregation later also identified himself as a homosexual. The congregation studied the issue off and on for the next seven years, sometimes bringing in local experts such as doctors, social workers and psychologists to discuss the biblical, theological, social and psychological aspects of homosexuality.

The MB Position

David Ewert, chair of the Canadian MB Conference Board of Faith and Life, notes that there is no doubt about the Mennonite Brethren position on homosexuality. The North American MB Conference in 1981 passed a resolution on the topic, the four main points of which are:

* Both the Old Testament and the New Testament clearly condemn homosexuality as sinful. (The context made clear that it was homosexual practice, not homosexual orientation, that was meant.)

* Homosexual practice is a violation of the creation order (Genesis 1:27).

* Homosexual practice, however, is not an unpardonable sin.

* Homosexuals who have repented of their homosexual practice and who commit themselves to a chaste lifestyle should be welcomed as members of the church.

The proposed revised version of the MB Confession of Faith currently states, "Disciples maintain sexual chastity and marital faithfulness and reject illicit premarital, extramarital and homosexual behavior." (Article 10, Discipleship). Article 11 on Marriage and Family defines marriage as "the covenant relationship intended to unite a man and a woman for life" and goes on to say that "Sexual union rightfully takes place only within marriage."

The MC-GC position

The General Conference Mennonite Church and the Mennonite Church are in the process of merging. Both have passed a statement saying that homosexual practice is sinful but that the church should keep dialoguing on this issue.

The MCs and GCs have had to deal with the issue of homosexuality more directly than Mennonite Brethren have. Three congregations in the US have recently been expelled from Mennonite Church regional conferences for accepting practising homosexuals as members. However, all three are inter-Mennonite congregations and thus are also members of General Conference Mennonite conferences, which have not expelled them. (The General Conference Mennonite Church historically allows much greater congregational independence.) The issue is seen as a potential barrier to full merger of the two denominations. Some GC churches in Canada have evidently requested that the South Calgary Church be expelled from the General Conference Mennonite Church.

The question of discipline

David Ewert says that the position South Calgary has taken appears to clearly contradict the MB position. However, he notes that when dealing with people, conferences should respond pastorally and talk the issues over fully with those involved before acting. Some members of the South Calgary church may not agree with the position taken by the congregation, for instance. This process takes time.

Ewert also notes that while the Canadian MB Conference BFL deals with theological issues, it is the provincial MB conferences who have the main responsibility for dealing with specific congregations, including accepting, guiding, correcting, disciplining and excluding. Congregations, which join (or leave) the provincial conference then become part of (or leave) the Canadian Conference.

Complicating the situation is that South Calgary is a member of three denominations. The provincial GC, MC and MB conference leaderships have attempted to deal with the South Calgary Church jointly, and this has slowed the process considerably because of the difficulty of scheduling meetings. The leadership of the three conferences first met together and then held two meetings with the South Calgary Church, one in April and one in May. The MB representatives at these meetings were Alberta moderator Harry Heidebrecht and provincial conference ministers Abe Quiring and Abe Konrad. Most of the time at these meetings was used to allow the South Calgary Church to explain its position. The next meeting in September will deal with issues of accountability, conference confessions of faith and Scripture interpretation.

JC

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