A Small, Significant Sign of Hope for LGBTQIA+ People in One (Free) Methodist Institution

 At SeattlePacific University, a Free Methodist school of higher education, there is a sign of liberation and hope reported in religionnews.com. Yonat Shimron reported this surprising uprising at a very conservative university: "The faculty of Seattle Pacific University, a Christian school associated with the Free Methodist Church, has taken a vote of no confidence in its board of trustees after members of the board declined to change its policy prohibiting the hiring of LGBTQ people."  72% of the faculty, staff, and student body (the school's governing body) voted no-confidence in the largely conservative Board of Trustees.

How did this all start? The latest issue is hiring LGBTQIA+ in tenured, full time positions at Seattle Pacific: "The most recent conflict began in January when an adjunct nursing professor filed a lawsuit accusing the university of refusing him job opportunities because of his sexual orientation. Jéaux Rinedahl alleged in the lawsuit that when he applied for a full-time, tenured position as an associate nursing professor, Seattle Pacific rejected his application because he’s gay."

Seattle Pacific is, in part, affiliated with Free Methodist denomination, as well as the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), and the Board of Trustees doesn't want to weaken the link with either of these institutions.

Interestingly enough, the Free Methodists are a break off from the mainline, larger Methodist Church in the 19th century. Yonat continues: "The Free Methodist Church formed in 1860, when it broke away from the larger Methodist Church over slavery. Free Methodists were abolitionists who also believed in women’s ordination. In the 20th century, it became more conservative. The denomination does not contribute financially to the school."

And the CCCU is well-known for being an anti-LGBTQIA+ group, made up of so-called Christian colleges and universities, like Biola and Azusa Pacific University in California, and Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. As a student at Whitworth for two years, and on the faculty there for two years, I can verify that it is a strongly anti-LGBTQIA+ institution of higher education.

In 2015, both Eastern Mennonite University and Goshen College (both Mennonite schools) withdrew from CCCU because of its conservative politics and anti-LGBTQIA+ stance, even both universities still identify as Christian.

For more information about what is going on, here's the link to Yonat's article: https://religionnews.com/2021/04/20/seattle-pacific-university-faculty-vote-no-confidence-in-board-over-lgbtq-hiring-exclusion/ (cut and paste).

What I found so hopeful is how the Spirit of God sometimes works outside of our dying institutions and moves us forward, sooner and later. The same movement of the Spirit is happening in The United Methodist Church and the Roman Catholic Church, in which the Book of Discipline and the dogma and doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church--which both promote anti-LGBTQIA+ policies--are looking more and more like hate and bigotry, and not expressing or theologically based upon the love of God and love of neighbor which is core to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Holding on to outdated theories of human sexuality that were overturned in the 1950s and making them church doctrine today makes these institutions look not only out-of-step with the world, but out-of-step with God, and notions of God's love. After all, all of us who are LGBTQIA+ and non-LGBTQIA+ are made in the image of God, imago Dei.

So, on this spring day, hope comes alive at Seattle Pacific University amid the faculty, students, and staff, in which the Holy Spirit is moving people towards change, and towards a way of living the Christian life that embraces all.