A Happy Pride Month Post: The Mennonites USA Are Becoming Welcoming of LGBTQIA2S+ People!

Amid the struggle for LGBTQIA2S+ inclusion in The United Methodist Church UMC), as well as the smaller Christian Reformed Church (CRC) of late, let alone the Southern Baptist, there has been a break-through in the largest Mennonite denomination in the US, the Mennonite Church USA! On May 29, 2022, in a special session fo the Delegate Assembly of the Mennonite Church USA, there was a resolution passed that the church would no longer "commit violence against LGBTQ people," and committing to LGBTQIA2S+ inclusion! 83% of the delegates meeting in the special assembly in Kansas City, MO, voted in favor of repealing the guidelines barring marriage for same-sex couples, while the resolution for LGBTQIA2S+ inclusion passed by 55.7% in favor.

Ain't that Good News?

Then, in another vote, the Mennonite Church USA also repealed instructions to pastors not to officiate at marriages between people of the same sex. 

However the denomination's official confession--which views marriage as between one man and and one woman--will remain unchanged.

Their Resolution for Repentance and Transformation reads: "Excluding LGBTQIA people from the church is a rejection of God's joyous delight in the diversity of creation and a denial of the Divine image and great animating all humankind." 

Some of my closest friends at Princeton Seminary, like Nelson and Ellen Kraybill, were (are) Mennonites. Mennonites trace their roots to Menno Simon, one of the radical Protestant Reformers, that of the Annabaptist branch, of the Church in the 16th century. Annabaptists are well-known for their belief in adult baptism and pacifism. As a Presbyterian, in which we believe in infant baptism, my Mennonite friends and I often got into a good "discussion" over the meaning of baptism. However, on the matter of pacifism, we were united.

Today, the Mennonite Church USA is a merger of two older denominations, formed in a 2002 merger and has around 62,000 members, and 530 congregations in 16 geographical conferences. Initially, they denounced LGBTQIA2S+ inclusion, as a way of making the merger possible for one and all. It was seen as a compromise in a dispute about whether or not to exclude LGBTQIA2S+ people from congregational membership.

In November 2015, the Mennonite USA, the Lancaster Mennonite Conference voted to remove 179 churches from Mennonite USA because of its concerns over the stance of the majority re: marriage. This may have made it possible for the denomination to go forward. 

Why the still conservative stance in the confessions about marriage between one man and one woman? Glen Guyton, the denomination's executive director said, "So we don't necessarily get rid of one or revise them. We create new ones that reflect who we are at a certain period of time." 

While some were concerned that this new resolution would create more division, it was felt that there was more harm being done with the exclusionary policies.

Here's a link to the article about this historic denominational move: https://religionnews.com/2022/06/02/mennonite-church-usa-passes-resolution-committing-to-lgbtq-inclusion/ 

Today, the Mennonite USA can say--along with other churches in the Reformed faith tradition, including the Episcopalians--that, today, they are a pro-LGBTQIA2S+ denomination.

Let the party of celebrating life continue! 

And come on UMC and CRC...there's room at the table for more!

And ain't that Good News!