Waterloo, Ont. Mennonite Brethren Church current & former members call on leadership to create safe space to talk about LGBTQ+

 

A public letter has been sent to leadership at the Waterloo, Ont. Mennonite Brethren Church (WMB) asking them to “create safe and open spaces for the WMB community to have conversations about LGBTQ+ inclusion without fear of repercussions.”

The letter was signed by 79 current and former members or attenders and participants. Other former members are invited to sign it as well.

(Find the letter and link for signing below.)

Isaiah Ritzman is spokesperson for the group of eight who initiated the letter. When asked why the letter was being sent to the leadership of the church now, he  said they did it “because we believed we were not alone. We believed more people at WMB church believed and felt as we did—they wanted a more inclusive community.”

The group also was frustrated they didn’t have another mechanism to share these concerns.

“We drafted this letter because we believed a public letter would be a means of reaching this larger group, giving them voice, as well as signalling to our wider community of how significant of an issue this is to so many people.”

When asked what the group meant by “safe space,” Ritzmann said “whether a space is ‘safe’ has to be determined by the people who have felt unsafe in the past or continue to feel unsafe.”

Church leaders, he said, “might believe they are creating that space, and perhaps they intend to do so (we're not in the business of judging intentions). But many who signed this letter have not experienced safe space at WMB.”

This was illustrated, he shard, by “the fact that we had people approach us who wanted to sign the letter but were scared to. That says something.”

To date, there has been no response from WMB leadership.

“We respect that it can take time for leadership to respond to the letter,” he said, noting the group went public with it on October 28.

“We hope to hear the beginnings of an answer by November 13th when the Leadership Board is having a townhall on issues such as these.”

Anyone who has been part of WMB in the past is invited to sign the letter, Ritzmann said.

“If you have been part of WMB church in the past we invite you to sign. For others we invite your prayers and moral support.”

Former WMP members who want to sign the letter can do so here. 

To the leadership of WMB Church,

We write out of love and concern for this community.

All of the undersigned have different relationships to WMB. Some are quite involved, others have taken a step back, and still others have left the church community in sadness. 

Alarmingly, some feel they have been kicked out of the church. While all the undersigned have different relationships to WMB, we all come with a common concern: LGBTQ+ inclusion. 

  

Not all of us are of one mind on theology. We range from general traditional beliefs to those who affirm LGBTQ+ people in marriage, membership, & ministry in the church. But we are of one heart - we care about this community, each other, and our LGBTQ+ siblings & neighbours. It remains deeply painful that WMB lacks safe & open spaces to listen, study & dialogue, and even to remain members when and where conscience and conviction differ over such matters.

 

Together we call upon the leadership of WMB church to:

 

Frist, Create safe & open spaces for the WMB community to have conversations about LGBTQ+ inclusion without fear of repercussions.

 

Second, publicly commit to separate membership entirely from personal convictions concerning LGBTQ+ inclusion (as membership is already separate from theological conviction in other areas).

 

We ask these things in hope that change is possible.