Jubilee Mennonite Church has been voted out of the Mennonite Brethren Church of Manitoba (MBCM). The vote was taken the afternoon of March 4 at the annual MBCM convention in Winkler.
A total of two-thirds of the votes cast was required to approve the motion. The vote total in favour of removing Jubilee was 74.2%.
A motion to defer the vote to remove Jubilee from membership was defeated before the vote to remove the church was taken.
Read a report about the meeting.
Such a shameful act. Now REC will be the next target.
ReplyDeleteBoth sides think they are steadfast in representing Jesus. But at least the inclusive side wants to have room for both. The inclusive side is saying we all can sit at the table together while the conference shuts the door and doesn’t let them in.
ReplyDeleteI think it might as well cause a massive split. What’s the point in fighting this anymore? The conservatives have won.
The MB’s will vote themselves out of existence. At least they’ll go out in a blaze of purity.
ReplyDeleteI was at this weekend, a delegate for my church. While the hosting church seemed to work hard to be welcoming to us visitors, it was unfortunately undone by the palpable disdain I experienced, as a Mum to an LGBTQ+ son. This was on Saturday.
ReplyDeleteSome of the comments made during the mic time, were very hurtful. I was deeply offended when that older man talked about violating the Bride of Christ, through keeping the church in question in its fold.
His talk should have come with trigger warnings. The air thick with obvious contempt as he went on about “holiness”’& sin. I did not appreciate this particular man’s obvious judgement at my parenting an LGBTQ+ young adult. And spare us your narrow minded opinions, sir. I will do the work to forgive the hurt, & ‘judgement I absorbed at this conference. As a follower of Christ for over 30+ years, I am deeply hurt & yet also feel the pain in the room. I appreciated some of the leader’s sensitivity with the result of the vote. Paul Walker is right. There were no winners in that room yesterday.
I know that Jesus loves my young adult, loves me, my family.
He would welcome us with open arms. He would not forget the minority, the marginalized. He would not pull back in offence if I asked if I could eat my lunch at your table. He would say “There’s room for you! Pull up
a chair, welcome!” That’s the vision of Jesus I cling to as I process this weekend’s events.
Those of us with LGBTQ children are getting a small taste of how it feels to be part of an oppressed and despised group. Now imagine feeling that way for years as an adolescent and young adult. It's a wonder if any of our kids want to be in church. Whole families are driven away by decisions like this.
Delete““You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.”
ReplyDeleteJohn 5:39-40 MSG
““You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.”
ReplyDeleteJohn 5:39-40 MSG
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
ReplyDeletethere is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other”
doesn’t make any sense.
A very sad decision indeed. The Mennonite Brethren conference will be on the wrong side of history here.
ReplyDeleteThere is no biblical precedent for excommunicating whole congregations from the body of Christ. This is a travesty.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a very well thought out response to yesterday’s events, speaking as a Mum of an LGBTQ+ young adult. It hasn’t been posted yet. I hope it is posted. Thank you for all that you do.
ReplyDeleteI attend Jubilee and so many of the comments made were very sad and judgemental. So much fear in the room. It appears the MB conference holds their statement of faith as higher than God's heart and His word. They missed something.... Love
ReplyDelete