Don Peters, a member of River East Church, wrote an account of the church's journey towards inclusivity. It is shared here with permission from the church.
It is standard practice for churches to include the expression, “All are Welcome!” with their announcement of Sunday morning services. In recent years, many churches, including the River East Church (REC), have become reflective about how the expression “All are Welcome” doesn’t feel welcoming to all. Does the invitation have exceptions? Does the invitation come with limitations?
At River East Church (REC) we grappled with these questions and invited the Manitoba Mennonite Brethren Church (MBCM) leadership to accompany and observe. Our Inclusivity Statement was the result of a lengthy, deliberate process. We were aware that working at the statement, and adopting it, would challenge and change us, and that we were undergoing this work as a discipleship journey, led by God’s spirit, word, and people. On this journey, we worked to identify our blind spots and become conscious of unintended harm we’ve caused along the way.
At REC we have become convicted
to embrace inclusivity as a gift and call of Christ.
At REC we have become convicted to embrace inclusivity as a gift and call of Christ. From the outset, the REC community resolved that our welcome must be an invitation to participate; not merely an invitation to observe. That is, people who enter REC are welcome to join us on a journey of discipleship. In accepting that invitation, they are entitled to the same privileges and responsibilities as any other people on the journey.
At the end of our process, our Inclusivity Statement was approved by the community (1) and circulated.
Here it is in full:
River East Church is a Jesus Community for the world. We invite everyone to join us in living out this mission as followers of Jesus in the Anabaptist / Mennonite tradition. This invitation is extended to all persons, whatever their ability, age, ethnicity, family status, gender identity, income level, race, sexual orientation, or other identity distinctives. All are welcome to full participation in the journey of discipleship. We strive to live as a community of love, even as we acknowledge our different understandings of Scripture. In our diversity, we gather around the Lord’s Table to celebrate our unity in Christ. (2)
Since its release, the Inclusivity Statement has received much attention in the wider Mennonite Brethren community. We hope the welcome it contains will be received with interest by people within the family of Mennonite Brethren churches, by people from other churches, and by people with no church affiliation.
It is in the spirit of engagement and welcome that we write this letter. If we were delivering the letter from a stage, we would think of three components to the audience:
We know that
leaders of MBCM will have interest in what we have to say.
We hope that individual MB churches and people within those churches will have interest.
And we hope that the people groups identified in the Inclusivity Statement will read and consider our invitation.
We understand that all aspects of the Inclusivity Statement will challenge our common practices and understandings of faith and discipleship. We are seeking to attend to all these aspects in our worship and work.
The focus of attention, in the responses we have received, is on just eight: ‘all persons’, ‘gender identity’, ‘sexual orientation’, and ’full participation’.
The statement has around 100 words but the focus of attention, in the responses we have received, is on just eight: ‘all persons’, ‘gender identity’, ‘sexual orientation’, and ’full participation’. MBCM leadership wrote REC to ask specifically what ‘full participation’ means in relation to ‘all persons.’ To the extent that this letter focuses on matters of sexual orientation and gender, it is because that has been the focus of questions from MBCM.
We developed the Inclusivity Statement at a time when many conversations within society were growing louder. This included conversations regarding 2SLGBTQ+ persons, race discrimination, income inequality, climate change, and reconciliation with Indigenous people. We realized that REC needs to do much better on many fronts and that our statement of welcome needed to be broad.
To illustrate, the REC community aspires to deep engagement with matters of reconciliation related to Indigenous communities. There has been no disagreement among us that we need to do better, and we have worked actively to educate ourselves: We set up a committee of members to address the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) recommendations that pertain to churches; we’ve invited members of the Indigenous community to speak with us; we’ve participated in listening circles; we’ve offered our facility as a church location for an Indigenous group; we’ve provided food and fuel to an encampment at the Legislative Building; we’ve resourced our library with relevant reading material3 ; we’ve sent our youth and youth leaders to a reservation to build relationships. We are learning what it means to be treaty people.
We share the REC story on matters of Indigenous reconciliation to underscore that developing the Inclusivity Statement was not intended to be a process on 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion per se. Rather, the statement is an invitation to the larger set of communities that we consider to be systematically excluded by the church on account of its particular history, practices, and understandings of faith.
We acknowledge that all of us grew up having been taught, and largely accepting, that “All are Welcome!” did not include 2SLGBTQ+ persons.
That said, the Inclusivity Statement also intends to be a process on 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion. We acknowledge that all of us grew up having been taught, and largely accepting, that “All are Welcome!” did not include 2SLGBTQ+ persons or, if it did, the welcome was limited to observation. Over decades, but primarily over the last decade, many members of our community, because of their work, family, and other connections, had life experiences that questioned their initial upbringing. In the 90’s, a same-sex couple participated in REC for many years. During this time, we had an informal policy of ‘don’t ask’, ‘don’t tell’, ‘don’t talk about it.’ Did the couple participate in our journey of discipleship? After a fashion. Were they welcomed to full participation? Hardly.
We acknowledge that personal stories, especially those that arise within our families and our faith community, have motivated us to re-examine scripture. We ask the question; how can we reconcile what we’ve learned in scripture with what we are learning from experience? We acknowledge that we were not of one mind in this question, and we needed to go through a lengthy process of educating ourselves, studying scripture, hearing stories, and holding experience and scripture together4 . Over time, most of us began to change our minds. REC is known to be a discerning community. It takes questions seriously, as well as the process whereby to address them. In-person discernment is essential, but COVID intervened. Finally, the REC community has been able to meet in-person and has reached broad agreement on the general direction that our Inclusivity Statement will take us.
Our Inclusivity Statement is neither a starting point for what God is calling us to, nor is it an end point.
As we tell the story of how we arrived at this place, it is important to note that our Inclusivity Statement is neither a starting point for what God is calling us to, nor is it an end point.
The Inclusivity Statement is the result of decades long journeys of discernment on what it means to be a follower of Christ today. In the end, the statement is a natural outgrowth of our identity, mission, and core values.
Many people in the wider MB church community will know that REC was in the vanguard of change to MB policy with respect to women in church leadership. REC hired the first full-time female pastor before church policy was changed to one accepting women in all leadership roles. We mention this here because REC, while demonstrating its commitment to this essential aspect of inclusivity, also contributed significantly to the wider MB church.
Within the last decade, REC developed, and posted, our Identity and Mission, and statement of Core Values (4), articulated as “Our Beliefs” on the church website. (5) The details in “Our Beliefs” are rooted in Anabaptist essentials summed up in a statement by Palmer Becker that has become a mantra for many Mennonite denominations, including the Mennonite Brethren (6): “Jesus is the Centre of our Faith; Community is the Centre of our Life; Reconciliation is the Centre of our Work.” (7)
REC understands itself as a “Jesus community for the world” and believes “that church should be a place where anyone can experience belovedness and kinship with God.”
If the church “should be a place where anyone can experience belovedness and kinship with God,” then the invitation to “full participation in the journey of discipleship” should be extended to ‘all persons.’
“Our Beliefs” were developed long before our Inclusivity Statement and form the foundation for it. That is, if the church “should be a place where anyone can experience belovedness and kinship with God,” then the invitation to “full participation in the journey of discipleship” should be extended to ‘all persons.’ To limit that invitation would require adding a qualifier to the ubiquitous statement “All are Welcome!” on any and every MB church sign.
REC boldly asserts that we are A Jesus Community for the World:
We are a Jesus Community. We take Jesus and his teachings seriously. We believe that Jesus called us to do justice and to reach out to the marginalized, just as he did throughout his life.
Our community is purposed toward the World. Of course, there are rewards that members of the community realize within REC. But our community does not exist for itself. It exists for the purpose of interaction with others.
This statement of identity, A Jesus Community for the World, is also a statement of aspiration. We take Jesus seriously and we take the World seriously. Specifically, we challenge ourselves to relate to society, our culture, and the environment with the sense of justice, compassion, and inclusion exemplified by Jesus.
Our Beliefs and the Inclusivity Statement, as presented on the REC website, were developed in a Mennonite Brethren church community. We are a diverse community like many others. And like other church communities, we also have a distinct uniqueness: REC has a strong record of support and service for MBCM, the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (CCMBC), wider MB conference, and Anabaptist agencies. Those who have reached agreement on this statement include: past and present leaders of our Mennonite institutions including positions in MBCM, CMU, MBCI, MCC and MEDA; many persons who have sat both on Canadian and Manitoba conference boards as well as national and provincial Faith and Life Teams; a member of our community who sat on the last revision of the MB confession of faith; theologians who have taught in our institutions; and pastors who have served in our congregation and other MB churches.
We are people whose faith has been nurtured in many MB congregational, conference, and agency communities. The MB church has shaped the convictions of our faith and who we are as followers of Christ. We also are a people of many other vocations and life experiences beyond church work and church related academics – teachers, musicians, health professionals, social workers, business people.
Our Beliefs and our Inclusivity Statement were developed in a church community that takes the Bible seriously.
Our Beliefs and our Inclusivity Statement were developed in a church community that takes the Bible seriously. We seek to follow Christ, to study scripture and practices of faith, including the use of the Confession of Faith, and to be attentive to where God’s spirit is moving.
The REC community has searched for Biblical guidance with respect to the topic of inclusivity. This search was deliberate and methodical. (8) For example, community members were encouraged to read, to pray, to reflect; sermon series were prepared, delivered, and received. During COVID restrictions, we had on-line break-out discussions. We heard moving accounts from community members whose minds and hearts were changed by listening to the stories of others, sometimes the stories of family members. (9)
We asked the question, “In our time, who are those that we tend to push away, but that Christ would not?”
We asked the question, “In our time, who are those that we tend to push away, but that Christ would not?” After much reflection, an overwhelming majority of community members are convinced that the Bible can be read with integrity and welcome the inclusion of all persons to full participation in the journey of discipleship. Many of us would state it this way: when the Bible is read with integrity, the Bible welcomes all persons to full participation in the journey of discipleship.
The Inclusivity Statement is not an end point.
It is an invitation to a journey of discipleship, a process that involves people in relationship with each other and with God. We will live into the journey as we walk it.
The Inclusivity Statement is a statement of aspiration, a statement of intention. The REC community aspires to be a healthy home. What does a healthy church home look like when all persons identified in the statement—whatever their ability, age, ethnicity, family status, gender identity, income level, race, sexual orientation, or other identity distinctives—feel welcome? How do we go about creating this healthy home?
The REC Inclusivity Statement is a signal that the REC community intends to be a Jesus community in the world, willing and committed to engage and to serve. We remain committed to the Biblical tradition, a community hermeneutic, and our Anabaptist foundation.
We acknowledge that we are not unanimous in our acceptance of the Inclusivity Statement. We acknowledge that a few community members have left REC in the process of this discernment. We miss them and we are working to remain in relationship.
We acknowledge that some community members are concerned that the direction taken in REC’s Inclusivity Statement will threaten our relationship with MBCM. We hope that we will be able to stay together at REC and model an acceptance of each other.
We acknowledge that some in our community feel that it is necessary to leave the MB conference to stop doing harm to persons and communities who do not understand themselves to be fully welcome. Others within REC remain committed to retaining membership. Many of us hope that the current discussion regarding REC’s Inclusivity Statement will be a catalyst for change within MBCM and CCMBC and, at the very least, will encourage other MB churches in their own discernment processes on the topic of inclusivity.
It disturbs us that some MB conferences are removing or sanctioning pastors and congregations simply because they feel compelled to examine questions related to sexuality.
We conclude our letter with a call-out to the three components of our audience:
To the MB leadership in MBCM and CCMBC: It disturbs us that some MB conferences are removing or sanctioning pastors and congregations simply because they feel compelled to examine questions related to sexuality. Mennonite Brethren history has ample illustrations of imposition and exclusion: those who divorced; those who divorced and then wished to remarry; those who were not baptized by immersion; and going far back in time, those who went to movies. The church has changed its position on these matters and on others more current: leadership positions in the church are now open to women. Even confessional statements change not only as wording is updated but as church conferences modify an article to mirror the church’s conviction. An illustration of this is the USMB modification of Article XIII of Confession of Faith, “Love, Peacemaking and Reconciliation.” Change occurs in our practices, change occurs in our Confession of Faith. The issues that we deal with today, issues that challenge current practices and our Confession of Faith, are not the first nor will they be the last.
Few today would concur with past practices of the church which saw the censure, even expulsion, of members who stepped outside of then current church practices and positions. We aspire to model that it is better to treat differences in the family with listening, tolerance, and acceptance, than with suspension and expulsion.
We have not arrived, and we cannot arrive because ours is a faith journey.
To other MB churches and community members within them: We welcome you to engage with us. We have not arrived, and we cannot arrive because ours is a faith journey. We hope that you recognize the seriousness with which we have engaged this topic and that our work may serve as building block for you. We hope that our story encourages you to be true to scripture and to love and accept anyone who enters your community. We are open to your challenge, to listening, sharing, and examining together.
To “all persons” mentioned in our Inclusivity Statement, including persons who self-identify within the 2SLGBTQ+ community: Our statement means what it says -- “All are welcome to full participation in the journey of discipleship.” We welcome you to walk confidently with us. We welcome you to stumble along with us. You will challenge us; we will challenge each other. You are welcome to join us on a journey of discipleship. We extend this invitation without caveat.
This is our story at this stage of our journey. We know that other MB churches, and members within MB churches, are grappling with the same questions we have been working with and we write this as our invitation to engage with you.
Footnotes
1. September 14-19, 2020; online vote on statement
2. https://rivereastchurch.ca/our-beliefs/
3. As examples,
see: Steve Heinrichs, ed., Unsettling the Word: Biblical Experiments in
Decolonization. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis. 2019; Randy Woodley, Becoming
Rooted: One Hundred Days of Reconnecting with Sacred Earth. Minneapolis:
Broadleaf Books Ltd. 2022.
4. The REC Core
Value Statements were approved by the congregation in February 2018.
5. https://rivereastchurch.ca/
6. Becker’s
statement was a focus of Emerson Cordoso’s plenary address at CCMBC Gathering
in Saskatoon, July 2018. Cordoso is Executive Director of the Brazil MB Church
and on the Executive Committee of ICOMB
7. Palmer Becker.
Anabaptist Essentials: Ten Signs of a Unique Christian Faith. Harrisburg
Virginia: Herald Press. 2017
8. It included not
only the materials referred to in Appendix A but also sermons based on relevant
Biblical material.
9. https://anabaptistworld.org/finding-pride-in-my-brother-finding-my-brother-at-pride/
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