LGBTQ+ welcome and affirmation: One of the biggest issues facing many denominations today

Canadian Mennonite Brethren aren’t the only ones dealing with the topic of LGBTQ+. Other denominations are facing it.

Some are becoming more accepting and affirming, others are becoming more hardline. In both cases, denominations are being split apart as churches leave or are forced out.

I wrote about this in my July 23 column in the Winnipeg Free Press, with a bonus reference to author and theologian Phyllis Tickle and the idea of western Christianity’s pattern of having a garage sale every 500 years—when it sells things it doesn't need. 

100 Posts

I guess it’s appropriate that post number 100 on this blog would be about my own church (River East). 

One hundred posts! That’s a lot in just 13 months; over seven a month, on average. 

To date, the posts have been viewed over 84,700 times. 

The occasion is a good time to recall why I started this blog in the first place.

On my first post, on March 4, 2022, I noted if a denomination is to be healthy it needs to be transparent with its members. This includes about the topic about LGBTQ+ welcome and inclusion. 

 

One of the best ways for a denomination to do that is through a healthy publication that operates according to the best practices of Christian journalism.

 

Not being a mouthpiece or cheerleader only for the denomination, but also a place where hard issues and topics can be discussed, pro and con, in a way that allows members to make up their own minds.

 

It’s also a place where Conference leaders can hear the thoughts and concerns of members through an active letters section.

 

Currently, the only way for Canadian Mennonite Brethren to hear a fulsome discussion about welcome and inclusion of LGBTQ+ people is through this blog. That’s one reason why it exists.

 

This means also enabling people on both sides to have their say. Although, for the most part, Conference leaders have been reluctant to speak to me about it.

 

Another reason it exists: Some day in the future a researcher will write a book on this topic, just as was done about the change in the Conference to accepting women as leaders in ministry.

 

When that happens, this blog will provide that author with the rough first draft of this history, so to speak—original source material written at the time that can help him or her with the writing of that book. 

As for the future, I have no idea how many more posts there will be. As long as there is a need for this discussion, I suppose. 

All I know is this topic will not go away. Offhand I can think of seven other Mennonite Brethren churches in three provinces that are exploring the topic of LGBTQ+ welcome and inclusion.

That's in addition to the six that have been shut down, expelled or suspended to date.

Each of those churches will also have a story to tell. Maybe this blog can tell them.