Christ Church United Methodist: A Reconciling and Justice-Seeking Community

“Maintain justice and do what is right…” (Isaiah 56:1, NRSV)

“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.
For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks,
the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8, NRSV)

This week, the Church Council at Christ Church United Methodist, took several important and faithful actions to equip us as a church to live out our calling to be a reconciling and justice-seeking community.

The first action was to adopt the statement of welcome to become a Reconciling Congregation.  This statement from the Reconciling Ministries Network is a way to let all persons, and particularly LGBTQ+ persons, know they are welcome and included, and that Christ Church UM is a safe space for them to worship God and serve as a disciple of Jesus Christ.  The Reconciling Ministries Network is a network of United Methodist individuals and congregations working to advance justice and inclusion for LGBTQ+ persons in the United Methodist Church.

The statement reads:  We celebrate God’s gift of diversity and value the wholeness made possible in community equally shared and shepherded by all. We welcome and affirm people of every gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation, who are also of every age, race, ethnicity, physical and mental ability, level of education, and family structure, and of every economic, immigration, marital, and social status, and so much more. We acknowledge that we live in a world of profound social, economic, and political inequities. As followers of Jesus, we commit ourselves to the pursuit of justice and pledge to stand in solidarity with all who are marginalized and oppressed.

I am proud to be a part of a church that both proclaims and lives into this statement.  In the Matthew passage above, Jesus says for all who knock, the door will be opened.  If Jesus welcomes people in this way, without qualifications, we should too.  Anyone who seeks to follow Jesus and grow in grace is welcome at Christ Church United Methodist.  Of course, adopting a statement is the easy part, now we as a community must live into it.  This is our calling.  

After adopting this reconciling statement, the Church Council also adopted the Anti-Racist Pledge of the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.  This initiative comes out of the Conference Anti-Racism Task Force, a part of Bishop Carter’s larger Anti-Racism initiative.  You can see the full statement and sign as an individual by clicking here: Bishop's Anti-Racism Task Force

Finally, the Church Council adopted the covenant for Christ Church United Methodist to be named as a Justice-Seeking Congregation, through the Methodist Federation for Social Action, another network of Methodist people and churches dedicated to the prophetic call of justice.  The covenant begins in this way:  As a Justice-Seeking Congregation and justice-seeking people of faith, we call ourselves, our community/congregation, and our church to expand its understanding of the call of the Gospel to be the inclusive, anti-racist/anti-oppressive, justice-seeking, risk-taking Body of Christ. We will live out our belief that to be faithful witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to be involved in the transformation of the world.  You can read the entire covenant here: Justice-Seeking Congregation Covenant

Being a community dedicated to justice, particularly with oppressed, marginalized, and excluded persons, is spiritual and biblical work.  While it sometimes involves political issues, the work is not primarily political, but faith work.  As the prophet Isaiah declares in the passage above, maintain justice and do what is right.  If we truly believe that every person is made in the image of God, as Genesis 1 teaches, then we must uphold that divine birthright in every single person and speak out when it is being taken away from certain persons and/or groups.  In the Gospels, Jesus identifies with the “least of these” (see Matthew 25:31-46).  So must we stand with and for them if we are to know the risen Jesus.  

In the end, being a reconciling and justice seeking community is about doing our part to make the world look a little more like the Kingdom of God.  As Jesus taught us to pray, on earth…as it is in heaven.  Thank you for being a part of this amazing community called Christ Church United Methodist, dedicated to embodying the love of Jesus for all the world!

Together we are the hands and feet of Jesus!

Brett