POST-SENATE 2004
August 27, 2004

The Ministers Council Senate in its August 20-24 meeting has engaged with grace and integrity the situation presented to it by the demand that the Ministers Council refuse to seat the third-year representative from the Massachusetts Ministers Council because she is a lesbian who has legalized her relationship with her partner. The bylaws do not authorize such a refusal to seat, stating simply that the Senate is comprised of duly elected representatives from constituent councils. The first attachment below presents the decision of the Executive Committee, with the background of two ABC resolutions on homosexuality including the policy base of the second that is part of it, and the Ministers Council history on homosexuality since 1973.

Prior to the August 20-24 meetings of the Executive Committee and the Senate, the Pacific Southwest Ministers Council proposed an amendment to the bylaws that was presented at the Senate meeting with the requisite 15 signatures. That amendment will be up for a vote at the Senate meeting next August. The bylaws specify that timeline for the vote and a 2/3 affirmative vote to pass.

At the Senate meeting the Denominational Relationships Committee embraced the opportunity presented to us by this confluence of events and developed a process for the constituent Ministers Councils and all members of the body in the spirit of the Acts 15 Jerusalem Council. A letter from a Pacific Southwest pastor and former Senator that arrived the day I departed for the meeting suggested the model and was received as a gift of God. The next three attachments present their work.

Many ABC regions are somewhat homogeneous in their biblical interpretation as it relates to homosexuality, but many are not and none are uniformly of one opinion. The Jerusalem Council process proposed will offer the opportunity for conversation within constituent councils informed by Scripture, Spirit and testimony. Such discernment will equip the 2005 Senators as they prepare to vote, as will the collection and analysis of written responses.

The way forward to implement the proposal will be to seek about 15 ABC senior statespersons who, out of love for the family, would be willing to be trained to lead constituent council events and each take on about two gatherings. There is great value in having our saints take charge of helping us talk with one another in the hope that we will go on together in the work of Jesus Christ. Implementation will also require funding from any persons and agencies that envision such a process as furthering the possibility of God's mission through the denomination.

In addition, the Senate voted that the President of the Ministers Council would send a letter to the President and the General Secretary of the ABC asking that a Jerusalem Council process be engaged among denominational stakeholders. Such a process would acknowledge that deep division on the issue is a reality of our common life and not just the Ministers Council. It would also allow the exploration of the possibility of our going on together despite the deep division on this issue. He has sent that letter.

Two comments from persons present at the meeting symbolize the spirit of a difficult but miraculous meeting:

"Senate was... inspiring and challenging and heartbreaking and frustrating and filled with hope and despair and everything in between."

"I have hope that this process will get us over the hump. I haven't had that kind of hope in a long time."

As an aside and back to the immediate situation concerning the Ministers Council: the organization serves no credentialing or recognition role in the official denominational structure. It is a fellowshipping and resourcing body of ministerial leaders. I have copied from the bylaws two lines that relate to mission and membership that inform our current moment.

~"The Ministers Council is an autonomous, professional, multi-cultural organization of ordained, commissioned and lay Christian leaders within the American Baptist Churches, U.S.A. We are women and men who advocate for and covenant with each other to deepen our spiritual journey and to increase our effectiveness..."

~"Eligibility for membership in this body shall be for individuals who are ordained, commissioned, lay professionals, or students in seminary who are eligible for inclusion in the Directory of Ministerial Leaders of the American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A., and who pay dues through a constituent council or to this body."

You may also visit www.ministerscouncil.com to obtain further information about the organization, its bylaws, its leadership and its current work on behalf of the leaders of Jesus Christ in the American Baptist Churches.

Finally, the last attachment includes much but not all of the presentation I made to the Senate on August 24.

Please email or call if you have further questions.