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Hyattsville Mennonite Church Disciplined: A Voice of Courageous SolidarityOn Saturday, November 5, 2005, delegates of the Allegheny Mennonite Conference voted to suspend voting privileges and eligibility for election to conference or denominational positions to Hyattsville Mennonite Church. Following is a summary of the day, which came from an individual from HMC: Twenty-five sisters and brothers from HMC spent a long and difficult day at the Allegheny Mennonite Conference gathering in Pinto, MD, where by a vote of 90 - 49 conference delegates elected to silence our voting voices and deemed us unworthy to hold elected positions in Allegheny Conference or the Mennonite Church USA by disciplining us. But we also received some deeply moving support from our friends. At the end, after Joe and Cindy both addressed the delegates, all twenty-five of us sang a hymn. While we were singing, another 15 - 20 people came forward to stand with us and join in the hymn. We were all deeply touched." This decision has come after a predictable path of complaint and confusing “process.” Delegates voted to discipline the congregation for its alleged non-compliance with membership guidelines of the Mennonite Church USA. After the withdrawal of a resolution calling for the expulsion of the congregation (on procedural concerns), the delegates voted on a resolution that would make HMC a “non-voting” member of the conference. Those of you who know the Hyattsville Mennonite Church in Maryland know that it contains more than its fair share of compassionate and talented people, some of whom are lgbt. The congregation embraces the gifts and grace of each and all its members, a practice that has disturbed many individuals in the Allegheny Conference. We at BMC would like voice our appreciation and support for the Hyattsville congregation for their stance of solidarity with lgbt people in their church. They have made a peaceful and loving witness to their conference and to the denomination. We are saddened and disappointed in the outcome of this vote. Many of you have first hand knowledge of the pain and disappointment such an experience creates. All of you know the peace that is felt when hearts and actions are in harmony with the call to be a just and loving community. We ask you to consider the following potential responses:
The pastors of Hyattsville, Cynthia Lapp and Joe Roos, each addressed the delegates with a brief statement following the vote. Their moving statements are included below. As you consider your response, we want to say thank you for your presence of hope, for your concern about the church, and for your support of the good people of Hyattsville. We long for the day when the Mennonite Church is as welcoming as the table of Christ. Your witness and voice is so important and is very much appreciated. Contact information: Statement by Joe Roos, PastorStatement after the vote to discipline Hyattsville Mennonite Church at the The twenty-five of us here from Hyattsville Mennonite Church and our sisters and brothers back home are deeply saddened by today’s vote. And I suspect that most of you, whether you voted for or against discipline, are saddened, too. This has been a hard and painful process for all of us to go through. The issue of church membership and gay and lesbian Christians, especially those in committed relationships, is complex and not easy to talk about. It raises fears and anxieties and passions whose strength and source we don’t often comprehend. It involves understanding and balancing complex theological, biblical, ecclesial, pastoral and relational issues. With today’s vote the majority of delegates have attempted to resolve this matter within Allegheny by silencing our voting voice and viewing us as unworthy to hold responsible elected positions within the conference and the denomination. We firmly disagree with that decision and leave today with heavy hearts. Other conferences in the Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada have struggled with the same issue and have chosen a different path. While affirming the church’s teaching position on human sexuality, they have also chosen to affirm diversity among their congregations and to respect different voices within the conference by not making this membership issue a measure of faithfulness or a matter of who is in and who is out, who is okay and who is not. We wish Allegheny had chosen that path as well. Hyattsville has heard your March 5 counsel and acknowledge this action taken against us today. But we can still do no other than to stand with our gay and lesbian sisters and brothers in Christ and to continue to receive into membership anyone who confesses Jesus as their Lord and Savior, just as we have for the past nineteen years. We say that not out of a spirit of defiance but as a confession of what we feel God has led our congregation to be. We do want to affirm the desire and considerable effort of conference leadership and delegates to make this process as fair as possible for all parties. Maybe this or that could have been done better by conference or by Hyattsville or by others, but we know that everyone involved has tried to act with fairness, love and integrity. We are most grateful for that. But in disciplining Hyattsville this issue will nonetheless not go away for Allegheny or for the Mennonite Church USA. It will come up again. And when it does, we hope one dimension of the process will go differently next time. We hope there will be a concerted effort to make sure that some small groupings of people in congregations who have different perspectives on this issue will sit down together, as brothers and sisters in Christ, for face-to-face dialogue, not so much to convince each other of their point of view, but to listen carefully to one another, to make sure we know where we really differ as opposed to where we perceive we differ, and to discover what it is that we do hold in common. That kind of process can build understanding and trust, even if no one changes their mind. That kind of conversation is also our understanding of the intention of the church’s teaching position encouraging loving dialogue. As we depart today, those of us at Hyattsville want to acknowledge the pain that is here for all of us and to sincerely confess our love for each and every one of you, and for this conference. We warmly invite all of you to come and worship with us so we can keep getting to know each other better and to understand each other more fully. You will be welcomed with open arms. Our love, prayers and hopes go with you. Statement by Cynthia Lapp, PastorStatement after the vote to discipline Hyattsville Mennonite Church at the The past two years have been a struggle for all of us. The journey has not been an easy one. The difficult conversations of the past few hours are almost the past two years in miniature. We have talked a lot during this time but there are some conversations that we still have not had. There are some at Hyattsville Mennonite Church that desperately wish that we could have a conversation at conference about the difference between gay and lesbian people and homosexual people. This is not a conversation we have pushed for though it is one that we continue to be open to having with anyone who is interested. We have not had a conversation about the spiritual abuse that gay and lesbian Christians experience when they are excluded from the body of Christ. Just yesterday I received a letter that expressed it this way: I pray that God will help us to step beyond the boundaries of our fears without judging those who still struggle with those boundaries.
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