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Welcome to the new web-based Outspoken. We hope you will continue to enjoy articles and commentaries from lgbtq Brethren and Mennonite communities and their supporters. Instead of producing a quarterly newsletter, we will post an article or two here each month. If you've read an article you'd like to share, or if you have one ready to burst forth from your keyboard, contact our office and see the Outspoken Writer's Guidelines.
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Thoughts on Annual Conference (COB 2011)By Carol Wise Posted August 5, 2011 The Church of the Brethren Annual Conference business session closed on a disturbing note as General Secretary Stan Noffsinger announced that a “credible death threat” had been made against “a gay person here at Annual Conference.” As details emerged, it was clear that this was a calculated and very serious threat. And because it specifically targeted the victim’s sexual orientation, it was also a hate crime.... full text
On Silencing Easter
Posted April 21, 2011 Mennonites, Brethren and other Christians have long understood and reflected on the power of words to create, to convict and to unify.... Less positively, the Mennonite-Amish also learned to manipulate the social narrative through the control of words... full text
A Singular Purpose
Posted March 25, 2011 As we negotiate our shifting sense of personal identity throughout life in relating to significant others, families, and communities, how does being single, or having a sense of being a singular individual, relate to our understanding of Christian discipleship? full text
A Changing Conversation
Posted January 5, 2011 It was with mixed emotions that I watched as US President Obama signed the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, leading the way for lesbian, gay and bisexual men and women to openly participate in the armed forces.... full text
We Are Family (?)
Posted November 22, 2010 In seemingly dismissing family relationships, Jesus is challenging us to build relationships of trust within the whole church.... full text
It Gets Better, but in the meantime, let's make it better
Posted October 20, 2010 Recently a campaign called "It Gets Better" started by columnist Dan Savage, has been receiving a lot of attention... full text
Enough
Posted October 6, 2010 Billy Lucas, age 15. Seth Walsh, age 13. Asher Brown, age 13. Tyler Clementi, age 18. The names of these four youth who killed themselves in September are haunting reminders... full text
A Story About Feet
Posted July 28, 2010 As the only member of the Church of the Brethren there, I was excited to spot a foot-washing station. I wonder to my-self, ‘should I do it? How might an Episcopalian or a Baptist or a Methodist react? full text
Top Ten Reasons for Being an Open and Affirming Congregation
Posted July 27, 2010 The Lansing Church of the Brethren has been a publicly open and affirming congregation for 13 years. I asked the congregation to help create what I would say today, and we came up with our own top 10 reasons to be a publicly welcoming congregation… full text
Epiphany at Epiphany
By Ralph McFadden Posted May 21, 2010 As is the practice in our congregation, the bread and cup communion was being offered on this first Sunday of Epiphany. I have sometimes been indifferent about taking part in communion. But this day I decided that I was going to participate... full text
Living Side By Side With Difference
Posted April 26, 2010 We each bring our own experiences to our reading of scripture, our reading of the confession of faith and other church documents.... What about your life shapes the way you read the bible, the way you encounter the confession of faith, and engage with the body of Christ? full text
A Home Like Ruth
Posted April 5, 2010 My self-understanding has always been about the story of a people: migration to Kansas, winter wheat, pacifist conviction that goes back generations, arthritic hands that are still skilled with a quilting needle and can knit cotton dishcloths. It’s beyond me to conceive of myself apart from the story... full text
Equal Rights in Goshen
Posted January 15, 2010 On December 31, 2009, I picked up my copy of the Goshen News on my porch, opened it up and saw, taking up almost the entire top half of the paper, a photo and headline declaring equal rights the biggest issue of the year in Goshen. Bigger than a visit from President Obama, 18% unemployment... full text
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