BMC seeks to provide programming, support and advocacy for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals and their families and friends in the Mennonite Church USA and Canada and Church of the Brethren.
To All Who May Read This Article:
In sharing my experience I want to make it VERY clear that I am not advocating promiscuity of any kind. Nor am I making a case for partners in a ''mixed'' marriage (hetero/homo) to separate. But considering the pain and heartache that is usually a part of those marriages, I feel it would be much better if they were never entered into in the first place. I am saying that God gives each of us freedom of choice and his Spirit's guidance to make GOOD choices. Therefore, in my opinion, the church should bless covenanted, same-sex, committed relationships between two persons who are sincerely seeking to do God's will.
Sexual issues are tearing our churches apart today as never before. The issue of homosexuality threatens to fracture whole denominations, as the issue of slavery did one hundred and fifty years ago. We naturally turn to the Bible for guidance, and find ourselves mired in interpretative quicksand. Is the Bible able to speak to our confusion on this issue?
This page directs the reader to the official documents of various church bodies as well as to the informal conversations of various Mennonite brothers and sisters and does not necessarily reflect the interpretations of Loren L. Johns. I have prepared this page to assist people interested in learning what the Mennonite churches have said about homosexuality. As a Christian educator who strongly believes in the importance of a continuing loving dialogue on critical issues—a dialogue marked by serious consideration of marginalized voices, by prayer, by patience, by listening, by respect—I offer this page as a resource for study and consideration of these issues.
