Our next Annual Public Meeting
will be held on Saturday, May 31st
at Crossgates Methodist Church,
Austhorpe Road, Leeds, L15 8QR
(11.30am – 4.30pm):
Spirituality & Sexuality:
website: www.outcomeonline.org.uk
E-mail: [email protected]
Glimpsing God’s Glory
Guest Preacher and Celebrant:
Rev Ruth Gee, President of the Conference
A MESSAGE FROM OUR NEW
CONVENOR,
The day includes Worship, Lunch and the possibility of attending
two of the following workshops
BARBARA DUCHARS
1. Theology of Sexuality
2. Issues Around Same-Sex Marriage
3. Is the Church a Safe Place for Gays & Lesbians?
Two months into my term as co-ordinator for
Outcome the co-ordinating group is moving forward
with some of the issues raised at our recent AGM. We
are conscious of the need to raise our profile within
and without the church, we are conscious too for the
need for some strategic thinking and planning. We
have a couple of people who have volunteered to help
us with
these things and we are very thankful for
that.
Since we met the first same sex marriages have
taken place amidst much rejoicing for some of us
and dire predictions of the breakdown of marriage and
the end of civilisation as we know it for others. I
continue to ask the question, 'why does sexuality create
so much angst in people?' I may know the answer in
part but talks around sexuality do seem to attract so
much more polarised responses and high emotion than
say talk about the remarriage of divorced people. Or
maybe I just move in the wrong circles!
I am looking forward to our day in Leeds when the
President of Conference Rev Ruth Gee will be joining
us. Please do come along and share in worship and
workshops and fellowship. Details are elsewhere in
this newsletter.
We also hope to have a presence at Conference this
year, though there is a shortage of space for stalls and
we do not yet know if we will be successful in getting
one. However if you are at Conference at any point
come look for us. We also need volunteers to staff the
stall throughout that time. No doubt Roger will send
round an email request when we know we have a stall,
but in the meantime please think about if you could
offer some time.
If people have ideas, comments, suggestions please
be in touch, my details are in the Minutes of
Conference.
Lastly our grateful thanks to Clive, Jan and Anthea
who stepped down from the Co-ordinating Group at
the AGM. We appreciate all they have done.
Every Blessing,
Barbara
Please remember to book using the attached booking form
by May 15th.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
METHODIST
CONFERENCE,
BIRMINGHAM
(June 26th to July 3rd 2014)
Again we plan to have an Outcome Stall for much of
Conference, starting with the afternoon of the Presbyteral
Session (Thursday, June 26th) and ending on the Wednesday
afternoon of the Representative Session (July 2nd). Several
of our supporters volunteered to staff the stall last year and
we are hoping for a similar response this year. If you are
able to offer to help this year, please contact us by e-mail at
[email protected] letting us know the dates you could
be available. Many thanks!
Our plans for a Conference ‘event’ have still to be
finalised, but it is likely this year to be an informal time on
the evening of Monday, June 30th where we can just gather
and chat together. We will e-mail details in due course.
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OUTCOME RESIDENTIAL 2015: This year’s
Residential broke new ground when we relocated to Luther
King House, Manchester after several years at Whaley Hall
in Derbyshire. We also altered the format to 24 hours from
Friday tea-time to Saturday tea-time. A number of people
joined us for the first time. In the light of this we are
booking Luther King House again in 2015 and are to be led
by Ric Stott, Methodist Minister, artist and art
psychotherapist who lives and works in Sheffield. The dates
have still to be finalised and we will inform you as soon as
we have them.
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PLEASE DO ADVISE US OF ANY CHANGE IN
YOUR
E-MAIL
ADDRESS,
AND,
IF
YOU
CURRENTLY RECEIVE YOUR NEWSLETTER BY
POST AND ARE ABLE TO RECEIVE IT BY EMAIL IN THE FUTURE, PLEASE LET US KNOW,
PARTICULARLY IN THE LIGHT OF THE RECENT
INCREASE IN POSTAGE.
“NO CONDEMNATION”
is the title of our next
publication and it is not too late to offer contributions! It
will centre on issues around theology, sexuality and
spirituality. That gives a wide remit for any budding writers
and offerings should be sent to [email protected]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EQUAL MARRIAGE: Sometime in the next few weeks
the Working Group that was set up by last year’s
Conference to consider the implications for the Methodist
Church of a change in legislation covering same-sex
marriage will publish its report to this year’s Conference.
We will seek to inform you of its contents via e-mail and on
the website.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LGBT FRIENDLY
CHURCHES
During the year we have
sought to begin a list of
LGBT-friendly
churches
within British Methodism. It
has been good to hear many
“good news” stories of acceptance and welcome.
Our request to the Chairs of District to help us
identify such churches produced a qualified
response in which they felt the better way round
was for us to approach an individual Chair when
we received a request about a specific District.
There is, of course, some mileage in that as things
can change with the appointment of a new minister
to a circuit or church. Please do continue to let us
know of churches where there is already a proven
track record of being LGBT friendly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES: Several
weeks ago we asked for positive and negative
experiences that gay people had had in relation to their
local church or circuit and we were grateful for your
responses. Amongst them was the following:
reasons why these texts should be seen as of their time and
context, which is no longer ours. And for me there's the
Gospel: the testimony of the life of Jesus that we are all
made in the image of God and that love between people –
even including love between people of the same sex – is
God-given and to be nurtured and celebrated.
My article was prompted by the homophobically-expressed
opposition of some fellow worshippers to same-sex
relationships. This opposition isn't altogether surprising
since it reflects faithfully the current official position of the
Methodist Church. And it isn't mere coincidence that this
issue has emerged now, as the Methodist Church embarks
on a consultation among its membership as to whether its
position that marriage can only be between a man and a
woman should be changed, just as in civil law there is now
provision for same-sex marriage.
It is coincidental, however, that my piece was written just as
the House of Bishops of the Church of England was restating its welcome to gay people by outlawing the prospect
of same-sex marriage in church and likewise even the
blessing in church of civil marriages between same-sex
partners. Will the Methodist Church remain of a similar
mind, or will it be bold enough to climb out of the bed it
seeks to share with the Church of England? Might individual
churches follow the lead of the Rector of St George’s,
Hanover Square (central London) who – “past caring about
the prohibitions of bishops” – is inviting same-sex couples
to arrange a proper and public Service of Celebration in
church following their civil marriage or partnership?
Anyway, back to the question: am I a condemned man?
Read why - here's the link: www.outcomeonline.org.uk and
go to Resources, then Downloads – Am I a Condemned
Man?
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We are often conscious of all the things that, as Outcome’s
Co-ordinating Group, we would like to do, but we have to
recognise that the five of us lead busy lives and live in
different parts of the country; in the light of that there is
only so much that we can do. After the Residential at Luther
King House in February, several participants shared some
very helpful thinking about strategies that we ought to be
aiming towards to further Outcome’s work. During the
summer, we plan to have a meeting with someone
experienced in facilitating strategies and hope to be able to
report on that is September’s newsletter. If you would like to
filter anything into that process, please do let us know.
*************************
I am a gay man.
Am I
therefore also a condemned
man?
This was the question recently
posed by one of our supporters, Steve Lowe, in an
article in his local Circuit’s magazine, which you can
read on our website. Introducing his article, Steve
says:
The question arises from the biblical texts that clearly
condemn sex between men, so for some Christians it will be
an open-and-shut case. For others, there are scholarly
Several
of
you
wrote
supportively to the Rev Frank
Schaefer, a minister of the
United
Methodist
Church
in
Pennsylvania who was defrocked
last year after a church court
disciplined him for officiating at his
son’s same-sex wedding. Frank wrote to
Outcome to ask us to thank you for that
support.
You will find a poignant video
about him using the following link:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kat
eslogan/an-act-of-love-the-story-of-revfrank-schaefer