The experience of Pink Mennos at Columbus in 2009 introduced a new level of engagement in controversial matters….The techniques of social advocacy and confrontation that we have taught young adults in our schools has come to haunt our church’s most visible gathering, to the end that convention-goers feel immense pressure to take up sides against one another on [homosexuality].
Gay Mennonite League recently responded with this editorial.
Today, Pastor Amy Yoder McGloughlin of Germantown Mennonite Churchhas responded with the following email:
Dear Ervin,
After reading the editorial by Everett Thomas in the latest edition of The Mennonite, I was disheartened by your comments regarding the Pink Menno campaign. Because I love this church and the Anabaptist tradition, I feel that I must share my perspective with you.
I would hope that, as the Executive Director of the Mennonite Church, you would help to facilitate an open, non-threatening dialogue about if or how the Mennonite Church should respond to GLBT youth, members and welcoming congregations. Pink Menno is simply asking not to be excluded from the church. Your statement unfairly characterized Pink Menno as dividers. It is unfair for you to further marginalize those who are simply asking to be included.
I wonder if the exuberant young adults using “techniques of social advocacy and confrontation” at the Mennonite Conventions really haunt the Mennonite Church. I would suggest that what truly haunts the Mennonite Church are the hundreds (or thousands) of young Mennonites who are no longer a part of the church because they either feel bitter, or perhaps worse, completely indifferent about the Mennonite Church. Because these children of the Mennonite Church are not visible, it is easy to disregard them. So rather than viewing the young Pink Mennos as rabble rousers, I encourage you to bless them and their actions, because their actions are an indication of their love for the church.
I appreciate the difficulty of your position, I’m sure you are pulled in a lot of different directions. My hope is that as a leader of the church you would not fall into marginalizing anyone on this issue and instead see if there isn’t a healthy way to find a new consensus. Finding a consensus may take time and a lot more dialogue. Gay and lesbian people will always be in the Mennonite Church, though, at the very least as children through high schoolers. Until we can find a new consensus, this issue will not go away, and the church will be in a constant mode of exclusion.
I am fortunate to pastor a vibrant congregation full of members who come to Germantown Mennonite Church because it is both Mennonite and welcoming of everyone. Though we were removed from the denomination a number of years ago, I have worked to help our congregation build and maintain bridges with the larger Mennonite Church and to serve as a refuge for those who are not welcome in their home congregations. I hope these bridge building efforts would not be unwelcome at the Mennonite Conference in Pittsburgh this summer. In fact, I am still hopeful that one day Germantown Mennonite Church (the oldest Mennonite Church in the Western Hemisphere) might rejoin the denomination that it helped to birth.
Sincerely,
Amy Yoder McGloughlin
Pastor
Germantown Mennonite Church
Naomi
/ May 7, 2011A very wise and elegant response from Amy Yoder McGloughlin, a superb bridge-builder. Although the focus at this moment is on the Pink Menno and their youthfulness, I would add that the Mennonite Church is presently littered with the battered bodies of those no longer youthful, who have sacrificed for the right to be included as followers of Jesus. There are many of us standing faithfully by, with stories to tell and wisdom to impart. Pink Mennos…God bless them!