MIND Supports The Simple Plan

Hello MINDful people! We wanted to call your attention to The Simple Plan, one of the three plans being considered by the Commission on a Way Forward, and the only plan to simply remove the discriminatory language from our Book of Discipline. (It still allows for individual clergy and churches to avoid doing queer weddings, but does not prohibit ordination of LGBTQ people).

This plan was primarily composed by queer people of color seeking to inspire our denominational leaders in the discernment of a way forward in regards to LGBTQIA+ lives. MIND is proud to join the many United Methodists supporting this plan, and over the next few weeks, we would like to share some of their stories with you. To date, more than 7,000 people have co-signed this plan.

Fulfilling the NYAC Commitment to Queer Voices at GC 2019

In 2017 New York Annual Conference overwhelmingly endorsed the concept that there must be Queer voices at the 2019 Special General Conference. Very few annual conferences will have delegations embodying the concept, making the elections in our annual conference especially significant. With this in mind, we share with you a declaration and an offering by a diverse group of Queer laity and clergy and allies who feel called to this ministry of witness and have expressed their willingness, if elected, to serve as delegates or alternates to General Conference. This group is not a “slate.” These are individuals with a common commitment consistent with the goals set out by the 2017 New York Annual Conference.

 A way forward that centers the marginalized

 

For those attending NYAC 2018, ID Numbers for Candidates Are Listed Below: 

CLERGY CANDIDATES

LGBTQI

Rev. Kristina Hansen                       ID # 221

Rev. Alex da Silva Souto                 ID # 121

Rev. Martha E. Vink                         ID # 593

Rev. Dr. Sara Thompson Tweedy    ID # 575

 

Allies

Rev. Vicki Flippin                     ID # 172

Rev. Sheila M. Beckford          ID # 039

Rev. Wongee Joh                    ID # 267

Rev. Paul Fleck                       ID # 170

 

LAY CANDIDATES

LGBTQI

Jorge Lockward                   ID # 9

Dr. Dorothee Benz               ID # 1

Karen G. Prudente               ID # 10

QuiShaun D. Hill                  ID # 7

Ann Craig                            ID # 3

Allies

Tiffany French-Goffe           ID # 6

Fred Brewington                 ID # 2

Daisy Tavarez                    ID # 12

Get more info and full bios at https://www.withnotabout.org/

Click here to learn why we’re running… and asking for your support.

We are being faithful to the mandate from the 2017 annual conference, which voted to urge the conference to elect a majority-LGBTQI slate for the special GC, whose express and sole purpose is to address the impasse in the church over how we treat LGBTQI people.

This group represents many decades of faithful service and leadership in the UMC and our conference. It specifically includes deep GC expertise (seven people with direct delegation experience and multiple others who have attended many GCs) and additional significant legal/legislative/Judicial Council/Discipline expertise.

It reflects the diversity of the conference and our understanding of interconnectedness of oppressive systems. It is specifically and intentionally majority people of color, and committed to the unfinished work of racial justice in the UMC.

Above all, it is a chance for NYAC to live into its legacy of opposition to the UMC’s systemic exclusion of LGBTQI people. It is a chance to give queer people agency and voice in a way that they quite literally have never had in our denomination.

We want this delegation and this GC to be different, and that includes inviting in everyone who wants to help to participate in our process and to join us if they can in St. Louis. There is room at our table for all and for everyone’s gifts, and we need everyone’s gifts.