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Group wants prayerful dialogue about transgender issue

BY DEAN SNYDER
UMCONNECTION STAFF

A theologically diverse group of conference leaders who have been meeting to discuss the status of transgender clergy will soon release a statement of learnings and organize conferencewide conversations on the issue.

A design team has been selected to draft the statement and to plan conversations which will probably be held on each district, according to the Rev. Roberta Scoville, the groups spokeswoman and dean of the order of elders. 

As of today we have committed ourselves to designing a process to expand the circle, Scoville said after a Nov. 29 meeting. She described the statement being written as a summary of the significant learnings that the group has had that we would like to share as a part of the ongoing conversation.

Since September, the committee of conference leaders has met three times for daylong meetings facilitated by the Rev. Thomas W. Porter, a lawyer and clergyman who heads JUSTPEACE, a United Methodist mediation service. The group includes representatives from the conferences board of ordained ministry, the bishops cabinet, the order of elders, the order of deacons and the board of laity. 

Scoville said the meetings included discussions with experts who addressed the topic from biblical and theological, ethical and cultural, and medical and psychological perspectives. We (also) heard from people who had personal stories with different outcomes and folks who have dealt with the issue from a pastoral perspective, she said. We examined at length the nature of our polity and its implications for this question.

The issue of the status of transgender clergy was raised during the clergy session at annual conference in June. The board of ordained ministry acknowledged that it had discussed the question of whether the Rev. Rebecca Steen, formerly the Rev. Richard Zomastny, a pastor who has had a sex-change operation, could return from a voluntary leave of absence to active service as the appointed pastor of a local church. 

Although no action was taken by the board or required of the clergy session because Steen decided to remain on leave, the issue has the potential to severely divide the conference, according to the board.

The board asked the orders of elders and deacons to initiate a conversation among clergy and lay people to explore the issues raised in the hearts and minds of many regarding the responsibilities of the board of ordained ministry in relation to a clergy colleague who is transgendered, according to a report issued by the orders officers.

The orders recommended that the JUSTPEACE Center for Mediation and Conflict Transformation, an organization established by the denominations General Council on Finance and Administration in 1999, be asked to assist in planning and facilitating the conversations.

After consultation with Bishop Felton Edwin May, JUSTPEACE was invited to work with the conference.

Following its Nov. 29 meeting, Scoville emphasized again that the special committee created to work with JUSTPEACE cannot make any decisions or recommendations about the status of any specific individual. Such decisions need to be made by the Board of Ordained Ministry and the clergy session of annual conference. She hopes, however, that the process her group is designing will prepare the conference for a healthy, less divisive discussion of the issue.

What we are about is seeking to frame our conversation about this issue in such a way that we can come to the question with honesty and openness and with a much higher degree of understanding, Scoville said. My sense is that people come out of this process feeling like they have been heard, feeling like their position has been respected and that there is a possibility in this process of a constructive way to engage one another around the issues that tend to divide us.

Scoville, whom the group has assigned to be its only spokesperson, said the process has been remarkable. I have come away with a far deeper and profound appreciation for the commitment, sincerity, thoughtfulness, faith, willingness to engage in the spiritual struggle of my colleagues, lay and clergy, and it is an affirmation of what church can be, she said. 

She admits, however, that she is not sure how the groups intense three-day experience can be replicated in district meetings. That is a challenge, Scoville said.

The members of the design team that will draft the statement of learnings and organize district conversations are Scoville, the Rev. Patty Smith of the order of deacons, Delores Oden of the Board of Laity, the Rev. Mark Derby of the Cabinet, and the Rev. David Wentz of the order of elders.