Challenge of Campus Ministry Funding

“…no board, agency, committee, commission, or council shall give United Methodist funds to any gay caucus or group, or otherwise use such funds to promote the acceptance of homosexuality. The council shall have the right to stop such expenditures.”  ¶806.9

The above statement has always seemed strange to me. How does one promote the acceptance of homosexuality? If I buy rainbows for a worship service—is that promoting homosexuality?

Why is this promotion dangerous enough to ban. I have had many LGBTQ friends.  I love them and support them and share my life with them, and they share their life with me—does that mean that I am promoting homosexuality?  Is a lack of condemnation seen as promotion?

What does the larger, seemingly heterosexual church, have to gain by denying money, support and rights to a group of people?   Heteronormativity has already won out in society.  Only straight people can be married, and they are the ones predominantly seen on TV.  Heterosexuals have all the privilege and all the power.

In a faith where our Savior, Jesus Christ promoted over turning systems of privilege, how can we commend exclusion?  How can we promote or maintain that it is moral to continue the situations of oppression?

It was in the last year that this funding ban began to fully affect me as an individual and the place where I worshiped.  I work with the United Methodist Student Movement, and I had known that there I had to “be careful” about how we spent our money and what we did related to LGBTQ inclusion in our church. These words touched my life during the judicial council meeting. The issue was whether or not “reconciling” campus ministries could be funded by a UMC Annual Conference, since they were “promoting homosexuality” by being welcoming.

The thought of the church removing money from the important ministry of campus ministries hurt my soul.  I have seen so many students find the UMC and Christ in these campus communities. As a member of a reconciling campus ministry, I had seen my community welcome many new students. I have seen this used as an outreach to whole new groups of people.  Since we have become reconciling, reaching out to all people has become more important to our mission on campus.

During that judicial council meeting I was even more distressed by the church because we celebrated National Coming Out Day on my campus that week. During a worship service, we had a sermon about the need for inclusion in the church.  We lifted up the church in prayer as an institution that needed to healed from its hatred. In my 22 years of life it was the only one day I thought of leaving the United Methodist Church.

I had never known an institutional church denomination that was fully welcoming of LGBTQ persons (since I was born in 1986), and as horrible as it seems that hatred was one I have always known.  While I disagreed with the institution, it was part of the normalcy of being a United Methodist for me.

In a church where we talk so much about how we are aging, and dying, what good can it serve to push out our young adults by cutting funding to programs that serve them?  Young people are already marginalized by our church. By denying them funding for creating a community that is authentic to who they - who we are -  was painful. The hate seemed to be so deeply embedded in the church, that it would make more sense to push out young people than allow them to bring their friends.  That is all reconciling campuses do—allow all people to come to church.  The action reminded me a  wolf caught in a trap, who would rather chew off it's leg than die their from starvation.  In the case of the UMC cutting funding to campus ministries is how we predict our own death.

In that moment and amidst the frustration, as we prayed for the church, and for all those Coming Out across the nation,   I cried for the United Methodist Church. I prayed that the institution could understand that this practice of cutting funding based on prejudice and denying young adults authenticity, would not stop their belief in inclusion.  Rather it would only further alienate all young people, straight allies, and LGBTQ persons from the church of Jesus Christ, especially the UMC.

In the next moment I prayed a pray of joy and thanksgiving. The action of trying to "cut off" the reconciling campuses, only shows the success we are have achieved.  Shows that young people will take our church in a new direction, and already living out faith in a  radically new way.

Comments

[Reginald Olson]

How ridiculous to suggest that Campus Ministries might be guilty of "promoting acceptance of homosexuality." They are involved in promoting discipleship and service to the Lord Jesus Christ, not involved in teaching people sex, of any kind. If those lessons are being learned on campus it is through Health Education, Fraternity and Sorority Life, the announcement of the intimate relationships of politicians and televangelists, or the viewing of television and videos.

Unfortunately some people judge the worth of others by what they do in the bedroom, not in the classroom, or in the Church!

When I was a director of a campus ministry a wise conference official told me that, in order to avoid being charged with "promoting acceptance of homosexuality," I should get those non-United Methodists who made financial contributions to our ministry to sign a contract saying that THEY were funding any outreach programs that related to the glbt community. This would assure that no United Methodist money was being used for this purpose!

Of course we weren’t "promoting acceptance of homosexuality", but we were reaching out to minister to gays, lesbians, transgenders and bisexuals. At the rate that the United Methodist Church is going maybe someday the church will try to outlaw campus ministries that promote the acceptance of Hispanics or Koreans or even women as ministers!