Theological Perspective Analysis

Theological Perspective

I have had many opportunities to write “statements of faith” in my many years of being entrenched in Evangelicalism. When writing a statement of faith in that context, I was essentially asked to affirm my belief in what those churches believed to be true. I wasn’t allowed to think or wrestle on my own to come up with my own theology. Writing my theological perspective here for the United Church of Christ is a new experience as I grapple with what it is I really believe.

My theology, as with anyone’s personal theology, has been significantly shaped by the experiences and relationships which have molded my very identity. As these factors are constantly in flux – ever changing and growing, adding new layers and dimensions

– so is my theology. It is no longer a static dogmatic system. I expect what I write today may change as I continue to grow and to experience God in new ways.

I also want to speak briefly to the words “I believe.” In my previous church experiences prior to coming to the UCC, to say “I believe” meant “I know” or “I have certainty.” I want to be clear that when I use the term “I believe” below, I do not insinuate any ultimate knowledge or certitude. For me today, saying “I believe” simply means “I have faith.” In all of my statements below, I come with theological humility, knowing that one day I may find out that I am wrong. For today, though, I trust and have faith in these statements as guidance for my life and ministry. I “own” what I have written below and I trust that the life I lead and the ministry I have will all flow out of these beliefs.

I believe the Bible to be our Christian text of authority.

At the heart of my theology is the Bible. I believe it is the God-inspired human-written
document of the Jewish and Christian community’s faith experiences. Ultimately, the Bible is a message of hope as it is the message of God’s love for humankind.

My early education in hermeneutics led me to take the Bible literally word-for-word. But as I have grown in my faith, I no longer read the Bible in this way. I have to come realize that buried within the text is the revelation of God’s word, but it is wrapped in human history and shaped by human language. Biblical scholarship attests to the fact that the gospels’ witness to Jesus Christ conveyed a core message, but it is wrapped in the culture of the day. Therefore, I believe in seeking knowledge of the historical, cultural, and sociological contexts of the times so as to better understand the meaning of the text. Reading the Bible with word-for-word literalism, I have found, can cause way too much damage to individual people and to our current society as a whole. Additionally, literalism dishonors the stories of the people who wrote them because Biblical stories were written by those who were trying to express their own experiences of God in the midst of their culture, circumstances, and knowledge of the world at that time.

The sacred scriptures speak to the Christian community’s encounter with God, but their language and experiences cannot be read as monolithic statements for all people in all places at all times. I believe in reading the Bible with an openness both to the meaning of the original text and to the limitations of the original context. How does the Word of God intersect with different communities—White European? African American? Gay or lesbian? I believe that no single interpretation of Scripture exhausts its message. Many interpretations are necessary and probably none are sufficient. The text itself speaks of the human encounter with the Holy One, but it opens us to our own encounter as well, bringing new life to a text that is thousands of years old. For all our knowledge about Scripture, there is still a mysterious wisdom within it that we cannot fully master.

My main reference point for theology is the Bible. While I believe the Bible is the primary sacred text of our faith, I realize that it cannot be the only source. God is still speaking: through non-canonical Christian texts, through science and nature, through personal experience, and through other faith traditions. I believe we can learn about God from all of those voices. Still, I believe that what we read in the Bible has spiritual power to change lives, to help us see a vision of God’s realm, and to inspire us towards social transformation. It should neither be consigned to ancient history as an antiquated relic, nor idolized as a god unto itself, but explored as a message that points beyond itself to the God that cannot be contained by human words.

I believe in God, whose essence can be described as Father/Mother/Creator.

As I begin to talk about God, I realize that trying to describe God is rather presumptuous. God is beyond anything mere words can portray and there is much about God that I simply cannot know. But it is important for me to begin by saying that I believe God created the world and is the author of all life. Before there was anything in the universe, there was God. And God created. As I begin to attempt to describe God, I begin with the idea that Paul Tilllich wrote about: that God is the ground of all being.

As I contemplate God, I find that it is important to my faith to state that God is both transcendent and imminent. God’s transcendence refers to God being “wholly other”, beyond this world, and completely independent of the material world. By imminent, I mean that God is present in our physical world and as close as my very breath. It is essential to my faith as well as to my ministry to state both of these qualities because I believe it to be important that the God who is beyond comprehension and beyond this world is also present, close, and potentially intimate. This imminent God is the One who calls each of us beloved and calls us into relationship. Just as Henri Nouwen taught, when God called Jesus Christ the beloved, I trust that God calls each of us “beloved” as well. Therefore, I believe that relationship of creator God with God’s beloved to be the most important relationship anyone can have. That relationship provides confidence, love, and peace in my life and I seek to help others to experience the same.

To many today, God is known as “God the Father.” To describe God in such terminology is not inaccurate; however, one must remember that if God is infinite, then human terminology and understanding cannot hope to capture, define, or complete an understanding of God. I believe that God is neither male nor female and therefore I seek to use “inclusive language” to describe this God. Additionally, I believe the nature of God encompasses male, female, and gender-neutral attributes so the use of inclusive language allows for a broad understanding of who and what God is.

I was taught in the past to believe in the Trinity as a requirement of orthodoxy and to me, that is ok. My continued study has subjected me to other belief structures beyond a strict trinitarian understanding of God. Currently, I am sitting “with the tension” of different understandings regarding trinitarianism. That is one place I continue to explore. It is important for me to continue to grow in my understanding of God and always to be on a journey of sorts. As a pastor, it’s important for me to tell others that a theological journey is something everyone should undertake. In my mind, to have arrived upon a static theology means that one has closed themselves off to new ideas and a broader understanding of God. I seek to embrace the idea that “God is still speaking” in my life as well as in the lives of others.

I continue to study and contemplate these understandings of God and know that my personal beliefs will continue to fluctuate for years to come.

3. I believe in following Jesus Christ, who modeled the way of God to the world.

In Jesus Christ, I see God’s love demonstrated and God’s Kingdom introduced. The gospels depict Jesus living out the heart of God as He showed love, grace, and healing to people. The gospels also show Jesus’ prophetic voice against sin, especially violence, injustice, and an untamed ego. All of the stories of Jesus in the gospels demonstrate God’s invitation for humankind to live in the way of love and to walk with God in this world.

There are many theories and theologies that have been created to explain the work of Jesus and especially His death on the cross. I was raised to believe in a substitutionary atonement for sin but have since moved beyond that viewpoint. While I see the value in many of the writings of the early church Fathers regarding the question of why Jesus died on the cross, I believe above all that the work of Jesus was primarily to show the love of God. Jesus taught the way of love and came as a salve for a broken and wounded humanity in need of healing and love. I am more comfortable with the language of brokenness, woundedness, and healing than I am of criminality and restitution. I also understand Jesus’ death on the cross as showing the way of love in direct opposition to the evil of this world. Therefore, I don’t believe in a “salvation” that declares some to be “in” and others to be “out”. My soteriology has become clearly universalist.

My understanding of the word “sin” comes down to that which wounds or breaks relationship with God, God’s creation, or one another. Humankind bears a legacy of fractured relationships, a legacy in which all that is of God (people, the earth, all of creation) are included. As individuals, at times willingly and other times unknowingly, we fall prey to destructiveness that breaks relationship with God and others and wounds others as well as the world. This individual sin, when added on cumulatively with the sin of others, becomes the corporate sin of society, and by society against the earth.

The “Good News” is that Jesus demonstrated a new way. The Christian path is not about believing a particular way or merely “being good” but is more about entering into a relationship with God who calls us beloved and points us to the life of Jesus, which was a life of love. That relationship sends us on a pilgrimage of transformation where Jesus is our role model and guide. The more we know the love of God as shown in Jesus Christ, the more we are changed and begin to understand that everyone else is God’s beloved as well. The way of Jesus, then, calls us to love others and love creation, repairing the brokenness created by sin. Along the way, we find others, a spiritual community, in which we can worship God, be reminded of our belovedness, and work together to embody the way of Jesus in this world.

4. I believe in the Holy Spirit, who leads us and guides us as we live our lives and walk with God.

I can’t help but be impacted by the Pentecostal teachings on the Holy Spirit that I once learned and embraced. While I no longer embrace most ideas of Pentecostal pneumatology, I do still believe that the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit, is the immanent presence of God for us in this life. For me, the Spirit is generative and creative, the felt presence of the Divine in the world, the medium by which we receive the spiritual gifts that show up in communities of faith, and the way in which we hear the voice of God in our lives.

I believe our encounter with God’s life-giving Holy Spirit can be framed by the word spirituality. Unfortunately, in contemporary discussions, “spirituality” too often serves as a synonym for something ethereal and vague, or something that is opposed to religion, i.e., “I’m spiritual but not religious.” But I believe that through Christian spirituality and practice we can experience the Holy Spirit and grow in faith and life. For me, contemplative practices have become attractive ways of encountering the Holy Spirit of God. Both Centering Prayer (a form of Christian meditation) and Lectio Divina are spiritual practices I include in my life and in my teaching to others as ways to encounter God and God’s word to us.

Centering Prayer is a practice I stumbled upon as I sought to explore other spiritual practices that were not taught in my former Evangelical churches. In my experience, Centering Prayer brings me to a place of peace and being as present to God as I can be in that moment. It is a place where all striving ends and I can simply “be” with God. Out of that practice, I often move into a short time of Lectio Divina, reading Scripture and allowing God’s Spirit to speak to me at that moment, through the passage. These disciplines provide a fresh experience of the Holy Spirit whenever I practice them.

These are but two spiritual practices that I have used at different times in my journey. I believe it is important for pastors to become acquainted with a variety of spiritual practices to share with others for engaging with the Holy Spirit. Not every practice will be the right fit with everyone. But I believe it is important for my ministry as a pastor to cultivate my own spiritual practices for the benefit of my own spiritual journey as well as to assist others on their journey.

To grow in faith…to deepen our sense of orientation to God, the sacred Other…is the work accomplished by God as we connect with the Holy Spirit. I believe that by cultivating attentiveness to God’s Spirit in this world and in our lives, we can grow in faith and be empowered to demonstrate the love of God in this world.

5. I believe that God’s heart embodies an extravagant welcome and love for each and every person in this world, and that the Church is to imitate that same love and welcome.

The stories of God’s creation depict a world that is founded upon relationships: between God and humanity, between humans and nature, and among humans themselves. God’s ongoing love compels us toward right relationship with God and with one another. We are called to do our best to make God’s love manifest through our actions and relationships. As the author of 1 John writes, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, for God is love… Beloved, since God love us so much, we also ought to love one another.” The love we learn from God is not only for those we “like,” but also for those we do not like, those we do not know, those we do not understand, those we may somehow consider “other”.

Because of this, I believe we should live our lives knowing that each person on earth is valuable to God and unique in his or her gifts and design. Additionally, I believe we are to understand that each person is on a spiritual journey that is unique and personal to them. Therefore, we should make it our practice to welcome and show love to every person as an essential part of God’s family, regardless of their spiritual path. I believe that it is in living this truth that we experience true community and the very presence of God in our midst.

This particular belief has become extremely important to me over the course of my discernment with the UCC. I have seen an extravagant welcome demonstrated in many different ways in the UCC and that has impacted me deeply. As I become more certain of my belovedness and welcome with God, I see myself becoming more passionate about extending that welcome to others. Extravagant welcome will be a cornerstone of my ministry. It has changed my life and I know I’m not the only one who needs to hear that good news!

6. I believe that the sacraments of baptism and communion are vital to both the individual believer and the larger community.

If the Gospel is a message of hope and the Christian tradition is the articulation of that message, then to me, the sacraments of baptism and communion serve as symbols of that hope. They point to God’s gracious love and they represent the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

The sacrament of baptism, whether as infant or adult believer, by sprinkling or
immersion, is the celebration of welcome into the family of God. For infants, it is an acknowledgment that before we can do anything, we are loved by God. For adults, baptism is an acknowledgment of a reborn self and a choosing of Jesus and Christianity. Baptism marks us as being claimed and named as God’s own, just as Jesus was claimed and named in the waters of the Jordan: “This is my beloved child, with whom I am well pleased.” And as we, the community, witness others being baptized, we are reminded that we are all equal and one in Christ, according to Galatians 3:28, which states “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

For me, the sacrament of communion is the most life-giving to my personal faith. In the holy mystery of communion, I believe we get a small taste of the incarnation of Christ as we receive the elements of the bread and the cup. Through the Eucharist (“thanksgiving”), we experience Christ in our midst and remember the love of Christ, as well as our common dependence on God. It is likewise an act of thanksgiving for the realized hope that we are loved and welcome. Each time we participate in communion, I believe we reaffirm our unity with Christ and express our desire to depend on Him. We pledge again to be Christ’s body and blood in the world. Additionally, taking communion as a community of faith reinforces our common dependence upon Jesus and stresses our equality as we come to the table.

Like the openness of the UCC, my personal belief is that when we come to the table, it is God’s table, not ours. The practice of communion has roots in sharing a common meal together and it likens back to the extravagant welcome of the church. Therefore, I believe in an open table, where all people are invited to participate in the elements of communion.

7. I believe that we are called to serve God by serving others.

Responding to the needs of others, working for justice and peace, and loving our neighbors as ourselves are some of the most important ways that we can live out our faith. As Christians, we are called to be ambassadors of God’s reconciliation and love in this world. Our call to discipleship reminds us that the gospel exists not simply for spiritual comfort but also gives guidance for how we are to participate in this effort of reconciliation. Discipleship is the lifelong process of aligning our lives with the will of God and “living into” God’s gospel of love and justice. Quite often, we don’t want to or are not ready to hear God’s message to us. But the burden and blessing of discipleship is the opportunity to seek to live the truth and justice of God’s message in the midst of our world. To proclaim the gospel is to share the good news that we belong to God, who loved us into being and desires for us to live out that love in community. I believe all people in the Church are called to this mission.

Additionally, I believe that one of the greatest expressions of God’s love is when we serve together in community. Whether it is serving together in a church setting or serving together in our local communities and the world, I believe the Body of Christ becomes a tangible expression of God’s love as we serve together. This is part of our calling because the world needs to see Christians who love one another and stand alongside each other as they serve the world. It becomes an even greater testimony of what God has done in our lives when we serve side by side and join hands to work for a common goal. Plus, we accomplish more together than we can individually. This idea is a call to me and whatever church I serve to partner ecumenically for a common cause. In this way, our extravagant welcome moves to extravagant love and extravagant service with whoever God may lead us to join together with in service.

8. I believe that as the church of Jesus Christ, we are called to live out our faith with humility, love, and acceptance, knowing that there can be no certitude about faith in this lifetime.

Our belief must be lived out by “living in the tension” of not having the answer to every spiritual question, as well as giving space for those who think they do. I believe we must be unified in our faith in Christ and give space, love, and respect in our areas of disagreement.

Additionally, I believe that there is some amount of God’s enlightenment in all religions and we can learn from others as we humbly come together in dialogue and common work. The Church must create safe places for intra-faith and interfaith exchanges. The goal is to be together, to gain new understanding, to celebrate diversity, and through these things, to be transformed.

Conclusion of Theological Perspective

I offer these thoughts and beliefs with the humility of a learner who is still growing. Having come on a very long journey to get to my current place in life, I realize that I am in the process of shedding my old theology and embracing the new. Therefore, I hold loosely what I have written in this paper. I continue to grow and learn and hope one day to lead a community of believers who desire to walk together, not on a journey of certainty, but a journey of faith.

The Use of Inclusive and Expansive Language

Language is powerful. In a broad sense, language as a communication tool takes many forms: behavior, expression, gesture, tone, and words. Language has power to bless or curse, inspire or deflate, heal or wound, clarify or confuse, include or exclude. Because of that, liturgical language is extremely important to the Church. Using inclusive and expansive language helps to limit the potential negativity of language and to strengthen it’s positive attributes.

First, I believe our words in church should be inclusive of all people. Insensitive words can cause suffering. Obvious examples include the use of racial epithets and stereotypes. Careless use of language can also exclude people on the basis of economic status or physical and mental disabilities.

The Church over the centuries has been particularly guilty of excluding women. We have inherited a language for worship which, whether we are speaking of human beings or of God, overwhelmingly uses masculine pronouns and metaphors. For many women, to be surrounded by exclusive language is a repeated encounter of rejection, precisely in the place where we seek acceptance at the deepest level of our being. Using inclusive language provides a safe place where people of all genders are honored.

Language also plays an important role in the education of both children and adults.

Many child development studies indicate that children think in concrete, rather than abstract, terms until the age of ten or twelve. Therefore, the words used in their education can stay with them for the rest of their lives. Adult perceptions are formed by language as well. The way we pray really does shape the way we think. What we sing, pray, hear, and see in song, stories and sermons shapes and defines what we believe about God and God’s people. In addition, language is an important consideration in mission. Since God loves all people, our explanation of the wisdom of scripture should reflect an inclusive understanding of

humankind.

Secondly, I have fallen in love with the term “expansive language” because rather than stopping at inclusive language, it seeks to expand our understanding of God. Our most familiar images of the Divine are male: Father, King, Lord, Conqueror. These images have deep roots in scripture, creeds, and hymns. But if we look beyond the status quo…beyond the male-dominated words used in so many churches, we find a wealth of words that expand our understanding of who God is. The scriptures, theologians, poets, musicians, and artists provide many overlooked images of the Divine. These are often feminine or gender-neutral. These words expand our spiritual vocabulary of God and the nature of God.

God’s nature is beyond human conception, certainly beyond description in human language. Most language about God seems to be anthropomorphic because it is convenient in our limited understanding to describe God in human terms. We often describe God as having human emotions like love, anger, sadness. But using words that connote gender can limit our understanding of God rather than expand it.

Therefore, like the UCC, I believe that finding more ways to understand and speak about God beyond gender constraints can open our minds and hearts to the fathomless depths of the nature of God. The use of inclusive and expansive language helps people avoid “shutting down” because of negative issues they may have experienced with one particular gender, and it helps us to understand God in new and deeper ways. At first, it was a journey for me to kick the old habit of using male-dominated terms for God. But I have now come to a place where it is natural for me to use inclusive and expansive words and I seek to help others to understand the importance of doing so as well.

History & Polity of the United Church of Christ

Though a relatively new denomination, the history and polity of the United Church of Christ is rich and complex. Rather than attempting to write a complete treatise (full volumes could be written), I will focus on three of our UCC mottos. I believe that these mottos provide insight into the history, polity, and culture of our denomination. I choose to describe our history and polity in this way because these mottos have become very important to me on a personal level. I have come to value and embrace these mottos in my own life and ministry and I believe these mottos describe the core culture of the UCC.

The mottos I will use to describe the history and polity of our denomination are:
The United Church of Christ is united and uniting.
The United Church of Christ believes that God is still speaking.
No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.

The United Church of Christ is United and Uniting.

The history of the United Church of Christ is one reflects a constant uniting of religious groups. The official organization of the United Church of Christ took place on June 25, 1957. On that date, the culmination of four religious traditions coming together resulted in the formation of the United Church of Christ. This merger came on the heels of two other mergers, that of the Evangelical Synod Of North America merging with the Reformed Church In The United States in 1934, and that of the Congregational Churches merging with the Christian Churches in 1931. With similar origins and a strong emphasis on religious freedom and congregational autonomy, the Congregational Churches and the Christian Churches merged to form the Congregational Christian Churches. The Evangelical Synod Of North America and the Reformed Church In North America had a history of cooperation prior to their merger. Like the predecessors of the Congregational Christian Churches, the predecessors of the Evangelical and Reformed Church shared similar origins, theological roots, and missional identities. Combining the best of these four religious tritons, along with influences from other religious traditions and communities, the United Church of Christ was born.

The “Four-Tradition Origin Myth” provides an over-simplified means to describe the UCC’s heritage. A two volume collection of Hidden Histories in the United Church of Christ by Barbara Brown Zikmund demonstrates that many small streams fed into the main denominations over 200 years. Beyond these riches, we have been blessed with an abundance of theological and cultural traditions from around the world. African-American, Native-American, Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, and other traditions all comprise our current practices and theologies.

The “united” reality of the United Church of Christ is not only a part of its past, it is also a part of the denomination’s ongoing existence.

The UCC’s uniting identity is ongoing in our many ecumenical and interfaith partnerships. As a testament to the UCC’s commitment to live fully into the words of John 17:21, “that they may all be one,” the UCC is in full communion with several Christian denominations. The UCC is also an active participant in the work of Churches Uniting in Christ, a national organization that is strives to unite partner churches against racism. We are a member of the World Council of Churches. We work jointly with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to extend our influence around the world. And even on local levels, many UCC churches are active in joining with local churches of other denominations to work together on issues in local communities. The UCC believes in uniting together with other denominations to form ecumenical partnerships for the greater good in our

communities.

The United Church of Christ is a denomination that is united and uniting in more than just our history and ecumenical partnerships. The UCC is also united and uniting in its commitment to the diversity that makes up the body of Christ. The denominational polity lives into this commitment with an emphasis on the autonomy of the local church and commitment to the wider church. The individual congregations bring their particular contexts, experiences, needs, hopes, and desires to the wider church. Likewise, the UCC celebrates the experiences, perspectives, theologies, and backgrounds of individual members and participants in our churches. It is our individual and congregational particularities that are the life force of the wider church, but it is the commitment to the covenantal relationship of unity that creates a space for creative expression and growth together.

Because of this commitment to being a uniting church, the UCC strives to be a denomination that is multicultural, multiethnic, multiracial, and open and affirming. We encourage a wide spectrum of individuals and churches to unite with us and freely associate with us. One interesting example is that of the Biblical Witness Fellowship, who still represent part of the voice of the UCC, though they differ greatly from the current direction of much of the denomination. It is clear that the UCC believes that Christians are stronger together than we are separately.

God is Still Speaking

The United Church of Christ believes that God is still speaking and that we can continue to learn from and apply scriptures in new ways as our world and society continue to develop and grow. Another UCC motto that is directly applicable to this idea is this: “Our faith is 2000 years old. Our thinking is not.” The UCC believes in God's continuing testament and is committed to hearing God's ancient story anew and afresh in our lives and in the world today.

The United Church of Christ has its roots in the mission and ministry of Jesus, the early Christian church, the Reformed tradition, and the theology and history of the last two millennia. We are denomination that has roots in the Protestant reformation. While many argue that the UCC is not a “credal” denomination, many historical creeds and statements of faith guide our religious practices. We do not take lightly the historical and theological roots that have guided our faith and identity.

But at our core, the UCC believes in each individual’s ability to read and interpret scripture on his or her own. We recognize the role that all people have in experiencing and interpreting the ongoing role of God in the world. As such, we recognize the need for openness to God’s ongoing creativity. As time progresses and contextual situations change, our God-shaped questions and answers will continue to grow and develop. Some of the questions that have arisen out of our denomination’s commitment to listen to the still-speaking God relate to Christian responses to issues like racism, sexism, the role of women in the church, how we support and value science without pitting it against theology, and how we encourage the full communion of all people.

Therefore, the UCC is a church of many theologies, claiming, “in essentials unity, in nonessentials diversity, in all things charity,” reflecting our appreciation of varied perspectives, cultures, and practices. We see God’s nature and intent revealed in scripture over time, just as the river continues to flow, influencing another UCC motto, “God is Still Speaking.”

No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.

The commitment of the United Church of Christ to listen for God’s still-speaking voice has allowed the denomination to embrace more fully our identity as a community of hospitality and extravagant welcome. I believe that this statement and its application in UCC churches across the country is one of the most important and intentional ways the United Church of Christ works to realize true Beloved Community, as espoused by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The United Church of Christ has a rich history that shows its commitment to ever-expanding the “circle of welcome.” Members of the UCC have been among the first to make bold steps in action against racism, sexism, and heterosexism. Congregationalists were among the first Americans to take a stand against slavery. Lemuel Haynes, an early Congregationalist, was the first African American ordained by a Protestant denomination. Antoinette Brown, a Congregationalist, was the first woman since New Testament times to be ordained as a Christian minister, and perhaps the first woman in history elected to serve a Christian congregation as pastor. The Rev. William R. Johnson, a UCC pastor, was the first openly gay person to serve as a pastor in a mainline congregation. The Rev. Joseph H. Evans was the first African American leader of a racially-integrated mainline protestant denomination. Over and over in history, the UCC and its denominational lineage has expanded welcome and inclusion in ministry to an ever-widening circle.

Personally, I have seen countless people welcomed, affirmed and invited to share their gifts in UCC congregations who would not receive such a warm reception in other denominations. The sharing of gifts and faith by children, persons with developmental disabilities, persons who are transgender, persons with physical disabilities, persons who are gay and lesbian, persons who are agnostic, and those of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds are just a few of the groups that I have seen welcomed in the UCC. In the UCC, we are consciously looking for those who are still left out or dismissed. Because of this, a beautiful tapestry has been created by the extravagant welcome of the UCC.

This desire to be inclusive, however, is not without cost. Because we strive to be diverse, we have real conflicts at times over matters that are important. But we still sit together and work together even though we don’t always agree. We learn to speak, listen, and give space. We try to model a new way of being together, respecting, and honoring those of differing views. We will never be unified on all issues, but by choice, we can be one body.

Truly, the mottos I’ve mentioned here capture the UCC spirit as seen in both the history and the polity of the denomination. I believe they prepare a way for the UCC to move forward as a denomination. Listening close to the Word of the still-speaking God, we will continue to live united as a diverse body of Christ. Embracing the call for extravagant welcome, we will continue uniting, not just as a denomination, but as God’s people in and throughout the world.

Ministerial Ethics

Ethics are vital to any minister. I have always sought to live with a sense of ethics that spanned both my personal life as well as my life in the church and the wider community. I would like to share some of my understanding of ethics as they relate to my life and ministry.

First, my ethics in the church and the ministerial community are vital for my ministry:

As one who believes very strongly in the priesthood of all believers, I see my role in the church as one who exercises the gift of leadership but uses that gift in collaboration with others. I will never use my role to “lord it over” others, to force my way, or to meet my own needs.
I will honor all confidences, which is something that is extremely important to me.
It is important for me to have integrity when it comes to ministry finances, never spending just because it is there, never focusing on any lack, and never allowing anything I know about finances to impact how I lead. My preference, if at all possible, would be to know nothing about people’s individual giving so as not to impact my view of anyone.
I will encourage open communication with leaders and congregation members and be willing to hear difficult things they may have to say to me. Ultimately, I want to learn from my congregation as much as they learn from me, so I will be open to any growth edges that are shared with me and not get defensive about things I may not like to hear.
I know that when it comes to relationships with people in the church, I am never NOT the pastor. Therefore, I will be careful to make sure that relationships with parishioners never cross over to a place where the relationships are for my benefit. I recognize the need to be myself in friendly ways with parishioners but that I am always seen in the role of pastor. It is my responsibility to be the one who is always appropriate.
I will ensure there are proper boundaries in the church that protect children by always having two adults present, running background checks, and ensuring “safe church” policies.
When I leave a ministry setting, I know it is vital to make sure that former parishioners know that I am no longer their pastor and that I cannot function in that way any longer. Instead, I will encourage their connection and affirmation with their new pastor.
In the wider ministerial community, I will seek to be a team player, to build interfaith relationships, and to learn from other ministers.
I will seek to be supportive of my colleagues and to make sure that I have clear boundaries between their congregations and myself.
I will never seek to “steal sheep” from other churches and will never talk negatively about my colleagues in public settings.

Secondly, I have ethics for my personal life:

As a pastor, I will take time to invest in my own spirituality, including time in prayer, meditation, reading, and other spiritual practices. Without such an investment, I know that I will have nothing to give to my congregation or others in the community.
Of course, I have to make sure that my time is well balanced, providing for my own sense of being as well as for my marital and significant relationships. That includes time for exercise, recreation, vacation, and most importantly, solid times of presence with my spouse.
I will have appropriate boundaries with others and never put myself in a situation where my position or authority becomes exploitive of others, whether they are a part of my church or not.
I will choose to behave with moral standards when it comes to my sexual behavior as well as my use of alcohol.

Finally, I have values and ethics for my participation with the wider UCC community:

I value being a team-player within the United Church of Christ. As a UCC minister, I will choose to participate in the wider ministry of the denomination as I’m able.
Knowing that we are a denomination that embraces unity in diversity, I will honor the experiences, traditions, thoughts, and feelings of others in the wider body. Working towards unity in the wider body is a value of mine, even if I disagree on issues.
I will participate in and support wider church committees, ministries, and efforts beyond just what my congregation is doing.
I will seek to represent the United Church of Christ favorably in my local community.

I know that ethical decisions will always be before me and I will constantly be learning new insights into what it means to act ethically as a pastor. Therefore, I will seek the counsel of other pastoral colleagues if I am ever in doubt and will look for growing edges where I can become a more ethical individual and pastor.

I have yet to take the clergy Boundaries course because of a lack of offerings but plan to take the class at the conference meetings in Pendleton in September. I know that the course will expand and and solidify my understanding of boundaries and ministerial ethics.

Spiritual Pilgrimage and Call to Ministry

Though I did not grow up in a home that had any sort of religious belief or practice, my spiritual pilgrimage began at an early age. As a child, I began to believe in a God who was “out there somewhere” and I prayed regularly for protection from that God. But it wasn’t until I graduated from high school that I began actively to pursue this God. It was a time in my life that was very confusing and I was desperately searching for an answer to life’s questions, as well as a love that was beyond what I had experienced. During my first year of college, that search led me to a friend who talked about her relationship with God. Asking questions of her led to a deeper desire to seek God. Not knowing anything about Christianity, I was a sponge and began to soak up any discussion about God that I heard. Stumbling upon them when I changed the channel, I even found out about God from the typical Pentecostal television ministers. I hungered for what I was hearing from these television preachers, which was love, acceptance, and a relationship with God. So one day in 1985, I prayed in front of my television set to “receive Christ as my Lord and Savior.” It was a day that changed the course of my life.

Now that I had moved out from my parents’ house and gone away to college, I freely pursued my new-found faith. Getting involved in an American Baptist Church, I got baptized and volunteered in ministry. I grew spiritually a great deal during that time and was so excited about my faith. I became involved in campus ministries like InterVarsity and Campus Crusade for Christ, as well as ministries at my church. Eventually, I was asked to apply for the position of Children’s Intern at the church and I got the job. The next year and a half was spent enjoying my first ministry position and a life of heavy church involvement.

During this time, I was majoring in accounting at my university and I absolutely hated it. It didn’t fit my personality at all. By the time I got to my senior year in college, I was hating my education but loving my church involvement. During an accounting class one day, I began to pray and plead with God for direction. For the two hours of that class, I tuned out from the lecture and spent the time praying. It actually turned into an argument between God and me because I sensed God’s call to ministry but couldn’t imagine taking such a turn in my life. But by the time that class session had finished, I felt that God had worked through all of my objections and I felt confident in my call to ministry. I graduated from college a few months later, worked as an accountant for a year, and then went off to seminary.

The problem in the midst of all of this was my sexuality. I had known that I was gay from the time I was in junior high, but the voices around me all said that it was not ok to be gay. After “stuffing” my sexuality through high school and college, I was now faced with what to do as a seminary student. The voices from the church reiterated that being gay was not God’s best way of living and that those who “struggle with same-sex attraction” should work to overcome those feelings. Wanting to please God and deeply desiring a “normal” life, I bought into that lie and worked desperately at overcoming my “sinful desires.”

I enrolled at Talbot School of Theology, a conservative evangelical seminary located on the campus of Biola University in Southern California. During my time there, I also became a youth pastor at a local church and got highly involved in ministry. It was during this time that the friends at seminary with whom I shared shared “my secret” encouraged me to go to counseling to get over my sexual struggles. Connecting with Exodus International, the “Ex-Gay” ministry that supposedly helps people to overcome their unwanted same-sex attraction, was pivotal in my journey at the time. I went to counseling for two years while in seminary with one of the foremost “experts” in “reparative therapy.” I successfully learned how to stuff my sexuality and how to act straight. Convinced that it was working, I even began to date women. In the midst of those years, I met the woman who would become my wife. We got married while I was in seminary and were excited about a life of ministry together.

By 1994, I had graduated from seminary with a Masters of Divinity, had “graduated” from the ex-gay counseling program, and set off with wife in tow for my first pastorate. We moved to Topeka, KS where I was on staff at a large (1000 in attendance) church that was an Independent Christian Church (formerly Disciples of Christ). I was thrilled to be on staff at a large church right out of seminary. But it only took a few months to realize how unhealthy this church was. In many ways, it was a spiritually abusive environment and the senior pastor treated his staff horribly. As I look back on that time now, I know it was a miserable experience for me, but I learned much about ego, boundaries, and the dark side of leadership. I left Topeka in 1996 with my wife and our first child.

We moved to Seattle where I took the position of Associate Pastor at an Asian American church near Seattle’s International District. In my first year at this non-denominational church, I was ordained for ministry and ended up spending six years on staff at that feeling loved and supported in my ministry. I grew as a pastor and the people in the church were wonderful. These were good years in ministry and my wife and I had two more children during this time. Though we struggled in our marriage, I figured we were just going through normal marital difficulties. But beneath the surface, I was really struggling with my sexuality. I began to deal with depression because there was a disconnect between my outer life and my inner life. The Asian culture put me on a pedestal and I was considered a “sensei” to many. It was a pedestal that no person should ever be placed on and it caused me to yearn for the opportunity to be more real. But the theology of this conservative church, along with the Asian culture of “saving face” left me with no choice but to go deeper into hiding. What saved me during this time was the development of my preaching skills. Due to a series of events at the church, I ended up becoming the main preacher, preaching three out of four Sundays a month. It became apparent that this was a gift of mine and I continued to develop that gift as I received more and more accolades for my preaching style. Counseling others came naturally to me and the congregation affirmed these gifts.
During this time, I enrolled in a two-year practicum designed to help pastors to develop their inner life with God so that their ministry would be an “overflow” of what God was doing in their inner lives. I became very devoted to “practicing the presence of God,” listening to God’s voice, and following the leadership of the Holy Spirit in my life. I developed a regular routine of engaging others in ministry and then going away to a private place for my personal time with God. It was a life-changing time of personal development for me and those practices will always live with me.

While working at this church, I attended a conference at the largest church in Hawaii. The values and philosophy of ministry were clearly “seeker sensitive” and it challenged me that church could be completely different than anything I had ever experienced. I got excited and really felt compelled to step out and plant a new church where I could design services to reach people with no church connections. I joined with a friend of mine who was a worship leader and we sought to affiliate with a denomination that would approve us to be church planters. We got selected by the North American Baptist Conference and moved to Vancouver, WA to plant a new church.

Our first year of church planting was successful in terms of numbers but very difficult on my family. My marriage felt the strain of church planting, I continued to struggle with my sexuality, and a difficult relationship emerged with my church planting partner. He finally confided in me that he had a different vision for the church and it wasn’t going to work. I asked him to resign and his departure divided our infant church. In the ensuing time, the failures seemed to multiply.

After several more years of constant modification, I left ministry to go into the mortgage business. I was done with being pastor and wanted to begin a new life. I told God, “I will never be a pastor again...unless I am attending a church that I love and they come and ask me to join their staff.” Little did I know how quickly that would happen.

My entrance into the mortgage industry coincided with the beginning of the mortgage crisis, though none of us knew it was happening. I saw the industry begin to crumble and I wasn’t making much money. My family and I began attending a large Foursquare Church in Camas, WA and loved it. Within a few months, the senior pastor began to approach me about joining the staff. I said “no” at first, but after the third offer, I remembered my promise to God about what it would take for me to be a pastor again. My wife and I prayed and I felt called to proceed forward. I was finally back on staff at a church of 1000 people and was thrilled to find a denomination that exuded more grace than my previous conservative churches.

By this time, I began a journey that would change the course of my life. While wrestling with scripture and reading progressive authors, I found that sharing my new progressive perspective at my church was not welcomed. In wanting to keep my job, though, I hid my new perspective. At the same time, things at home continued to worsen. Deciding to go back to counseling, I wanted to get healthy once and for all. For almost a year, I worked with my counselor to “undo” everything that I had learned in the ex-gay ministry. My counselor eventually helped me to reconcile my theology with my sexuality. Everything in my life began to crumble as I followed this journey towards Progressive Christianity and as I began to understand that God loved me for who I was.

I finally ended up leaving the evangelical church, got divorced, and began a journey deeper into Progressive Christianity. After beginning a relationship with a man, we sought out progressive churches and landed together at First Congregational United Church of Christ in downtown Portland. That community provided a place for me to heal. Pastor Anton DeWet, the former pastor of this church, befriended me immediately and helped me to continue the theological journey I had begun. I became involved in volunteer ministry at the church and Anton encouraged me to consider getting licensed with the UCC. Though I was not ready at first, over time I began to see that God’s call on my life has never been rescinded. I still felt called to walk beside people on their journey with God.

I became a Member in Discernment with the Central Pacific Conference in April 2013 and began a journey of deepening my understanding of the UCC. Taking the History & Polity class opened my eyes as to the “whys” of the UCC. This class really brought understanding to me and helped me to fall in love with the UCC in an even deeper way. As a Member in Discernment, I have visited many UCC churches and have even had the opportunity to preach at three different UCC congregations. It has been a joy getting to know the UCC family in a greater way. This discernment process has caused me to become extremely passionate about many UCC distinctives and has brought a greater desire to for me to minister in a UCC context.

The year 2014 brought me huge momentum as God prepared me for the next chapter in my life. I was recruited to join the staff of a Presbyterian church in a temporary role while I finished my discernment process with the UCC. It has been a joy to be working in a church again and to grow in my experience working in a mainline context. The opportunity presented to me is to continue to serve at this church until such time that I can move into a UCC church position. Working for the Presbyterian church has given me the experience of leading worship in a Mainline context and has given me a greater understanding of the liturgical calendar. I have grown in my preaching skills and learned how to preach differently in this new context. Taking on the youth ministry late in the year has shown me that I still have a voice with the younger generations. This Presbyterian church has been the perfect transition place for me as I prepare to enter UCC ministry.

Additionally, 2014 brought marriage equality to the State of Oregon. This lead to my partner and I getting married in December of that year. Now my husband, Malcolm continues to support my pastoral ministry. He has worked with me on specific ministry projects in the church and also co-leads the youth ministry with me. It has been a joy to have these opportunities to minister together.

This journey of learning about God and ministry has been a long process that has included many highs and lows. But through it all, God has been faithful and I have grown into the spiritually secure and passionate man that I am. My desire in ministry is to be a part of what God has in store for the future of Progressive Christianity and the UCC. This is a place where we can nurture one another’s journey with the Holy Mystery, embracing new language and contemporary theology, as well as new ways of being and doing in the world. I believe in the priesthood of ALL believers. I am passionate about wholeness, about Contemplative Spirituality, about social justice, and about helping others to find their way in this confusing world. I believe that Progressive Christianity has the voice that people want to hear in our times and that the UCC has tremendous potential to reach more and more people in the years to come. I want to be a part of bringing that progressive faith to a wider audience in a pastoral role. I believe my experiences have brought me to a place where I see my ministry as being about church revitalization and leading the church to have a renewed prophetic and progressive voice in the local community. I look forward to how God will continue to use me in the next chapter of my ministry journey.