Tuesday, May 4 4:30-6pm in the John Knox Room
The purpose of this event is to explore the possibilities of remaining in fellowship with each other even in the face of great disagreement. This is especially difficult in light of ongoing disagreements over the marriage and ordination of gay and lesbian Christians. Assuming that few church leaders are going to change their minds about these issues anytime soon, what are the possibilities for continued partnership in ministry?
Four pastors with opposing views on marrying and ordaining gay and lesbian Christians will share insights from their own ministries about unity and disagreement.
Tricia Dykers Koenig – the National Organizer for the Covenant Network – and Jim Gilbert are both pastors from Cleveland Presbytery who intentionally formed a friendship in spite of their activism on either side of these issues and presented testimony of that experience to their presbytery as a model for the future.
Jeff Eddings (PCUSA) and Jim Walker (United Methodist) co-pastor a church in the Southside of Pittsburgh. Not only are they from different denominations but they hold different views on marriage and ordination. Their church – the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community – maintains a traditional view on sexual orientation, but also welcomes GLBT persons to positions of service and leadership in the congregation.
After presenting insights from their own experiences, these pastors will form a panel to answer questions from the audience. Questions will be collected during the presentations and posed by the moderator of the panel.
Also, questions can be emailed to the Peace and Justice Fellowship beforehand.
This event will not be a debate. It will not present easy answers. Nor will it require participants to surrender their convictions. Instead, our hope is that a commitment to unity will create an environment conducive for a frank exchange of views on campus and in our congregations and denominations at a later date.
