Western District Conference of Mennonite Church USA has cleared up ambiguity regarding credentialing of LGBTQ ministers, making it consistent with other conferences that license and ordain ministers regardless of sexual identity.

The Western District Ministerial Leadership Commission announced in a Feb. 14 letter it will grant credentials regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status. This clarifies that a person in a same-sex marriage can be credentialed for ministry.

All LGBTQ candidates the conference has credentialed have been single, conference minister Heidi Regier Kreider said.

“We recognize that God calls LGBTQ persons for ministry. . . . We don’t want it to be conditional on [being] single,” she said.

The “Rainbow Resolution,” passed by Western District delegates in 2015, opened the door for pastors to perform same-sex weddings with congregational affirmation but did not address the marital status of LGBTQ pastors.

“We never said, ‘You can hire a single LGBTQ person but they can’t get married,’ but that was kind of the implication because of the assumed prohibition,” Kreider said. “Because we never said it, it was assumed . . . and there was equal reason to assume the opposite. The Rainbow resolution did not speak to credentialing, and that also left people in a place of ambiguity, and that ambiguity did not serve us well.”

In 12 of MC USA’s 16 conferences, performing a same-sex marriage with congregational approval does not impact a pastor’s credentialed status.

Among MC USA conferences that grant credentials to married LGBTQ ministers, Western District joins Allegheny, Central District and Mountain States.

Additionally, Illinois Mennonite Conference is discerning if it will ordain married LGBTQ ministers. The conference has a married LGBTQ pastor who is licensed and whose congregation has requested ordination.

Michael Danner, MC USA associate executive director for church vitality, said Western District’s decision is consistent with denominational polity, which leaves such matters to each conference.

“We support their ability to do it; we don’t have any comments of the rightness or wrongness of their decision,” he said. “With their Rainbow resolution, this theologically makes sense. If a pastor can bless a same-sex marriage, you are saying God can bless a same-sex marriage.”

Danner and Kreider said cultural movement in recent years and a national delegate assembly coming in May have prompted congregations and conferences to clarify policies.

“I’ve heard people use the phrase ‘strategic ambiguity’ in the Mennonite church, and whenever there’s anxiety of people leaving, ambiguity serves that role,” Danner said. “In a recent webinar I made an appeal for clarity as kindness. . . .

“People entering a new congregation deserve to know if there are any actively enforced policies that will limit their ability to participate fully in the life of the church. This is especially necessary for women and LGBTQ persons, because Mennonite Church USA polity allows congregations and conferences to make these decisions themselves.”

Kreider said the Western District ministerial commission’s decision was driven in part by the ways that ambiguity weighed heavily on some people but was invisible to others.

“The Ministerial Leadership Commission felt clarity was helpful for everyone so that people did not have reason to hide part of who they are,” she said.