Mennonite Church USA implemented one of the first actions stipulated by an inclusive resolution when representatives of an LGBTQ group attended the Constituency Leaders Council meeting in October.

The emerging group, with the working title Queer Constituency Council, sent two representatives to the Oct. 21-22 virtual gathering: Randy Spaulding, pastor of Boulder Mennonite Church in Colorado, and Annabeth Roeschley, executive director of the Brethren Mennonite Council for LGBT Interests.

CLC meetings gather up to three leaders from each of MC USA’s 16 area conferences and two representatives of each recognized racial-ethnic and constituency group. Meetings happen one or two times a year to give counsel and advice on issues of faith and life.

The Executive Board’s invitation to the new group fulfills a requirement of the Repentance and Transformation resolution, which national delegates approved at a special assembly in May.

Spaulding, who attended on behalf of Inclusive Mennonite Pastors, said the group is still in its infancy. Events leading up to the assembly prompted many advocates to take a breather over the summer.

“What does it mean to be an officially welcomed constituency group in this denomination? That question’s huge,” Spaulding said. “What does it mean to be welcomed into full participation in the denomination, even if in some areas that does not hold because conferences have different policies or rules?”

Roeschley added that it will take months, if not years, for conversations, processing and healing to occur across diverse LGBTQIA constituents. But that’s not because working within the Mennonite tradition is a new venture.

“Queer people have been a constitu­ency in an organized capacity for nearly 50 years and present in the church for much longer,” Roeschley said. “We’re discerning how to take official shape in the denomination in a way that is informed by this complex history and rooted in our movements. What does it mean to welcome a group of people that up until a few months ago it had explicitly excluded? Representation doesn’t necessarily just flip a switch. We must wrestle faithfully with the harm done to queer people and to the church as a whole.”

MC USA moderator-elect Jon Carlson, who chaired the meeting, said the CLC does its best work when participants listen for the Holy Spirit speaking through diverse human voices.

“The New Testament consistently portrays the church as endlessly and surprisingly diverse, forming God’s family by cutting across boundaries of gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status,” Carlson said. “At a time when society seems to be fragmenting and polarizing at an alarming pace, I’m excited to see MC USA welcome LGBTQ+ folks and traditionalists alike as we all seek to follow Jesus faithfully.”