Western District Conference of Mennonite Church USA will apologize for rescinding the ministerial credential of a gay pastor in 1984 with a service of repentance and restoration May 11 in Lawrence, Kan.
John Linscheid had been licensed toward ordination in Western District after beginning as pastor in 1980 at Lawrence Mennonite Fellowship (now Peace Mennonite Church) as a subsidized church plant. The Ministerial Leadership Commission learned he was gay in 1984 and rescinded his credential. The conference’s Home Missions Committee decided to suspend financial support if he continued as pastor. As a result, he and the congregation decided he would step down.
Western District’s Executive Board and Ministerial Leadership Commission have been discerning how to pursue restoration and healing in recognition of past exclusion of LGBTQ+ ministers.
“We do this in response to Jesus’ call for us to love one another and to seek forgiveness and reconciliation when we hurt one another,” wrote MLC chair Cynthia Neufeld Smith, moderator Eric Buller and conference minister Heidi Regier Kreider in an April 8 announcement.
“This consideration also follows the MLC’s decision in 2022 to affirm ministerial credentialing for all qualified candidates regardless of sexual orientation or marital status, and the Resolution on Repentance and Transformation approved by Mennonite Church USA delegates in 2022.”
The 4 p.m. service at Peace Mennonite Church will include presentation of an honorary ministerial credential. Livestream information is available at wdc@mennowdc.org.
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