🌈 Streams of Justice THIS Sunday

New Reconciling Ministries

Please give a warm welcome to the newest Reconciling Community of the movement:

Spirit Seekers at First UMC in Maryville, MO

In the News & Newsworthy

Four churches in and around Portland, Maine, have voted to disaffiliate from The United Methodist Church. The Portland Press Herald reports on the four churches' processes of discernment.

Religion News Service does an interview with Isaac Simmons, who is a certified candidate for ordination in the Illinois Great Rivers annual conference. Isaac also performs and sometimes preaches in drag under the persona Ms. Penny Cost. Last month, Isaac spoke out on RMN's blog after being targeted by the Institute on Religion & Democracy .

Pastor Brandon Berg of First United Methodist Church in Bristol, TN spoke before the TN legislature against a bill that would have made it possible for parents to opt their children out of education about LGBTQ lives. Says Pastor Berg: “I believe that every person bears the image of God. This legislation would stigmatize and do harm to students by treating gender and sexual identity conversations as purely academic exercise that parents can or should morally oppose. Our calling as Christians is to love our neighbors as ourselves, not to discriminate against young persons of sacred worth.” WZTV reports.

NEXT Friday – Part 3: Gender Identity 101

Next Friday at 12pm ET | 9am PT, Parents Reconciling Network (PRN) and the United Methodist Alliance for Transgender Inclusion (UMATI) are teaming up to talk about the basics of gender identity. This is the third part of the series, so if you've already seen Parts 1 and 2, this will be new content.

If you have an LGBTQ loved one and want to learn to be a better advocate for them, you can still sign up for today's session here.

THIS SUNDAY: Virtual Worship Service

RMN is hosting a virtual worship service this Sunday, April 18, 2021 at 8pm ET + 5pm PT.

Come to worship with and honor the many streams of justice for which we seek and from which we drink. LGBTQ children of God come from all races, abilities and disabilities, languages, ethnicities, socioeconomic realities, nationalities, and more. These intersecting identities enrich our community, and they also invite us to more deeply understand one another as God's fellow beloveds.

Register on Facebook here. No Facebook account or registration needed. The service will be livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook.

Signing up New Reconciling United Methodists

Do you know someone who'd like to stay in touch with the Reconciling movement? Send them to this website, and we'd be glad to keep them in the loop. Thank you!

Reconciling Job Openings

- NEW Grace UMC (Baltimore, MD) - Communications and A/V Specialist
- NEW St. Mark UMC (Atlanta, GA) - Director of Communications/Multimedia
- Bethany UMC (Madison, WI) - Director of Music
- Hope Church (Bloomington, IL) - Director of Worship
- FUMC Arlington Heights (Arlington Heights, IL) - Director of Children & Youth Ministries
- Inclusive Collective @ NIU (Chicago, IL) - Campus Ministry Resident
- Grandview UMC (Lancaster, PA) - Administrative Assistant
- Grandview UMC (Lancaster, PA) - Y outh Minister and Media Production
- Arch Street UMC (Philadelphia, PA) - Worship Arts Director
- St. Matthews UMC (Acton, MA) - Director of Children, Youth, and Family Ministry
- HA:N (New York, NY) - Director of Children's Ministry
- The Fountains (Fountain Hills, AZ) - Mission and Outreach Coordinator