Jericho Initiative: To Amend The Iowa Annual Conference United Methodist Safe Sanctuaries Policy
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The Jericho Initiative:
A Strategy for Reconciliation and Inclusiveness
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation
- 2 Corinthians 5: 17-18
Preamble:
We, the undersigned members, are steadfastly committed to seeing that the United Methodist Church is a community of safety and health for all people. The Body of Christ, the Church, must be a place where adults, children, and young people find the love and blessing of God, and where all who attend are safe.
We are all aware of the reports in the media during the past year and more of incidents of sexual misconduct in churches. Many of these tragedies have involved children and young people. While the Roman Catholic Church has most often been mentioned in news reports and accusations, the rest of the Church and many secular agencies have also been caught up in trying to address the damage done to our children by sexual offenders. The United Methodist Church is not immune to this affliction in our society and we must respond to it honestly and forthrightly.
Our Church has repeatedly sought to uphold our mandate to be a haven of safety for all. The Scriptures teach us that every human being is made in the image of God; and our Lord enjoins us to receive and serve the least among us as we would receive and serve Him. The mandates of our Book of Discipline, our Social Principles, our Resolutions, and our baptismal covenant include seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves, striving for justice and peace for all people, and respecting the dignity of every human being.
Because of these mandates of love, respect, service, and justice, we have acknowledged our obligation to articulate clear standards about sexual harassment and misconduct, and to ensure that all our work and ministry is guided by them. We have been committed to sexual conduct training and abuse prevention for all our clergy, our lay leaders, and our churches. We have been clear that exploitation and abusiveness are always unacceptable in our common life. We have made efforts to become aware of the spiritual and emotional damage that is done by sexual misconduct, and to do our best to guarantee that none who come to us will suffer such harm. In spite of our best efforts, it is distressing when we discover that we have not done enough to minister to those harmed and to those who offend.
While we, the undersigned, are favorable to having safe sanctuaries that direct us to the need to be diligent of sexual misconduct, we also have had the opportunity to learn more about sexual offending, and the forms of sexual behavior that has caused untold harm in our society and in the Body of Christ. It is especially important that we as a church focus on understanding those forms and ministering to those identified as having committed those acts toward bringing Gods grace to bear upon transformation and reconciliation.
While we need to be aware that sexual offending is a reality in our society, which can be manifest in the church, we must be very clear about the temperament of this tragic problem.
The Center for Sex Offender Management, a project of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, offers us guidance in informing us on many issues regarding sex offenses and sexual offenders:
There are many misconceptions about sexual offenses, sexual offense victims, and sex offenders in our society. Much has been learned about these behaviors and populations in the past decade and this information is being used to develop more effective criminal justice interventions throughout the country. This document serves to inform citizens, policy makers, and practitioners about sex offenders and their victims, addressing the facts that underlie common assumptions both true and false in this rapidly evolving field. (Source: Center for Sex Offender Management, U.S. Department of Justice: 2007) See incorporated document: Myths and Facts.
Myths and Facts About Sex Offenders:
Myth: "Most sexual assaults are committed by strangers."
Fact: Most sexual assaults are committed by someone known to the victim or the victim's family, regardless of whether the victim is a child or an adult.
Myth: "Most sex offenders reoffend."
Fact: Reconviction data suggest that this is not the case. Further, reoffense rates vary among different types of sex offenders and are related to specific characteristics of the offender and the offense.
Myth: "Sexual offense rates are higher than ever and continue to climb."
Fact: Despite the increase in publicity about sexual crimes, the actual rate of reported sexual assault has decreased slightly in recent years.
Myth: "All sex offenders are male."
Fact: The vast majority of sex offenders are male. However, females also commit sexual crimes.
Myth: "Youths do not commit sex offenses."
Fact: Adolescents are responsible for a significant number of rape and child molestation cases each year.
Myth: "Juvenile sex offenders typically are victims of child sexual abuse and grow up to be adult sex offenders."
Fact: Multiple factors, not just sexual victimization as a child, are associated with the development of sexually offending behavior in youth.
Myth: "Treatment for sex offenders is ineffective."
Fact: Treatment programs can contribute to community safety because those who attend and cooperate with program conditions are less likely to re-offend than those who reject intervention.
(Source: Center for Sex Offender Management, U.S. Department of Justice:2007)
The above are but a few of the myths and facts that confront us as a Church and as a society. What we have learned most recently about the nature of sexual offending makes it imperative that we take very "clear" steps together to ensure that not only our children and youth are safe-guarded, but that we minister to those we identify as offenders to encounter God's love among us, and that we do all in our power to protect the offender from exclusion within the church and the distorted perceptions offered by the media and those who would lead us to believe that they have fallen from the grace of God.
We also must be aware that the Church is bound by our doctrinal standards, one which mandates inclusiveness to all persons. We strongly affirm the assertion in our Book of Discipline that inclusiveness denies every semblance of discrimination (paragraph 138):
138. We recognize that God made all creation and saw that it was good. As a diverse people of God who bring special gifts and evidences of God's grace to the unity of the Church and to society, we are called to be faithful to the example of Jesus' ministry to all persons.
Inclusiveness means openness, acceptance, and support that enables all persons to participate in the life of the Church, the community, and the world. Thus, inclusiveness denies every semblance of discrimination.
The mark of an inclusive society is one in which all persons are open, welcoming, fully accepting, and supporting of all other persons, enabling them to participate fully in the life of the church, the community, and the world. A further mark of inclusiveness is the setting of church activities in facilities accessible to persons with disabilities.
In The United Methodist Church inclusiveness means the freedom for the total involvement of all persons who meet the requirements of The United Methodist Book of Discipline in the membership and leadership of the Church at any level and in every place.
The opportunity to be in ministry with, and to afford the ministry opportunity to those persons identified within our Iowa Annual Conference policy of Safe Sanctuaries, denies inclusiveness of all persons by codifying discriminatory language and practices.
We must be aware that the Safe Sanctuaries statements for participation in ministries contradicts our United Methodist theology, our doctrine, our tenets, and sacrifice our mission as the Body of Christ to bring redemption and transformation through reconciliation.
We also must be aware that offenders are persons of value, and members through their baptismal covenant, persons seeking to share their social witness to Gods transforming grace.
We must take great care not to equate church safety with exclusion in our minds, our conversation, or our policies and we must never assume that only those who may pass background checks have value in ministries, and those who can not have no value to make disciples of Christ.
We must take direct steps in providing for those members of the United Methodist Church identified as being excluded from participating in ministries, the framework and opportunity for allowing them to participate.
We must be aware that not all ministries and ministering should exclude those identified by the policy of Safe Sanctuaries. There are opportunities for sexual abusers, child abusers, and persons having committed a violent crime against another person, to minister and be in ministries that educate and inform the Church.
We must realize that in many of our congregations, agencies, and committees in our Conference, persons who have been so identified by the policy of Safe Sanctuaries are excluded, from all participation.
Our doors must always be open to anyone who comes to us. Without such inclusiveness our mission falls short of calling all people to know the reconciling love of God. We must be willing to receive all persons as gifts to us from God, and to encourage their ministrieseven when it means taking on the enormously challenging task of incorporating those who have been involved in sexual abuse, child abuse, and violent crime. At the same time, we must be sure that the ministries of all our members are faithful and life-giving.
But we must acknowledge that there are times when congregations and Conference committees use the church as an opportunity for abuse, much the same as abusers use the church as an opportunity for sexual abuse, child abuse, and violence; all suffer severe spiritual, emotional, and sometimes physical damage as a result. In response to such times we are called to acknowledge two truths: that human sin and failure are very real, and that God's grace, mercy and power are always strong enough to heal and transform our pain and our lives.
Iowa Conference Safe Sanctuaries Policy:
Adults who have been identified as having committed sexual or physical abuse or having a criminal record involving violent crime to another person will not knowingly be employed by the Conference for service or accepted as a volunteer with programs or activities for children or youth.
The policy, as it is currently stated, encompasses all sex abuse, all physical abuse, and anyone having a criminal record involving violent crime to another person. It does not discriminate between sexual offenses, such as pedophilia or adult victims, or whether these persons were convicted for such acts, only that those identified as such, are excluded.
The policy does not define whether it was a conviction or a whether it was a charge, whether it was a felony or a misdemeanor.
This holds true for those identified as having committed physical abuse, on any person, and does not define what physical abuse means or whether there was a conviction for such acts, only that those identified as such, are excluded.
Having a criminal record involving violent crime to another person does not discriminate between whether that crime was a sex offense, or robbery, or murder, or assault, or gang related, or a fist-fight, it encompasses all who have a criminal record of violent crime to another person, and permanently excludes all so identified.
The nature of exclusion applies to all participation, regardless of whether the activity is associated with children or youth. No one is allowed to be employed by the Conference in any capacity, nor allowed to volunteer for any program.
We, therefore, find the Iowa Conference having established a policy that permanently excludes those so identified from being employed by the Conference for service or accepted as a volunteer with programs or activities for children or youth.
With over 2.1 million people now incarcerated in our prisons nation-wide, and over 7 million more under some type of parole or probation, the policy of Safe Sanctuaries, as it is being applied in the Iowa Conference, excludes whole segments of our society from being in ministry at any level.
The Safe Sanctuaries policy wording has promoted a position that these types of people, human beings, are not wanted and has shown the way for churches to deny access to the church and worship. Many United Methodists see the Safe Sanctuaries policy as an official sanction to exclude all participation in the church.
We, therefore, categorically reject the Safe Sanctuaries policy as it is currently written as it is not in obedience to the Book of Discipline nor our United Methodist doctrine and tenets.
The Implications:
The Safe Sanctuaries policy cannot be viewed in seclusion from the history of our church. Numerous admonitions have resonated that the decision to enshrine discriminatory policies in our Book of Discipline, in our Social Principles, and in our Resolutions, would direct us toward a Church of exclusion, ultimately threatening much of what we value in our Methodist heritage.
The Safe Sanctuaries policy contravenes our faith in the Scriptures, and definitively establishes no reconciliation for past sins and behaviors.
The Safe Sanctuaries policy negates transformation and restoration in the Churchs application of encoding and predetermining who shall receive transformation and restoration, and who shall not.
Our Declaration:
We vow:
To inform and educate our church about the perils of the Safe Sanctuaries policy and the continuing discrimination in its use
To interpret to Untied Methodists the likely effects the Safe Sanctuaries policy will have upon our Church, and our doctrines
To work together for policy reform to prevent misuse of the Safe Sanctuaries directives until such reform is established
To re-commit ourselves to the United Methodist values as is revealed by the Scriptures of fully inclusive membership and participation at all levels within the Church
Our Directive:
We call the United Methodist Church to re-evaluate the Safe Sanctuaries Policy without delay
We call for United Methodists to advocate forcefully and continuously for a fully inclusive Church
We call for the removal of all discriminatory language from the Safe Sanctuaries Policy, and the Book of Discipline, the Social Principles, and Resolutions at the 2007 Iowa Annual Conference session.
In addition, we seek the Bishop to join with us to create a working group from among our members to partner with the Restorative Justice Committee, the Church insurance provider, and other agencies and appropriate organizations to develop the materials necessary to provide the Church with consistent expectations and standards to remedy the language of exclusiveness and discrimination within the Safe Sanctuaries policy.
Further, among the basic provisions we have committed to implement are:
1. Redemption ministries which serve sexual abusers, child abusers, and those having committed criminal violence;
2. Redemption ministries which allow those persons so identified within the Safe Sanctuaries policy to be volunteers or employed within these ministries;
3. Articulation of clear behavioral standards for interactions for these redemption ministries, and between clergy, lay employees, volunteers within these ministries and ;
4. Careful, continuous monitoring of all programs and interactions involving these redemption ministries, with;
5. Provision for mandatory education and training of clergy, lay employees and volunteers for work within these redemption ministries.
We have no intention to call our members to suspicion and mistrust in their dealings with those so identified within the Safe Sanctuaries policy. We do recognize the need though, to call our members beyond the naivetй of unquestioning confidence that the Safe Sanctuaries approach of exclusion and discrimination is the Christian behavior and method of attending to such issues within our Church.
The care and discipline which must characterize our choices where children are concerned is unquestionable. Jesus called us to be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves. In the case of pedophilia, our consistency in carefully screening, choosing and training all who work with children and youth will serve to allay any concerns about favoritism or carelessness. Yet, the Safe Sanctuaries policy in its present form, discriminatorily excludes entire segments of our society, and thus our Church, from the transforming grace of God to be reconciled and restored.
The opportunity for those so identified within the Safe Sanctuaries policy to minister, and be in ministry with, those so recognized in the policy, directs us as United Methodists to allow our doctrine, our Social Principles, our Resolutions and Gods grace, to be transforming and permits our restorative justice tenets to be real and tangible. In permitting these confessing members to participate in ministry and missioning, they make available redemption ministries of healing and transformation, and they make possible the ability to firmly guide those who might harm children, into these other areas of ministry, which serve the Church and contribute to our mission.
They have a social witness that is compelling even to the most egregious sinner and exalts God through Christ and reconciliation. We ask that you make use of them and remember the challenge our Lord provided to his followers, "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation." (- 2 Corinthians 5: 17-18)
We renew our commitment to ensure that our church is a community of love and care for every person. We ask that you join us in doing all in our power to see that all our members find among us a safe place where they can be open and trusting and able to know the reconciling love of God in Christ that makes all things new.
Our Prayer:
Almighty God, heavenly Father, you have blessed us with the joy and care of children: Give us calm strength and patient wisdom as we bring them up, that we may teach them to love whatever is just and true and good, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sponsorship:
We, the undersigned, do hereby call for a review and evaluation of our Iowa Annual Conference United Methodist Safe Sanctuaries Policy to address the implications, declarations, and directives articulated above:
Signed:
Robert Grigsby Janice Grigsby
Member UMC Member UMC
Dated: February 10, 2007
Our Supporters:
We, the undersigned, do hereby call for a review and evaluation of our Iowa Annual Conference United Methodist Safe Sanctuaries Policy to address the implications, declarations, and directives articulated above:
A Strategy for Reconciliation and Inclusiveness
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation
- 2 Corinthians 5: 17-18
Preamble:
We, the undersigned members, are steadfastly committed to seeing that the United Methodist Church is a community of safety and health for all people. The Body of Christ, the Church, must be a place where adults, children, and young people find the love and blessing of God, and where all who attend are safe.
We are all aware of the reports in the media during the past year and more of incidents of sexual misconduct in churches. Many of these tragedies have involved children and young people. While the Roman Catholic Church has most often been mentioned in news reports and accusations, the rest of the Church and many secular agencies have also been caught up in trying to address the damage done to our children by sexual offenders. The United Methodist Church is not immune to this affliction in our society and we must respond to it honestly and forthrightly.
Our Church has repeatedly sought to uphold our mandate to be a haven of safety for all. The Scriptures teach us that every human being is made in the image of God; and our Lord enjoins us to receive and serve the least among us as we would receive and serve Him. The mandates of our Book of Discipline, our Social Principles, our Resolutions, and our baptismal covenant include seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves, striving for justice and peace for all people, and respecting the dignity of every human being.
Because of these mandates of love, respect, service, and justice, we have acknowledged our obligation to articulate clear standards about sexual harassment and misconduct, and to ensure that all our work and ministry is guided by them. We have been committed to sexual conduct training and abuse prevention for all our clergy, our lay leaders, and our churches. We have been clear that exploitation and abusiveness are always unacceptable in our common life. We have made efforts to become aware of the spiritual and emotional damage that is done by sexual misconduct, and to do our best to guarantee that none who come to us will suffer such harm. In spite of our best efforts, it is distressing when we discover that we have not done enough to minister to those harmed and to those who offend.
While we, the undersigned, are favorable to having safe sanctuaries that direct us to the need to be diligent of sexual misconduct, we also have had the opportunity to learn more about sexual offending, and the forms of sexual behavior that has caused untold harm in our society and in the Body of Christ. It is especially important that we as a church focus on understanding those forms and ministering to those identified as having committed those acts toward bringing Gods grace to bear upon transformation and reconciliation.
While we need to be aware that sexual offending is a reality in our society, which can be manifest in the church, we must be very clear about the temperament of this tragic problem.
The Center for Sex Offender Management, a project of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, offers us guidance in informing us on many issues regarding sex offenses and sexual offenders:
There are many misconceptions about sexual offenses, sexual offense victims, and sex offenders in our society. Much has been learned about these behaviors and populations in the past decade and this information is being used to develop more effective criminal justice interventions throughout the country. This document serves to inform citizens, policy makers, and practitioners about sex offenders and their victims, addressing the facts that underlie common assumptions both true and false in this rapidly evolving field. (Source: Center for Sex Offender Management, U.S. Department of Justice: 2007) See incorporated document: Myths and Facts.
Myths and Facts About Sex Offenders:
Myth: "Most sexual assaults are committed by strangers."
Fact: Most sexual assaults are committed by someone known to the victim or the victim's family, regardless of whether the victim is a child or an adult.
Myth: "Most sex offenders reoffend."
Fact: Reconviction data suggest that this is not the case. Further, reoffense rates vary among different types of sex offenders and are related to specific characteristics of the offender and the offense.
Myth: "Sexual offense rates are higher than ever and continue to climb."
Fact: Despite the increase in publicity about sexual crimes, the actual rate of reported sexual assault has decreased slightly in recent years.
Myth: "All sex offenders are male."
Fact: The vast majority of sex offenders are male. However, females also commit sexual crimes.
Myth: "Youths do not commit sex offenses."
Fact: Adolescents are responsible for a significant number of rape and child molestation cases each year.
Myth: "Juvenile sex offenders typically are victims of child sexual abuse and grow up to be adult sex offenders."
Fact: Multiple factors, not just sexual victimization as a child, are associated with the development of sexually offending behavior in youth.
Myth: "Treatment for sex offenders is ineffective."
Fact: Treatment programs can contribute to community safety because those who attend and cooperate with program conditions are less likely to re-offend than those who reject intervention.
(Source: Center for Sex Offender Management, U.S. Department of Justice:2007)
The above are but a few of the myths and facts that confront us as a Church and as a society. What we have learned most recently about the nature of sexual offending makes it imperative that we take very "clear" steps together to ensure that not only our children and youth are safe-guarded, but that we minister to those we identify as offenders to encounter God's love among us, and that we do all in our power to protect the offender from exclusion within the church and the distorted perceptions offered by the media and those who would lead us to believe that they have fallen from the grace of God.
We also must be aware that the Church is bound by our doctrinal standards, one which mandates inclusiveness to all persons. We strongly affirm the assertion in our Book of Discipline that inclusiveness denies every semblance of discrimination (paragraph 138):
138. We recognize that God made all creation and saw that it was good. As a diverse people of God who bring special gifts and evidences of God's grace to the unity of the Church and to society, we are called to be faithful to the example of Jesus' ministry to all persons.
Inclusiveness means openness, acceptance, and support that enables all persons to participate in the life of the Church, the community, and the world. Thus, inclusiveness denies every semblance of discrimination.
The mark of an inclusive society is one in which all persons are open, welcoming, fully accepting, and supporting of all other persons, enabling them to participate fully in the life of the church, the community, and the world. A further mark of inclusiveness is the setting of church activities in facilities accessible to persons with disabilities.
In The United Methodist Church inclusiveness means the freedom for the total involvement of all persons who meet the requirements of The United Methodist Book of Discipline in the membership and leadership of the Church at any level and in every place.
The opportunity to be in ministry with, and to afford the ministry opportunity to those persons identified within our Iowa Annual Conference policy of Safe Sanctuaries, denies inclusiveness of all persons by codifying discriminatory language and practices.
We must be aware that the Safe Sanctuaries statements for participation in ministries contradicts our United Methodist theology, our doctrine, our tenets, and sacrifice our mission as the Body of Christ to bring redemption and transformation through reconciliation.
We also must be aware that offenders are persons of value, and members through their baptismal covenant, persons seeking to share their social witness to Gods transforming grace.
We must take great care not to equate church safety with exclusion in our minds, our conversation, or our policies and we must never assume that only those who may pass background checks have value in ministries, and those who can not have no value to make disciples of Christ.
We must take direct steps in providing for those members of the United Methodist Church identified as being excluded from participating in ministries, the framework and opportunity for allowing them to participate.
We must be aware that not all ministries and ministering should exclude those identified by the policy of Safe Sanctuaries. There are opportunities for sexual abusers, child abusers, and persons having committed a violent crime against another person, to minister and be in ministries that educate and inform the Church.
We must realize that in many of our congregations, agencies, and committees in our Conference, persons who have been so identified by the policy of Safe Sanctuaries are excluded, from all participation.
Our doors must always be open to anyone who comes to us. Without such inclusiveness our mission falls short of calling all people to know the reconciling love of God. We must be willing to receive all persons as gifts to us from God, and to encourage their ministrieseven when it means taking on the enormously challenging task of incorporating those who have been involved in sexual abuse, child abuse, and violent crime. At the same time, we must be sure that the ministries of all our members are faithful and life-giving.
But we must acknowledge that there are times when congregations and Conference committees use the church as an opportunity for abuse, much the same as abusers use the church as an opportunity for sexual abuse, child abuse, and violence; all suffer severe spiritual, emotional, and sometimes physical damage as a result. In response to such times we are called to acknowledge two truths: that human sin and failure are very real, and that God's grace, mercy and power are always strong enough to heal and transform our pain and our lives.
Iowa Conference Safe Sanctuaries Policy:
Adults who have been identified as having committed sexual or physical abuse or having a criminal record involving violent crime to another person will not knowingly be employed by the Conference for service or accepted as a volunteer with programs or activities for children or youth.
The policy, as it is currently stated, encompasses all sex abuse, all physical abuse, and anyone having a criminal record involving violent crime to another person. It does not discriminate between sexual offenses, such as pedophilia or adult victims, or whether these persons were convicted for such acts, only that those identified as such, are excluded.
The policy does not define whether it was a conviction or a whether it was a charge, whether it was a felony or a misdemeanor.
This holds true for those identified as having committed physical abuse, on any person, and does not define what physical abuse means or whether there was a conviction for such acts, only that those identified as such, are excluded.
Having a criminal record involving violent crime to another person does not discriminate between whether that crime was a sex offense, or robbery, or murder, or assault, or gang related, or a fist-fight, it encompasses all who have a criminal record of violent crime to another person, and permanently excludes all so identified.
The nature of exclusion applies to all participation, regardless of whether the activity is associated with children or youth. No one is allowed to be employed by the Conference in any capacity, nor allowed to volunteer for any program.
We, therefore, find the Iowa Conference having established a policy that permanently excludes those so identified from being employed by the Conference for service or accepted as a volunteer with programs or activities for children or youth.
With over 2.1 million people now incarcerated in our prisons nation-wide, and over 7 million more under some type of parole or probation, the policy of Safe Sanctuaries, as it is being applied in the Iowa Conference, excludes whole segments of our society from being in ministry at any level.
The Safe Sanctuaries policy wording has promoted a position that these types of people, human beings, are not wanted and has shown the way for churches to deny access to the church and worship. Many United Methodists see the Safe Sanctuaries policy as an official sanction to exclude all participation in the church.
We, therefore, categorically reject the Safe Sanctuaries policy as it is currently written as it is not in obedience to the Book of Discipline nor our United Methodist doctrine and tenets.
The Implications:
The Safe Sanctuaries policy cannot be viewed in seclusion from the history of our church. Numerous admonitions have resonated that the decision to enshrine discriminatory policies in our Book of Discipline, in our Social Principles, and in our Resolutions, would direct us toward a Church of exclusion, ultimately threatening much of what we value in our Methodist heritage.
The Safe Sanctuaries policy contravenes our faith in the Scriptures, and definitively establishes no reconciliation for past sins and behaviors.
The Safe Sanctuaries policy negates transformation and restoration in the Churchs application of encoding and predetermining who shall receive transformation and restoration, and who shall not.
Our Declaration:
We vow:
To inform and educate our church about the perils of the Safe Sanctuaries policy and the continuing discrimination in its use
To interpret to Untied Methodists the likely effects the Safe Sanctuaries policy will have upon our Church, and our doctrines
To work together for policy reform to prevent misuse of the Safe Sanctuaries directives until such reform is established
To re-commit ourselves to the United Methodist values as is revealed by the Scriptures of fully inclusive membership and participation at all levels within the Church
Our Directive:
We call the United Methodist Church to re-evaluate the Safe Sanctuaries Policy without delay
We call for United Methodists to advocate forcefully and continuously for a fully inclusive Church
We call for the removal of all discriminatory language from the Safe Sanctuaries Policy, and the Book of Discipline, the Social Principles, and Resolutions at the 2007 Iowa Annual Conference session.
In addition, we seek the Bishop to join with us to create a working group from among our members to partner with the Restorative Justice Committee, the Church insurance provider, and other agencies and appropriate organizations to develop the materials necessary to provide the Church with consistent expectations and standards to remedy the language of exclusiveness and discrimination within the Safe Sanctuaries policy.
Further, among the basic provisions we have committed to implement are:
1. Redemption ministries which serve sexual abusers, child abusers, and those having committed criminal violence;
2. Redemption ministries which allow those persons so identified within the Safe Sanctuaries policy to be volunteers or employed within these ministries;
3. Articulation of clear behavioral standards for interactions for these redemption ministries, and between clergy, lay employees, volunteers within these ministries and ;
4. Careful, continuous monitoring of all programs and interactions involving these redemption ministries, with;
5. Provision for mandatory education and training of clergy, lay employees and volunteers for work within these redemption ministries.
We have no intention to call our members to suspicion and mistrust in their dealings with those so identified within the Safe Sanctuaries policy. We do recognize the need though, to call our members beyond the naivetй of unquestioning confidence that the Safe Sanctuaries approach of exclusion and discrimination is the Christian behavior and method of attending to such issues within our Church.
The care and discipline which must characterize our choices where children are concerned is unquestionable. Jesus called us to be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves. In the case of pedophilia, our consistency in carefully screening, choosing and training all who work with children and youth will serve to allay any concerns about favoritism or carelessness. Yet, the Safe Sanctuaries policy in its present form, discriminatorily excludes entire segments of our society, and thus our Church, from the transforming grace of God to be reconciled and restored.
The opportunity for those so identified within the Safe Sanctuaries policy to minister, and be in ministry with, those so recognized in the policy, directs us as United Methodists to allow our doctrine, our Social Principles, our Resolutions and Gods grace, to be transforming and permits our restorative justice tenets to be real and tangible. In permitting these confessing members to participate in ministry and missioning, they make available redemption ministries of healing and transformation, and they make possible the ability to firmly guide those who might harm children, into these other areas of ministry, which serve the Church and contribute to our mission.
They have a social witness that is compelling even to the most egregious sinner and exalts God through Christ and reconciliation. We ask that you make use of them and remember the challenge our Lord provided to his followers, "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation." (- 2 Corinthians 5: 17-18)
We renew our commitment to ensure that our church is a community of love and care for every person. We ask that you join us in doing all in our power to see that all our members find among us a safe place where they can be open and trusting and able to know the reconciling love of God in Christ that makes all things new.
Our Prayer:
Almighty God, heavenly Father, you have blessed us with the joy and care of children: Give us calm strength and patient wisdom as we bring them up, that we may teach them to love whatever is just and true and good, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sponsorship:
We, the undersigned, do hereby call for a review and evaluation of our Iowa Annual Conference United Methodist Safe Sanctuaries Policy to address the implications, declarations, and directives articulated above:
Signed:
Robert Grigsby Janice Grigsby
Member UMC Member UMC
Dated: February 10, 2007
Our Supporters:
We, the undersigned, do hereby call for a review and evaluation of our Iowa Annual Conference United Methodist Safe Sanctuaries Policy to address the implications, declarations, and directives articulated above:
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