Pasted below is the full content of an open letter from Aaron Gerrard that explains his uncredentialling from Alliance Canada last year. I gained his permission to post it here because I was hearing from people who would have wanted to see it but didn't. It has since been posted here as well.
I'll refrain from much commentary in this preamble, except to say that Aaron and Shalene Gerrard and their family have been a special part of my Christian life and of my belonging in this church community, so this incident has been personally grievous, never mind ecclesiastically upsetting.
Although I am posting this publicly I do hope and ask that onlookers will respect the context wherein things like this are processed, and that insiders will carry on a good faith conversation. Apart from formatting for on-screen reading and adding the date at the top, I've added nothing to the original letter.
December 12, 2024
Greetings,
This is a letter to my family and friends. But it’s also an open letter. I’m okay if it gets passed far and wide.
I’ve almost started this letter dozens of times over the past few years. But I’m glad I waited until now. I’d like to think I have a better perspective of the long journey — hindsight and all that jazz. Maybe I’ve even got some levity now? But the truth is that the emotional charge of the whole thing has calmed. If I’d written this letter at any point before now it would have been unhelpful. And while doing so may have been therapeutic for me, I’m not sure it would have done any good.
You may have heard, I have left the Christian & Missionary Alliance. The church I pastor has also left. The congregation of Ancaster Village Church and Aaron Gerrard are two different things, but our story is deeply connected. I don’t want to tell the AVC story without the voices of AVCers, but in telling my own story there are no doubt overlaps, connections, and commonalities. Still, this is my story. If you have questions for the church, specifically, you’re certainly welcome to contact the Leadership Team or anyone else at AVC who walked this road.
The Leadership Team at AVC had for a few years been talking internally about issues related to LGBTQ+ inclusion and hospitality in our church. In January 2021, a decision was made to invite our church into a process of discernment, asking the question: “What will be our church’s response to LGBTQ+ inclusion?” I had always known that someday, as a church, we’d have to talk about this. It was becoming a “live” issue for us, and frankly our surrounding community and culture was implicitly demanding we be honest and transparent about what we believed and what we practiced. I knew the C&MA had policies and positions, but I also knew that those policies and positions were being debated internally. My hope was that my denomination would also engage in an open and honest conversation. And that maybe our little church might even help with that process. With all that in mind, and certainly with my own personal wrestling happening, I was nervous and excited to move into learning and discernment.
Our church does decision making using a Spirit-guided consensus model. Which means that our processes take a long time. For over a year we discussed, read, listened, prayed, wrestled, and worked towards consensus. This was a hugely rich time for me and our church. When you invite Jesus into any process of discernment, beautiful and challenging things happen. Sure, the process was about forming a consensus around the issue at hand, but it also created space for God to do all sorts of transformational work in people’s lives.
The end result was that we crafted our Safe Place Guiding Value. Really what we did was just tweak one of our already-existing nine Guiding Values. We added one line which you can see bolded below.
Value: Those who feel marginalized, pushed aside, or unheard should feel safe at AVC. In God’s love there is justice, compassion, equity, equality, intrinsic worth, and dignity for all. AVC is a community where all followers of Jesus — young to old, single, married, divorced, widowed, of any ethnicity, of any ability, race, sexual orientation, and gender identity — who regularly participate in the life and Guiding Values of AVC are welcomed to consider all areas of leadership and service. The ground before the Communion Table is level for all, and all are welcome there.
Practice: We do our best to meet all people with love and inclusion, wanting to hear their story, share in their journey, and learn from them. People are given space to share and join in service together as they are comfortable.
Our church, made up of people with varying convictions or uncertainties regarding the question of LGBTQ+, adopted this value with full consensus.
When this process began in January of 2021, I had received permission from the District Superintendent at the time to proceed with our discernment. He was reluctant, but he gave his blessing. We both agreed that if AVC landed on a position that was contrary to that of the C&MA, we would have to figure out a way forward which we both knew could possibly include parting ways. We all went into this knowing separation was a possibility. And I never took that lightly, nor did many at AVC for which the C&MA was a matter of importance, related to their livelihood, or to which they had deep personal connections. For me, the C&MA has always been home. I’ve served in all sorts of denominational capacities, defended it, and believed it was the best place for me. And to you, my family and friends, I especially don’t need to explain my family connections, all of which create an emotional connection to the C&MA that is difficult to put into words. For all these reasons, even though I knew separation was a possibility (and in some people’s minds an inevitability), I truly believed we could make it work together. I never wanted to leave. I believed that what our church had accomplished through our process of discernment could provide a way forward for the broader denomination. I believed the C&MA was actually well positioned to enter into this difficult conversation.
I was wrong.
When our Leadership Team notified the District, now under a different District Superintendent, of our newly adopted Safe Place Guiding Value, a long and difficult process began (which by the end would include its third District Superintendent). It would take pages upon pages to detail the months, complexities, decisions, and communications that transpired between me and the denomination. It was painful, hurtful, angering, sad, and in many ways stunning. For two years my family and I walked an extreme and difficult emotional road, one that included the denomination I have loved and served charging me with insubordination and putting me through an official process of discipline. And while the end of the back and forth ended in a positive negotiated separation agreement for which I am grateful, I remain disappointed and hurt by what I and our church were forced to endure. It should have been different.
My dad has modeled good, pastoral, and thoughtful process his entire ministry life. He has lived by a mantra of “good process is how you demonstrate to people they are loved and respected.” The last two years have brought that home to me in all sorts of new ways. I have learned a lot and I pray I am better equipped to offer others the sort of good, pastoral, and thoughtful processes that I was not provided with.
In May 2024, at my request, the long and painful disciplinary charges and process brought against me by the denomination were put on hold to allow for a moderated negotiation. AVC negotiated with the district and I negotiated with the district, and the end result was an agreement that would see me and AVC leave the C&MA. The disciplinary process was no longer needed and subsequently dismissed.
The agreed statement reads:
Given AVC’s Safe Space Guiding Value and the current positions held by the Alliance Canada, in particular the Statement on Human Sexuality: A policy of the Christian & Missionary Alliance and the Practical Application of the Statement on Human Sexuality for Ministry and Leadership: A policy of the Christian & Missionary Alliance in Canada, AVC is no longer in alignment with the Alliance Canada. The Alliance Canada asked that AVC amend its Safe Space value to be compliant with the current positions. Despite AVC’s desire to remain in the denomination, rather than amend its value AVC will amicably withdraw from the Alliance Canada.
The nuts and bolts of separation were all graciously figured out. The district even agreed to give us a financial gift as a blessing. I wish what happened at the negotiation in May could have happened two years earlier without all the stuff in between, but regardless, I am thankful and even surprised by what was, I believe, a miraculous and redemptive ending.
Throughout this process as you, my family and friends, have watched from a distance, I know you’ve had questions. What do I believe about LGBTQ+ inclusion and hospitality in the church… in Christianity? And to that question I can confidently say that I’d rather discuss it over coffee. Because the truth is, my views are complex and laced with all sorts of nuances, experiences, and epiphanies along the way. I’m also more convinced than ever that so many of our practices as it relates to caring for people must be centred in the theology and context of the local church. That’s not to say I’m a fan of cults or that I no longer want to be a part of a larger body like a denomination — I do! — but the moment our positions and practices are separated from living breathing people living real lives in real time with all of their real complexities, they land off the mark. And to that end, it may be complex, but it’s also become quite simple for me: if not here, then where? Where do people best find Jesus? The local church. Despite all its blemishes, mistakes, abuses, and ignorance, it is the flesh of Christ. My theology of the church, what it does week to week, the centrality of the table of bread and cup, the place of Scripture, and the presence of Holy Spirit with us, is such that all should find a place in it to belong, serve, and become as they learn to walk with Jesus.
I highly doubt ol’ AB Simpson would agree with our church’s Safe Space value. But the thing is, I’m a student and product of Simpson. No matter where I go, I’ll always be an Alliance-shaped guy. When I think of sitting at John’s Pizzeria several years ago, just off of Times Square in New York City, Simpson’s first Alliance gig at the former Gospel Tabernacle, I’m inspired to be a part of shaping a church for those people who aren’t normally accepted by the church. To Simpson it was the immigrants and dock workers. For us, it’s the LGBTQ+ community. If not here, then where? Simpson had to leave to follow what he felt he was being led to do. And I find myself doing the same.
I’m not sure what the future will be for the Alliance in Canada. But I pray she doesn’t forget her roots, doesn’t let fear of difficult topics stop necessary discernment, discussions, and debate, and doesn’t forget to continue to take the whole gospel to the whole person.
AVC will find a new denomination home in the days ahead. Discussions have already begun, and I’m sure that word will spread once we do land somewhere.
If you have any questions or just want to send a note, please send them. I’m happy to chat as time allows.
A special thank-you to all of you who have been praying for me, my family, and AVC during this time. I am so grateful for your care.
Grace & peace,
-Aaron
PS You can read all of AVC’s Guiding Values here and visit our website here.
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