I am sad to report that, as of last week, Alliance Canada has revoked my license and ordination. This is the church denomination in which I was born and baptized, and these were credentials I held for 20+ years.
This comes at the end of a ten-month disciplinary process that began last summer, when the Alliance President directed me to confirm my agreement with a selection of policy statements on sexuality. This might not have been a problem, but the statements shown to me were different than they appear in the policy manual. When I said that these changes need to be passed by our legislative authority (the General Assembly), and offered to submit myself to that process, I was charged with defiance for not doing what I was told. Over the months that followed, this charge was upheld through three rounds of disciplinary procedure, and then finally upheld by the Board.
In the meantime, it turns out that the Board is bringing recommendations to General Assembly which will change the policies in question, making them more explicitly restrictive. The recommendations are not exactly the same as the modified ones that I was shown, but would have a similar effect. If these recommendations are ratified by Assembly, then the ecumenical position of conscience that I articulated will be ruled out for everyone, including church members, just as it has already been ruled out for me. I was registered to participate in Assembly as a voting delegate, but now I may only attend as a silent observer (because Angie and I are currently still members in an Alliance church).
I will likely have more to say about this journey in the days to come. For now, I just wanted to share this sad news with you. Please know that I tried to handle this situation in good faith, and am not looking to defame the church that goes three generations back on both sides of my family. But it hurts to be expelled from the vocation I began 30+ years ago, and it is hard to see these matters being dealt with this way.
2 comments:
Hi Jon, I am very sorry to hear the denomination to which you have given so much has kicked you out. I am personally grieved on your and Angie's behalf, but I am, regrettably, unsurprised that the CMA is becoming more restrictive rather than more inclusive.
I have no doubt about your good faith throughout the process and I'm even willing to extend the good faith to the leadership . . . although behaving with good faith when one is theologically in error is hardly a high point in the history of anyone or anything.
Let me know if you would like to discuss this further in a less public forum, or this one for that matter.
Warmest regards to you and Angie,
Barry
Barry and Hadley, I only just noticed these comments and I am deeply honoured by them. I would indeed love to follow up with you some day, perhaps when I am next in the Queen City (if indeed that is where you still are). For now I appreciate the words of lament, and am with you in them. I am sorry I was not there with you earlier.
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