Statement of Reconciliation

In February of 1987, after years of discussion, education and prayer, the Dumbarton congregation adopted the following statement. 
"We, the Dumbarton United Methodist Church, believe that God created a human family; that each member of the human family is a recipient of God's love and grace; and that God intends the church to be a community the embodies love, grace and reconciliation, and justice for all people.

 We affirm the United Methodist Church (UMC) statement of Social Principles when it names all human being as persons of sacred worth, affirms sexuality as a "good gift of God'" and declares that "persons may be fully human only when that gift is acknowledged and affirmed by themselves the Church , and society."

 We are troubled, however, by the Church's refusal to ordain or assign to a parish ministry an otherwise qualified person of faith whop admits that she/he is gay or lesbian.  We know that gay and lesbian people are already making rich contributions to our church's life at every level - including ministers, lay leaders, employees throughout the church structure, as well as members of our own congregation - but that to do so under current policy, they must live a lie.

 We are also troubled by the policy that denies UMC agencies the right to spend money for education about homosexuality.  We have begun a process of education in our congregation and believe that much more is needed, here and elsewhere.

 We believe that reconciliation with all people is our mission as individuals and as a community.  At the same time, we confess that we participate in oppression and that many of us fear welcoming what still seems "the stranger," whether in the other or in ourselves.  In joining the Reconciliation Congregation Program, we continue a journey of seeking God's truth -- a journey only just begun.

- Adopted February 1987