Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church is a community committed to radical welcome and hospitality. There are no limits to God’s love, and the people of Gobin seek to model that love in the way they welcome people…all people. It is for this reason that Gobin Memorial is a member of the Reconciling Ministries Network. You can read more about RMN at their website here. But here are the basics:
Mission
Reconciling Ministries Network mobilizes United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to transform our Church and world into the full expression of Christ’s inclusive love.
Vision
Reconciling Ministries Network envisions a renewed and vibrant Wesleyan movement that is biblically and theologically centered. As committed disciples of Jesus Christ, the Reconciling Ministries Network strives to transform the world by living out the Gospel’s teachings of grace, love, justice and inclusion for all of God’s children.
Guiding Principles
Reconciling Ministries Network is a Christian and United Methodist organization. Its work is guided by the following core principles:
– Spiritually Grounded
Reconciling Ministries Network is committed to the justice imperative of the Gospel and grounding its ministries in the Wesleyan practice of personal and social holiness. RMN is committed to utilizing inclusive language and respectfully recognizing the diverse approaches to scripture, tradition, reason, and experience of the congregations and communities with whom it relates.
– Reconciliation
Reconciling Ministries Network is committed to reconciliation that leads to the healing and transformation of animosity into honest relationships that respect all God’s children. Reconciliation is a profound ongoing individual and collective commitment from all those affected to establishing new relationships embedded in mutual recognition. Authentic reconciliation requires the naming and the speaking of truth to create relationships and communities grounded in peace with justice.
– Naming Privilege, Ending Oppression
Reconciling Ministries Network aspires to fulfill our baptismal covenant to recognize and utilize our privileges to resist oppression in whatever form it presents itself in our movement, church, and world. RMN has a commitment to ending institutional oppression in all its forms by working at the intersections of oppression and focusing on an ongoing examination of internal processes and external actions at all levels including its selection of issues and organizing strategies. Further, RMN will strive to create beloved community, as imagined by Dr. Martin Luther King, by being vigilant in all its activities about those forces that create wedges between us, with particular attention to racism, transphobia, and the history of colonialism.
– Integrating Sexuality with Spirituality
Reconciling Ministries Network believes that human sexuality is a good gift from God. RMN is committed to supporting the integration of healthy, loving expressions of sexuality and spirituality for everyone. We celebrate the sexuality and spirituality of same and opposite gender loving persons and pledge to provide resources that lead to a deeper understanding of God’s precious gift.
– Relationships
Reconciling Ministries Network acts in hospitality across theological divides and is committed to the creation of community, interconnectedness, and deep relationships.
– Systems Change
Reconciling Ministries Network is committed to policy change and the creation of long-term solutions and practices that create full inclusion in The United Methodist Church and our broader society. RMN works for full equality in membership, ordination, and marriage for God’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender children.
– Stewardship
Reconciling Ministries Network is committed to the stewardship of its organizational resources—the people, time, talent, and treasures—that God provides for transformation of our church and world.
– Organizational Authenticity
Reconciling Ministries Network is committed to operating in a way that mirrors the change we hope to create in the world. Towards that end, we commit to honesty, integrity, excellence, equality, justice, dignity, civility, diversity, inclusion, and creativity. This includes continuous soul searching in all organizational practices and the provision of ongoing continuing education to all staff and board members to enhance skills and develop growth.
