Instead of holding our own program we will be participating in a district-wide event. First United Methodist Church of Birmingham will be hosting the forum "Change from the Ground Up." As stated in the invitational letter:
The purpose of the forum is to:
• Consider our Christian responsibility to engage with the LGBT community;
• Discuss why LGBT community engagement best begins within the local church;
• Review how UMC doctrine informs LGBT engagement; and
• Initiate a district-wide discussion of how we might, as sister churches, team and partner as we go forward with LGBT engagement initiatives.
Panelists for the program are:
• Rev. Melanie Carey, Superintendent of the Detroit Renaissance District. This is an important level of support.
• Rev. Bill Ritter, Pastor Emeritus of Birmingham First and Executive Director of the United Methodist Union of Greater Detroit.
• Rev. Jeff Nelson of Redford Aldersgate UMC.
Local LGBT community-based organizations have also been invited to join the discussion after the panelists give their remarks.
The program will be 7:00-9:00 on Sunday, March 2 at First UMC, Birmingham.
If you plan to attend please let Frank Driscoll of their Church and Society Committee how many will be attending from your church. Frank can be reached by email (frank.driscoll@mellc.co) or by phone (248.666.5021).
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