Editor, The Beacon:
As many are aware, the United Methodist Church experienced a split last year. The majority of members and clergy in the United Methodist Church seek to remove harmful statements in our guiding document, the Book of Discipline. These statements discriminate against persons based upon their sexuality, sexual identity and gender expression.
Trinity UMC of DeLand is committed to remaining a United Methodist Congregation and working to include all persons in the mission and ministries of the church.
It is also important, at this time, to address some uncomfortable facts about the history of Trinity. This congregation formed originally in 1895 as part of the Methodist Episcopal Church South (MEC South). The Methodist Episcopal Church split into north and south churches over the issue of slavery. The MEC South formed in 1845, and it represented a pro-slavery mindset.
Until 1939, this branch of Methodism ignored the basic commandment of Christ, that we love our neighbors as ourselves by identifying “neighbor” as fellow Protestant white person.
We cannot change the past, but to be silent implies that we are still of this mindset. We are not.
There can be no healing without acknowledgment. Today, Trinity acknowledges this sad time in our history and is committed to become an anti-racist church. We will strive to live the example of Jesus as we work against racism throughout our community, our state, our nation, and the world.
We denounce any practice that results in the discrimination of any of God’s children. At Trinity, we will dedicate our efforts in DeLand and beyond to those who were harmed in the past and those who continue to experience racism, sexism, ageism, heterosexism, or any other kind of “ism” that separates people. God loves you as you are.
It is Trinity’s desire to draw the circles of inclusion wider and wider, making room for all people. We cannot change the past, but we promise to work in the present to change the future. We are Your Friends and Neighbors, the laity and clergy of Trinity United Methodist Church, DeLand
Rev. Dr. Todd Bardin, Pastor
www.TrinityDeLand.org
Carmel Bardin
DeLand
