From: Darrell128@aol.com Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 09:06:47 -0400 (EDT) Subject: NR 97061B (Revised): Kalamazoo Church Picketed by Local Homosexual Group Greetings, everyone. I'm sending this message to a limited number of media contacts, website administrators, and church officials who have a history of using my news releases in a more or less "as is" format. The chairman of deacons at Covenant United Reformed Church of Kalamazoo contacted me after my article had already been transmitted and asked to make some statements on behalf of his board of deacons explaining their reasons for involvement in this particular diaconal case. By way of exception, I am adding his comments to my article after its initial transmission. Regards, Darrell Todd Maurina _______________ NR #1997-061B (Revised): For Immediate Release Kalamazoo Church Picketed by Local Homosexual Group by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service KALAMAZOO, Mich. (June 3, 1997) URNS -- West Michigan isn't San Francisco, but gay activism isn't limited to the large cities of America. That's what the members of Covenant United Reformed Church of Kalamazoo discovered when they left Sunday morning worship services on June 1 and were greeted by reporters from the local newspaper and television station covering a group of picketers chanting pro-homosexual slogans and carrying pro-gay signs. The next day, church members found an article in their newspaper quoting local gay activists criticizing the church for "shunning" a homosexual man whose female roommate also said church members were prejudiced against her biracial daughter. Covenant URC pastor Rev. Phil Vos said nothing in his seminary training or upbringing in a small northwest Iowa farm town had -- or could have -- prepared him for the protest. "It's kind of an eye opener," said Vos, whose only prior media experience was an article on his recent ordination following successful chemotherapy and radiation treatment for cancer. "You see that kind of stuff on the news in the big cities, but it always happens elsewhere, it never happens by us," said Vos. "I realize we read about persecution in the Bible and how the church will be persecuted, but it really is an eye opener when it happens in our own town." The protesters, however, had different ideas about who had been hurt. "We were not attacking the church as the house of God, but we were attacking the bigotry," said Jessica Miller, mother of the biracial daughter and roommate of the man whose homosexuality led to the church actions that sparked the protest. "I felt the congregation as well as the general public needed to know. I know some people and denominations view homosexuality as a sin, and I really feel it's important as a deacon or as a person in any kind of leadership to know that you don't draw people in by demeaning them." While many facts of the case are in dispute, both sides agree on how the church first became involved. When Miller could not pay her rent at a nearby apartment, she contacted Covenant URC and asked for help paying her $325 monthly rent. The church paid half of the rent and contacted her landlord to ask for an extension until she could make regular payments. Miller, who is not a member of the congregation, contacted the church again when financial difficulties continued. "Basically what happened is they paid one half of my rent before; they had helped me before and first, they said, they would contact my landlord," said Miller. "Because [roommate Shane Welsh] has been out of work, had broken his leg and couldn't work, we couldn't pay the rent. The landlord told them Shane was homosexual." Miller and the church deacons both confirm that Miller's roommate and his homosexuality led to denial of financial assistance. "They said they were denying us assistance because he was homosexual and we were living together and not married," said Miller. "[The deacon working with Miller] said he understood nothing was going on between us, but because he was homosexual he was an abomination to God. That's what really made us upset." However, Covenant URC's stand on homosexuality wasn't the only thing that upset Miller, who had attended the church on one occasion with her daughter. "When I was there before I got a lot of dirty looks and my daughter got a lot of dirty looks and asked why there were no brown people there," said Miller. "[The deacon] said we can't go out to the corner of Burdick and Patterson and drag them in, and that really made me upset, it's so stereotypical, as if you can only find black people on the corner of Burdick and Patterson." Covenant URC chairman of deacons Steve DeVries confirmed -- and regretted -- making the statement to Miller about the lack of black members at Covenant URC, most of whose members are middle class and Dutch. "The message I brought on behalf of the deacons was we cannot support an unbiblical lifestyle," said DeVries. "After Shane Welsh told me he believed God intended the homosexual lifestyle to be, and that God had created men able to show and accept love from one another, I told him the Bible calls the homosexual lifestyle an abomination." Miller told DeVries that she would not be back at Covenant URC. However, that wasn't the end of the matter. "Shane and I talked about it, we weren't sure what we wanted to do, but we wanted people to know that this was done," said Miller. "We talked with some of our friends and Shane went to an Outspoken meeting, that's a group for homosexuals to talk about these things, and we decided this [picketing the church] was the best way to let people know." Miller and her roommate contacted Covenant URC prior to the Sunday service and notified them that they would be picketing the church -- throwing a highly explosive situation into the lap of a pastor and church council that had never before had to face a public protest. "We knew we had done nothing wrong, we had not violated Scripture, we tried to minister and hold to what God commands and we had nothing to fear," said Vos. According to Vos, the church made plans to accommodate the protesters if they chose to attend the church's worship services, believing that they had no right to prohibit anyone from attending worship. As it turned out, however, the protesters showed up after services had started. "I think it was by God's grace that they showed up after the service, that way the members didn't have to drive in through a picket line," said Vos. After the protesters and reporters arrived, Vos was notified and read a statement from the pulpit requesting members not to interact with the protesters or speak with reporters until the council could meet Monday evening to prepare an official response. "We wanted to have a unified statement," said Vos. "It's better to have one unified statement from our council than many statements given out that can be misinterpreted." According to Vos, preparing the statement took up most of the Monday night council meeting, partly because the church had never before received criticism for its previously unwritten position on homosexual practice and racial relations. In the formal statement issued by the council and approved by unanimous vote, Covenant URC cited a number of Scripture passages on homosexuality and racism. "The position of our church on homosexuality is that taught by Scripture in Leviticus 18:22: 'You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination,'" wrote the council. "Genesis 1:27 says that 'God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.' Scripture does not say God created white men or black men in His image, but that all were created in His image. We are commanded in the Great Commission to 'go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.'" The church also cited Scripture passages on comfort for those who repent from a number of practices such as fornication, idolatry, adultery, stealing, coveting, drunkenness, reviling, and swindling, as well as homosexuality. "Repentance is both necessary and possible for any of these sins, including homosexuality, as shown by the very next verse: 'And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God,'" wrote the church. "If people want to object to what we believe after we have tried to help them, we are sorry that happened," the church concluded in a final paragraph. "We are much more sorry when people publicly say we believe things we do not believe." Miller said her problem wasn't primarily with what the church believed but with the way they had dealt with her and her roommate. "The problem was they went way overboard," said Miller. "I would not have had a problem if they had told me we cannot support you because we cannot support your lifestyle. But to go and say you're living together and you're an abomination because you're a homosexual, to say HIV [the medical diagnosis preceding development of full-blown AIDS] is just the beginning of your punishment, that is just wrong." DeVries challenged Miller's understanding of the conversation. "The fact Shan e Welch was HIV-positive was never mentioned in the conversation I had with him," said DeVries. "I did not say that his HIV-positive was the beginning of God's punishment on him for being gay; I did tell him that God does punish sinful lifestyles, whatever that sin may be, and it is the duty of Christ's church to call those who are living in a sinful lifestyle to repentance and faith in Christ Jesus." Miller also said the church's argument that they are not racists because they had previously invited black ministers to preach was unacceptable. "To use that as a defense is totally ludicrous, because obviously they're not going to turn away a minister because he's black," said Miller. "It's not a policy, it's an attitude of people in the congregation. It's nothing new to me, I'm used to it, I've seen it before." All members of the Covenant URC council said they were not prejudiced against black people. The council also noted that a Dutch member of the congregation had been dating a young black woman who often attended the church and said they had made a point of inviting two black seminarians at Mid-America Reformed Seminary -- one married to a Dutch woman from the Netherlands -- to fill their pulpit when Vos was unable to preach due to his cancer therapy. In their official statement, the council also regretted any mistreatment that Miller or her biracial daughter might have received from members. "If this has occurred, we are sorry," wrote the council. "In the past we have had guest preachers and several visitors who were black, and we consider all fellow Christians to be brothers and sisters in the Lord. Those who are not Christians, regardless of race, we hope will become Christians." Vos said he had sought the advice of Rev. Chuck McIlhenny, pastor of a San Francisco Orthodox Presbyterian congregation which faced widespread criticism and an unsuccessful lawsuit for firing its homosexual organist in defiance of a local ordinance banning discrimination against gays, in deciding how to respond to the protest. "I appreciated his commitment in continuing to put the gospel in again and again, even when he knows it's going to be deleted by the media," said Vos. "Our mandate as Christians is to preach the Word of God and not shy away from it." Both Vos and DeVries said they would be reconsidering their procedures for financial aid. "This case came before the deacons as an emergency; a single mother, who had valid contacts in the Christian community, and her child were late on their rent," said DeVries, noting that case was considered urgent and that payment was made by means of a check to her landlord. "The follow-up call revealed a male roommate living with Jessica Miller; as the deacons investigated this further, it became known to us that he was a homosexual," said DeVries. "From that point on, we as deacons knew we could not support this case because it was in direct conflict with the Word of God." While Phoenix Community Church, a predominantly gay congregation in the United Church of Christ, has been linked with the protest, Phoenix pastor Rev. Janice Springer emphasized that the protest was not sponsored or endorsed by her church and that a number of the protesters were not members of her church. "People from the church were involved, but people in the church did not know until church Sunday evening," said Springer. "We describe ourselves as a gay church, and Phoenix is often involved in gay issues, but we have a style that's pretty respectful and pretty careful." "People can do what they want as individuals, but we would not have picketed a church in a body without doing a lot of thinking about that first," said Springer. "It's more our style to befriend churches than to antagonize them." While Covenant URC has continued to invite Miller and her roommate to services, both have found church homes elsewhere. Miller said her roommate attends Phoenix Community Church and that she is now attending Mt. Zion Baptist Church with her daughter. Miller said her experience at Covenant URC was quite unlike her previous rece ption at other churches and said her experience hadn't soured her on church attendance. According to Miller, she has previously worshipped at Neland Avenue CRC in Grand Rapids and Kentwood Community Church in the Grand Rapids suburbs, both of which she said were "more welcoming and supportive." Cross-References to Related Articles: [No related articles on file] Contact List: Jessica Miller and Shane Welch [Address or phone available upon media request] Rev. Janice Springer, Pastor, Phoenix Community Church 132 W. South St., Kalamazoo, MI 49007 O: (616) 381-3222 Rev. Phil Vos, Pastor, Covenant United Reformed Church 3724 Lovers Lane, Kalamazoo, MI 49001 H/O: (616) 324-5132 NR #1997-062: For Immediate Release Official Statement of Covenant United Reformed Church Regarding Gay Protest by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (June 2, 1997) URNS -- In a prepared statement, the council of Covenant United Reformed Church of Kalamazoo has issued a response to the June 1 protest against the church by local homosexuals. In the prepared statement, the church denied the charge of racism but affirms its opposition to homosexual practice. The complete text of the prepared statement is printed without any form of editorial comment. _____ The position of our church, Covenant United Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, has recently been called into question on the issues of homosexuality and racial relations. The position of our church on homosexuality is that taught by Scripture in Leviticus 18:22: "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination." (NASB) Romans 1:27 says, "in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error." God says in I Corinthians 6:19 that "your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have known from God, and that you are not your own." Having established God's law regarding sexual immorality, God provides an abundance of comfort for the Christian who repents. I Corinthians 6:9-10 states: "Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God." Repentance is both necessary and possible for any of these sins, including homosexuality, as shown by the very next verse: "And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God" (emphasis added). This is God speaking, not us or our church. God also tells us in Hebrews 10:30-31: "For we know Him who said, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay.' And again, 'The Lord will judge his people.' It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God." We are not permitted to add to or take away from Scripture: "And if any one takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book" (Rev. 22:19). The position of our church on racial relations is that taught by Scripture in a variety of passages. Genesis 1:27 says that "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Scripture does not say God created white men or black men in His image, but that all were created in His image. We are commanded in the Great Commission to "go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you..." (Matt. 28:19-20). God's people are drawn "from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues" and will stand "before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes" (Rev. 7:9). It has been publicly stated by a person who has never attended our church that he "wasn't welcome at the church anymore because he was gay." This person has been invited numerous times to attend our church, and our church showed Christ's mercy by offering financial help to this person's female roommate who has attended our church on one occasion. It has also been publicly stated that one of our deacons called this person an "abomination." Leviticus 18:22, not our church, calls this person's lifestyle an abomination. We, in accord with Scripture, urged him to repent of homosexual practice and receive the forgiveness of Christ. God does hold up punishment for any sinful lifestyle. Our church has also been criticized for our treatment of a 3-year-old biracial daughter of a visitor. According to this girl's mother, "people gave very dirty looks, and [she] herself noticed it. She asked why people were looking at her bad. And she also asked why there were no other brown people here." If this has occurred, we are sorry. In the past we have had guest preachers and several visitors who were black, and we consider all fellow Christians to be brothers and sisters in the Lord. Those who are not Christians, regardless of race, we hope will become Christians. We are responding to these criticisms not because we want to argue but because our position has been misrepresented. If people want to object to what we believe after we have tried to help them, we are sorry that happened. We are much more sorry when people publicly say we believe things we do not believe. Done in Council, June 2, 1997 Cross-References to Related Articles: #1997-061: Kalamazoo Church Picketed by Local Homosexual Group Contact List: Jessica Miller and Shane Welch [Address or phone available upon media request] Rev. Janice Springer, Pastor, Phoenix Community Church 132 W. South St., Kalamazoo, MI 49007 O: (616) 381-3222 Rev. Phil Vos, Pastor, Covenant United Reformed Church 3724 Lovers Lane, Kalamazoo, MI 49001 H/O: (616) 324-5132 ----------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive97: nr97-061b.txt .