2528 Strategic Plan: A Blueprint for Reformation

Dear beloveds:

Greetings from Jan Lawrence, RMN Executive Director, and Rev. David Meredith, RMN’s board chair. May the awe and communal delight of Epiphany be with you in this season.

We United Methodists belong to a lineage of reformation. 

• We come from the liberating love of Jesus, which peers and pours into an uncertain future with boldness and in connection.
• We come from the Anglican Methodist contemporaries of John Wesley, and those whose hearts were strangely warmed across the world.
• We come from the Reconciling movement – a tide of justice seekers with faith enough to transform the Church and the world.

It is on those heels that Reconciling Ministries Network presents its 2528 Strategic Plan: a blueprint for reformation to face the needs of people, churches, and a denomination in holy liminality. 

The reformation on which we’re embarking is both internal and external:

• An internal drive to adapt to meet the needs of a changing Church.
• An external challenge to Reconciling Ministries to take up the mission of expanding affirmation so that every church everywhere is a safe place for queer and trans people.
• An external commitment to the lasting liberation of God’s LGBTQ+ people of all identities from oppression and violence.

New Strategic Direction

Over the next six months, you’ll learn more about RMN’s 2528 strategic direction. We’ll share with you:

• RMN’s major goals and initial strategies
• A new board structure created to provide guidance and oversight as we pivot
• New staff roles and structure to support our changing work
• Our plans to hold the institution accountable to the decisions we made at General Conference

Our 2528 strategic plan makes new life possible. Some of the ways you’ll see the work of RMN change include:

• Expanded responsibility to the whole Church, not just Reconciling Ministries or those in the process;
• New relationships with United Methodist entities, made possible now that the funding ban has been lifted;
• Deepened partnerships with congregations in Central Conferences; and
• Preparation for a future where all church plants may begin as Reconciling Ministries, and where Regional Reconciling Communities may become church plants under the right circumstances

But amid the changes, we still commit to the following:

• Developing educational resources for congregations, no matter their beliefs about LGBTQ+ people in the life of the Church;
• Guiding congregations on the path of Jesus toward sacrificial welcome and love;
• Supporting the ratification of regionalization; and
• Nurturing the partnerships that trailblazed this past General Conference’s progress (and that will form the denomination’s leading edge!)

Conclusion

RMN’s work is just getting started. We may have accomplished part of our reason for being, and we celebrate that win. However, responding with love and authority to General Conference decisions is a whole other matter. 

Our congregations and Church are not yet harbors of welcome for LGBTQ+ people. Too many congregations and pastors have received permission to keep living as though the rules haven’t changed. Too many times, the “big tent” takes priority over open hearts. 

Real people are still being harmed by the very Church that they love. Real churches are still constructing cultures of silence. LGBTQ+ people are explicitly told that, although the requirement to discriminate is gone, the Church still isn’t ready for our involvement.

Therefore, our reformation arises from the pain points of this new era. For over forty years, RMN has functioned foremost as a conduit of activism.

Now, we choose to become a means of mission and accountability.

We hope our 2528 Strategic Plan shows you where we’re headed – together as wider hearts, minds, and doors for congregations and a Church of bold belonging.

Your companions on the way,

Jan Lawrence, Executive Director

Rev. David Meredith, Board Chair