In the March 21 meeting, as with all meetings of similar purpose, I responded with a hope for a fourth option, which was working

with leaders and colleagues to clarify a consistent denition of dissent and freedom since there seemed to be great confusion

on the subject and permission offered to all pastors on other positions. At Rev. Mark Novak’s request, I wrote a response paper

reecting on the recently released one sheet from the BoOM titled “Freedom and Responsibility: Dissent and Covenant Clergy”

that can be downloaded here. I pleaded for a larger process of communal discernment and each plea resulted in more closed-

door meetings asking me outright to leave. During this time, additional pastoral ethics documents were written and approved by

The third point was in reference to comments I made in the meeting regarding previous life cycles of FCCM where women were

not permitted to serve in leadership and other actions that were in clear contradiction to the positions of the ECC for which no

pastors were disciplined by the BoOM.

On June 18, 2018 I met with the BoOM and documented several of my experiences and submitted grievances to them that can

be downloaded here. I also provided them with the physical presence of leaders from FCCM who had felt intimidated in meetings

initiated by Rev. Mark Stromberg. The grievances were never acknowledged or discussed as far as I know, and our witnesses

were never questioned or consulted by BoOM. Nor have other ECC leaders contacted me with a response to my report or my

request for help in navigating painful and often, frightening, experiences.

Over these many years of conict, ECC President Gary Walter oversaw the process of the Board of Ordered Ministry working

in collaboration with the governing boards of the denomination to release new behavioral guidelines regarding the position on

delegates. Their process did not conform to the legislative intent of the governing body that passed the motion in 2004. Rather, it

bypassed it. The net result of all this is that I, and other pastors who had taken a position of dissent during our ordination process,

were now being held to guidelines that were never presented for discernment and vote by the Ministerium or Annual Meeting

delegates.

Throughout this process I slowly became aware and engaged in communication with a host of other Covenant pastors who were

facing similar difficulties as myself. Some of these pastors have since left or were asked to leave the denomination. The anguish

of these colleagues as well as the vulnerability of openly LGBT+ Christians who believed the All-Are-Welcome messaging of the

ECC only to learn that support of them is met with punishment has become a significant burden of conscience.

These series of events over the last several years caused me to enter into a time of profound personal discernment. Prayer,

study, spiritual direction, counsel, listening, worship, (repeat) are what has led me to three primary points of clarity:

2. I believe that such seismic changes in ecclesiastical structure require an open process and timely transparency with all

Annual Meeting delegates rather than the recent practice of using ethical guideline statements that have not been vetted through

the Ministerium and Annual Meeting to punish pastors and churches who hold dissenting positions on disputable matters.

positions, they need to do it consistently across all positions including, but not limited to baptism, women in ministry and human

sexuality.

While this difcult journey has brought me to this moment of somber protest, I am deeply grateful for the congregation and

leaders of FCCM. Their wisdom, courage, kindness and care for all people, including my family and me, is truly astounding. When

threats were upon us, they toiled and worked together to eliminate them. They gave nancially and worked tirelessly to build a

ministry that served all people equally, especially those who are marginalized. In the midst of isolation from the elected leadership

of our denomination, the people of FCCM have experienced a most profound re-birth. Some days I am overcome by the marvel

of the resurrection archetype that gets repeated over and over in this awed world. When the ECC suspended my credentials on

charges of consistently and openly disagreeing with the position on human sexuality, FCCM provided care and love to me. They

licensed me locally as their pastor as a form of protest to what they determined (through a lengthy collaborative process) to be an

denomination that FCCM helped form and sustained for more than a century.

Evangelical Covenant Church. I trust that my testimony, my record of honest inquiry, my willingness to submit to years of a brutal

and lonely disciplinary process, and ultimately, my protest and all it may cost me, will be met with compassionate understanding

which will not cast me or my beloved community out of the fellowship of Mission Friends. At first, it may have seemed that this

conict was about human sexuality or moral failure. In actuality, the conict is about the very nature and denition of Covenant

Freedom in Christ. The 1963 Covenant Paper on Biblical Authority and Christian Freedom quoted above also included this:

“Christian vitality has not always been maintained by the majority. It has, in fact, often been found only in small minorities. Such

minorities have no voice where conformity to 'official' interpretations is required. Unless we wish to stifle all emergent spiritual

vitality, we must be sure that people within our fellowship will be free to express themselves in ways which are different from the

majority position without the fear of being labeled as disloyal.”

We all have much work to do to better understand and dene exactly what freedom entails. I, and so many like me, are willing