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07725 November 6, 2007
Storytellers
Personal testimonies put human face on gay, lesbian issue at Covenant Network conference
by Toya Richards Hill Presbyterian News Service
ATLANTA -The day Alisa Porter decided not to stand and identify herself as a lesbian during a workshop for the agency she headed, "a part of me became very dark."
In that instant, she decided "to sit idly by and do nothing," denying her partner and "my place as a child of God." The weight of the world came down on Porter that day, she recalled.
But what also happened to her following that pivotal decision was a commitment not to let the fear of what might happen if she revealed herself overtake her again, a commitment she reiterated before a crowd of cohorts gathered here to witness and share.
Standing before fellow Presbyterians at the 2007 Covenant Network Conference, Porter told her story, and emphasized to the group that "children of God do not have to stand under a bush."
It was a message communicated often throughout the Nov. 1-3 conference held at Atlanta's Trinity Presbyterian Church. Under the theme "Testimony, You Shall Be My Witnesses," the human face shown when people stand and tell their story was reveled repeatedly.
The Covenant Network of Presbyterians, in existence for 10 years, is committed to removing the portion of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Book of Order that bans the ordination of non-celibate gays and lesbians.
"God's spirit brought me to a new understanding," the Rev. Andrew L. Cullen, interim pastor at Rolling Hills Presbyterian Church in Overland Park, KS, said during his public testimony at the conference.
The lifelong Presbyterian talked about his "transformation" from a staunchly conservative evangelical pastor to the person he is today.
"I knew issues, not people," said Cullen, who actively worked for the denomination's exclusion of gays and lesbians for ordination.
Yet gradually through dialogues, listening, reading, studying and a host of other actions, "things started to change," he said.
Experiences like hearing a gay Presbyterian pastor tell his story "and being deeply touched," and having lunch with one of his best pastor friends who revealed he was gay, all added to Cullen's journey, he said.
"I knew the spirit was taking me in a different direction," Cullen said.
Stories like Porter's and Cullen's told throughout the conference, from workshops to one-on-one interactions over meals to the film "For the Bible Tells Me So," are precisely what the Rev. Scott Black Johnston believes needs to take place in the larger denomination.
"It's time, my friends, for witness," he preached. "We need to sit in small circles right now and tell our tales."
"We need to stop writing position papers and start sharing our stories," said Johnston, senior pastor at conference host church Trinity Presbyterian.
The Rev. Joanna Adams, pastor of Morningside Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, talked of reclaiming the word witness, of taking it back from those who've turned the gospel into a "hard-edged, mean sort of thing."
Christians are to bear witness to the saving love of Christ, "always with love and respect for human dignity," said Adams, former co-moderator of the Covenant Network.
Highlighting the Greek word martyrion, which means testimony, Adams said the charge is bearing witness to the will and purpose for all humanity "revealed in Christ our Savior."
"Let us make our glad and confident witness," she said. "No matter how long the journey takes."
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