The United Methodist Church of Red Bank is a Reconciling Congregation.We align ourselves with the core values of the Reconciling Ministries Network:
MISSION: To mobilize United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to transform our Church and world into the full expression of Christ’s inclusive love.
UMC Red Bank’s Mission
The United Methodist Church of Red Bank adopted the following Mission Statement on November 2nd, 2015, by a unanimous vote:
The United Methodist Church of Red Bank, as a reconciling congregation (church), seeks to transform our Church and world into the full expression of Christ’s inclusive love. We celebrate our human family’s diversity of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, race, ethnicity, age, faith, history, economic status, marital status, physical and mental ability, and education.
We affirm that all people are created in the image of God and as beloved children of God, all are worthy of God’s love and grace.
We welcome the full equality and full inclusion of all people in the life and ministries of The United Methodist Church of Red Bank as we journey toward reconciliation through Christ.
We recognize that there are differences among us, but we believe that we can love alike even though we may not think alike.
We work diligently to make the larger United Methodist Church inclusive and welcoming of all. This includes affirming the same rights and privileges of marriage equality and the right to be ordained.
We proclaim this statement of welcome to all who have known the pain of exclusion or discrimination in church and society. We invite all people to join us in our faith journey toward greater love, understanding and mutual respect.
Adopted by unanimous vote on November 2, 2015
VISION:Reconciling Ministries Network envisions a renewed and vibrant Wesleyan movement that is biblically and theologically centered. As committed disciples of Jesus Christ, the Reconciling Ministries Network strives to transform the world by living out the Gospel’s teachings of grace, love, justice and inclusion for all of God’s children.
GUIDING PRINCIPALS: Reconciling Ministries Network is a Christian and United Methodist organization. Its work is guided by the following core principles:
- Spiritually Grounded: Reconciling Ministries Network is committed to the justice imperative of the Gospel and grounding its ministries in the Wesleyan practice of personal and social holiness. RMN is committed to utilizing inclusive language and respectfully recognizing the diverse approaches to scripture, tradition, reason, and experience of the congregations and communities with whom it relates.
- Reconciliation: Reconciling Ministries Network is committed to reconciliation that leads to the healing and transformation of animosity into honest relationships that respect all God’s children. Reconciliation is a profound ongoing individual and collective commitment from all those affected to establishing new relationships embedded in mutual recognition. Authentic reconciliation requires the naming and the speaking of truth to create relationships and communities grounded in peace with justice.
- Naming Privilege, Ending Oppression: Reconciling Ministries Network aspires to fulfill our baptismal covenant to recognize and utilize our privileges to resist oppression in whatever form it presents itself in our movement, church, and world. RMN has a commitment to ending institutional oppression in all its forms by working at the intersections of oppression and focusing on an ongoing examination of internal processes and external actions at all levels including its selection of issues and organizing strategies. Further, RMN will strive to create beloved community, as imagined by Dr. Martin Luther King, by being vigilant in all its activities about those forces that create wedges between us, with particular attention to racism, transphobia, and the history of colonialism.
- Integrating Sexuality with Spirituality: Reconciling Ministries Network believes that human sexuality is a good gift from God. RMN is committed to supporting the integration of healthy, loving expressions of sexuality and spirituality for everyone. We celebrate the sexuality and spirituality of same and opposite gender loving persons and pledge to provide resources that lead to a deeper understanding of God’s precious gift.
- Relationships: Reconciling Ministries Network acts in hospitality across theological divides and is committed to the creation of community, interconnectedness, and deep relationships.
- Systems Change: Reconciling Ministries Network is committed to policy change and the creation of long-term solutions and practices that create full inclusion in The United Methodist Church and our broader society. RMN works for full equality in membership, ordination, and marriage for God’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender children.
- Stewardship: Reconciling Ministries Network is committed to the stewardship of its organizational resources—the people, time, talent, and treasures—that God provides for transformation of our church and world.
- Organizational Authenticity: Reconciling Ministries Network is committed to operating in a way that mirrors the change we hope to create in the world. Towards that end, we commit to honesty, integrity, excellence, equality, justice, dignity, civility, diversity, inclusion, and creativity. This includes continuous soul searching in all organizational practices and the provision of ongoing continuing education to all staff and board members to enhance skills and develop growth.
- Commitment to Intersectional Justice: Reconciling Ministries Network will frame its work from the optic of justice, inclusion, and liberation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer persons. To sharpen that optic, RMN will apply an intersectional lens to focus on precise points of convergence between LGBTQ oppression other forms of oppression including racism, sexism, patriarchy, and gender inequality. Furthermore, for the purposes of organizational staffing, board membership, and the training, equipping, and support of new leadership, RMN will continue to uphold persons of color, young adults, and trans persons.
STRATEGIC DIRECTIVES: The following Strategic Directions will guide Reconciling Ministries Network’s work and priorities over the next year. These strategic directions will be considered in developing the organization’s program priorities and annual budget.
- Develop and disseminate a transformational frame of Biblical Obedience that supports faithful disciples of Jesus Christ doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God.
- Increase the quantity, capacity, and vitality of Reconciling Communities (RCs), Reconciling United Methodists (RUMs), and regional action teams to faithfully act as the center of a renewed and revitalized United Methodist Church.
- Model the diversity of God’s creation by training, equipping, and supporting new leadership, with intentional emphasis on the development of people of color, young adult, and transgender leaders, while partnering with like-minded organizations within the Church and the broader community to build a diverse network towards the goal of ending oppression and creating full inclusion of all people in the UMC regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ability, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.
- Live out the connectionalism of a world-wide church through communication and relationship building with clergy, laity, and other groups of the Central Conferences that are working towards the full inclusion of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, identifying both unique needs and common causes.
- Participate in the current and future connectional processes and power structures of The United Methodist Church in collaboration with current and future emerging alternative Methodist/Wesleyan allies and structures, calling those at all levels of authority and discipleship to faithfulness for our shared mission.
- Enhance RMN’s long-term success by emphasizing organizational excellence and financial sustainability.
