file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr94-048.txt ------------------------------------------------ For Immediate Release September 20, 1994 Release #1994-48 For Further Information Contact: Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer Reformed Believers Press Service Voice: (616) 674-8446 FAX: (616) 674-8454 E-Mail: Darrell128@AOL.com PO Box 691, Lawrence, MI 49064-0691 Jim Lucas Hired as Chaplain of "As We Are" Gay Ministry; Ministerial Credentials Extended to Permit Call to Position - Classis Grand Rapids East of the Christian Reformed denomination expects homosexuality study committee to report to January classis meeting by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer Reformed Believers Press Service Grand Rapids, Mich. (September 20, 1994) RBPS - At the September 15 meeting of Classis Grand Rapids East, an otherwise ordinary request for extension of eligibility for call was granted for an apparently unique situation in the Christian Reformed denomination. Eastern Avenue CRC in Grand Rapids announced that Rev. Jim Lucas, a celibate gay CRC minister who since 1991 has headed the Grand Rapids chapter of the gay and lesbian support group AWARE, "requested that Eastern Avenue call him to a specialized ministry with AWARE." In a letter to classis, Elder Karen Helder and Elder Arie Leegwater, president and clerk of the Eastern Avenue consistory, noted that "in anticipation of this request, Eastern Avenue overtured classis in January of 1994 to establish a committee to study the appropriateness of various ministries to homosexual persons." "We have informed Jim that we wish to wait until the study committee's report is received by Classis before requesting classical approval of a call to specialized ministry," the letter continued. Since ministers without call must receive annual extensions of their eligibility for call, Eastern Avenue requested extension of Lucas' ministerial credentials until September 1995. Classis Grand Rapids East's homosexuality report is expected by December, in time for the January meeting. The extension of eligibility for call was granted by a voice vote with no audible dissent and minimal discussion. Only Rev. Duane Kelderman of Neland Avenue CRC rose to speak on the subject: Kelderman expressed strong support for AWARE and said he wished Eastern Avenue had not waited to submit a request to call Lucas. The CRC has a longstanding precedent of allowing its ministers to serve as chaplains, directors, professors, Christian school teachers, and in other staff positions. According to the Christian Reformed church order, "a minister of the Word may also serve the church in other work which relates directly to his calling, but only after the calling church has demonstrated to the satisfaction of classis, with the concurring advice of the synodical deputies, that said work is consistent with the calling of a minister of the Word." Synod 1961 strongly urged - but did not require - classes to require applicants for chaplaincy positions to seek the approval of the denominational Chaplain Committee. If all the required approvals are granted, Lucas could be called by Eastern Avenue to serve as chaplain for the organization as early as January, although Eastern Avenue could wait until next September without requesting another extension of eligibility for call. AWARE has existed for over a decade but was not widely known until recent years. The initial chapter was organized in Toronto following the decision of the Christian Reformed synod to oppose a vote by the CRC's mother church, the Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland, to allow practicing homosexuals to become church members and officebearers. According to a May 1994 Classis Toronto report on homosexuality, "AWARE (which stands for As We Are) provides a Christian fellowship for Christian Reformed and other gays and lesbians and their families and other supportive friends. AWARE recognizes that Christians hold a variety of views on questions related to homosexuality, and welcomes the participation of those holding different views and encourages dialogue." "Since AWARE includes some participants who live in committed homosexual relationships and others who are celibate, it may feel uncomfortable at first to visit, but acceptance of homosexuals as people and fellow believers is not the same as expressing approval of homosexual behavior," the report continues. "A Toronto chapter of AWARE meets monthly at First Christian Reformed Church in Toronto. Don't be surprised if you meet someone you know there." Lucas said that AWARE now has three chapters: AWARE Toronto, AWARE London, and AWARE Grand Rapids. A fourth chapter in the western Canadian city of Edmonton closed due to the small number of people involved, and while there are small groups interested in other cities, no other city has a formal chapter. Lucas' work in Grand Rapids is somewhat different from that of the other chapters, none of which have paid staff. "About a year ago we formed a nonprofit corporation; for that corporation we chose the name 'As We Are, Inc,'" said Lucas. "'As We Are' ministry includes AWARE Grand Rapids, but does not include any of the other AWARE groups, I'm not technically serving as the chaplain for any of the other groups." One difference is that the "As We Are" corporate board is not exclusively Christian Reformed. "We started out being focussed on the Christian Reformed Church, all the people who did the initial planning and brainstorming were Chr istian Reformed and all the people who initially came were Christian Reformed," said Lucas. "As time went on we found people coming from various other denominations who were looking for support that was very intentionally Christian. They were saying, 'We like what we see in AWARE, the emphasis on the Christian faith,' and they asked, 'Can we come too?'" The "As We Are" board currently consists not only of Christian Reformed members, but also members of the Reformed Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), and United Methodist Church. Lucas said the largest contingent of non-CRC members were from Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Grand Rapids. "Westminster Presbyterian is an unusually gay-friendly church, so a lot of ex-CRC people have ended up going there," said Lucas. Since the "As We Are" organization is not exclusively Christian Reformed, it takes no official position on the 1973 report of the CRC on homosexuality. According to its mission statement, "As We Are, Inc., is a Christian organization whose mission is to provide faith-based support for gay. lesbian, and bisexual persons and to promote a positive response within the Christian community." "The church needs to be a safe place where we can have dialogue about this issue, and that's basically the stance 'As We Are' has taken," said Lucas. "We're not an ex-gay ministry, we're not trying to change people who are gay, we take an accepting, non-judgmental approach to people who are gay and we promote a positive response within the Christian community rather than a condemning judgmental response." The "As We Are" ministry has continued to grow over the past year. Lucas was initially hired in January for ten hours per week on a part time basis, began working 15 hours per week in April, and since July has been working twenty hours per week. The Eastern Avenue letter to classis indicates that the organization hopes to move towards full-time employment. "The kinds of things I do are the kinds of things chaplains typically do," said Lucas. "My duties are mainly pastoral, individual counselling, pastoral care, providing spiritual leadership to the AWARE group in particular. I speak in adult education classes in churches, and of course some preaching although the preaching is not related to the ministry." Although AWARE Grand Rapids meets on the premises of Eastern Avenue CRC, it is not funded by or officially related to Eastern Avenue. "Our funding almost entirely comes from individuals who board members said might be sympathetic to the cause," Lucas said. In addition to preaching in area churches, Lucas' outside work includes serving as a counsellor for a homosexual support group meeting under the auspices of the Broene Counselling Center at Calvin College. The counselling work - which is not related to either AWARE or the "As We Are" corporation - is one of several support groups offered by Calvin to its students. During the first year, Lucas worked as a team leader with a regular staff member of the Broene Center. Due to the small size of the group, Lucas has been the solo leader of the group since 1993 and will be the solo leader again this year if enough students express interest for the group to be offered. Much of Lucas' future depends on the Classis Grand Rapids East study committee report. Chaired by Calvin College professor Dr. Hessel Bouma III, the committee also includes Calvin College professors Dr. James Bradley and Dr. David Holquist, Calvin Seminary professor Dr. Melvin Hugen, and Gladys VerHulst and Betty Zylstra. All are members of churches in Classis Grand Rapids East. In its report to the May meeting of Classis Grand Rapids East, the committee indicated that it was reviewing the 1973 CRC synodical report on homosexuality, "concentrating particularly on biomedical and psychosocial developments in our understandings of sexual orientation, practice, and possible therapies, and on the hermeneutical and exegetical applications of scripture which have arisen in the intervening two decades." The committee indicated that it has communicated with similar committees in Classis Toronto and Classis Alberta North, as well as gays, family members of gays, and counsellors who minister professionally to their needs. The report to the September meeting of classis indicated that most of its efforts are now focussed on analyzing six current ministries or organizations in the Grand Rapids area which minister to gays: As We Are, Dignity, Evangelicals Concerned, Exodus, Metanoia, and Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. Metanoia is an ex-gay ministry founded by CRC members and endorsed for financial support by the Christian Reformed synod which teaches that gays can and should change their orientation. Exodus is a national umbrella organization of ex-gay evangelical ministries, including Metanoia. The other organizations are all pro-gay: Dignity is the Roman Catholic pro- gay organization; Evangelicals Concerned was founded by former Inter- Varsity Christian Fellowship staff worker Dr. Ralph Blair after his termination for pro-gay views; P-FLAG primarily works among family members of gays. "I felt very supported, affirmed, to me it looks like God is blessing my ministry and the church is affirming it," Lucas said. "The real test will come next year; I don't know what the committee is going to come up with and I don't know how classis will respond to that. The best case scenario is that the committee comes up with parameters for ministry that my ministry does fall within." Contact List: Dr. Hessel Bouma III, Professor of Biology Calvin College Science Building 233 3201 Burton St. SE Grand Rapids, MI 49546 O: (616) 957-6401 Revs. Rolf Bouma & Roy Berkenbosch, Pastors Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed Church 506 Eastern Ave. SE Grand Rapids, MI 49503 O: (616) 454-4888 Earvie Klungel, Manager Metanoia Ministries P.O. Box 33039 Seattle, WA 98133 (206) 783-3500 Rev. Jim Lucas Note to Editors: This information will be provided should you wish to contact Rev. Lucas for an interview. We request that it not be published to protect his privacy.