2012 Proclaim Retreat, April 18-21: ¡Vamos Tod@s!

IMPORTANT INFO REGARDING THE SHUTTLE FROM NEWARK AIRPORT TO STONY POINT

1. When you land,  call the following number: 201-833-4444

2.  Go to Terminal B, at the Ground Level, outside at the Passenger Pickup Area 4 and 5. You may have a wait, but it will not be longer than two hours. The Stony Point Van will be driving continuously between Newark Airport and Stony Point, filled with jolly Proclaimers!

3. If you have any travel issues, text or call Amalia: 563-419-7238.

Safe travels!


VamosTodosLogoColor

Attendees: Please plan your travel arrangements so you arrive to the center by Wednesday evening before dinner at 6pm and leave Saturday after 1pm.

The Proclaim retreat is a gathering of publicly identified LGBTQ rostered leaders and seminarians for a time of renewal, community building, and professional development. The 2012 retreat will be held at Stony Point Center, New York, April 18-21. Our keynote speaker is Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, who will join us for most of the retreat.

This year’s theme is ¡Vamos Tod@s! (We are all going!/We are on the move!).  The theme is tied to the hymn, “Let Us Go Now to the Banquet.” (ELW 523).

(The use of the “@” is a way that some people seek gender-neutrality in Spanish.)

This retreat is open to members of Proclaim, significant others, and children 3 and under. For information on joining Proclaim go here.

The retreat begins with dinner on Wednesday evening and concludes with lunch on Saturday.

Proclaim is funded in part by a grant from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.  An additional grant from the Advent Mission Fund from Advent Lutheran Church (New York, NY) provides support for expansive outreach efforts for our Proclaim and Candidacy Accompaniment programs and to increase ELM’s organizational commitment to inclusion.  Additional support for Proclaim and this retreat comes from individual donors and congregations.

More about the Event:

Proclaim Logo

This retreat will be the second gathering of ProclaimWe will gather together and embrace what it means to be publicly identified leaders as we care for ourselves, as we live in and amongst our communities, and as we serve as public witness to the Gospel.

The keynote speaker this year is Bishop Gene Robinson, the current bishop of the New England diocese of the Episcopalian church. Bp. Robinson is the first publicly identified gay person to be elected bishop in a major Christian denomination. His story is featured in the 2007 feature-length documentary, “For the Bible Tells Me So,” and his book In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God (Seabury Books, New York) was released in 2008.

Program:

Here is a sample of sessions and discussion items for our time together:

  • What is the banquet that we are invited to?  What motivates/propels us forward?  What feeds our souls?
  • Discuss how LGBTQ leaders can shape and reshape church and community in the present and into the future.
  • Examine how LGBTQ leaders are a gift to the church.
  • Offer opportunities for LGBTQ leaders to hone and sharpen skills for ministry.
  • Create a vision of what this community and church might look like in 10 years–when we are all moving/going together.

Current Workshops

For more programming details about these presenters click here:  Speaker & Workshop leaders at the retreat

Keynote: The Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson, IX Bishop of New Hampshire

The Rev. Dr. R. Guy Erwin, professor at California Lutheran University, “Queering Lutheran Theology”

Emily Ewing, Joel R. Workin Scholar, seminary student at LSTC, “Nonviolent Peacemaking in a Culture of Violence”

Laura Kuntz, Joel R. Workin Scholar, seminary student at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, “Rituals for Renewal and Self-Care”

Ross Murray, Director of Religion, Faith & Values at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), “GLBTQ Voices of Faith in the Media”

The Rev. Heidi Neumark, pastor Trinity Lutheran Church, New York, New York, “Living Beloved Community”

Rick Ufford-Chase, co-director Stony Point Retreat Center, “Ministry on the Borders”

Friday Evening Entertainment: Peter Donnelly

Lodging:

Stony Point meditation space

We will be staying at the  Stony Point Conference Center in New York.  Stony Point is just over an hour outside of New York City. Situated in the beautiful and historic Lower Hudson River Valley. Stony Point Conference Center offers delicious & locally sourced food, comfortable accommodations and stunning outdoor space.

Rooms will be shared with one other attendee. Please mark your roommate preference on your registration form. If no preference is indicated, we will assign you a roommate. If sharing a room presents an accessibility challenge for you, please contact operations@elm.org.

Each spacious room offers two single beds, two desks and a sink. Single-person bathrooms are located in the hallways. Each lodge offers a shared lounge and kitchenette with a microwave, sink and small refrigerator, as well as hot water for coffee and tea. Wireless internet access is available in most of the lounges, and in the main administrative building and dining hall. Dress for the retreat is casual.

Food

Meals will be nutritious and tasty. ELM seeks to extend a spirit of hospitality in all things, including food. Please note dietary restrictions on your registration form, so that we may meet your needs. The retreat begins with dinner Wednesday night, three meals a day Thursday and Friday, and breakfast & lunch on Saturday. Snacks will be provided throughout.

Costs:

$425/person

Includes: Double-occupancy room for three nights, meals and snacks, programming, and your 2012 membership fee for Proclaim.

Single rooms are available on a limited basis. Registration for single occupancy will be $495.

Partners/Spouses

Partners and spouses are invited and encouraged to attend this retreat. The retreat is designed to address the reality of living as publicly identified LGBTQ leaders. Partners and spouses are an integral part of this lived reality, experiencing the joys and challenges of this important ministry from their own unique perspectives. We want this perspective to be represented, and we want to support the vital and unique ministry of these partners/spouses. There may be moments where the conversation drifts into theology and church politics, likely reminiscent of those awkward gatherings in seminary. Be assured, there will be plenty of spouses/partners present to create a space for those who are not engaged by these kinds of conversations. Significant others will pay the full retreat cost of $375 for early-registration and $425 for regular registration.

Childcare:

Children 3 and under are welcome to attend at no charge. Please note there will not be childcare programming provided.

Travel:

The recommended airport is Newark. Please plan your travel arrangements so you arrive to the center by Wednesday evening before dinner at 6pm and leave Saturday after 1pm.

If you registered after February 16, you are responsible for your own transportation to and from Stony Point. Traveling by bus, plane or train?  Please refer to the Stony Point Center website for transportation options. 

Important Dates!

Registration Deadline is March 30, 2012.

If you have questions, please contact Rachael Johnson, operations@elm.org


Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries and the Extraordinary Candidacy Project

The work of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries grew out of the work of two previous organizations, Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries (founded in 1990) and the Extraordinary Candidacy Project (founded in 1993).

Early in 2006, a group of representatives from LLGM and ECP formed a vision team to begin discussing a merger.  On February 17, 2007 , the leaders of Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries and the Extraordinary Candidacy Project formally agreed to merge, forming a new organization. The leadership approved a vision document and created a team to draft a theology statement. Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries was founded on October 31, 2007.

Brief History and Purpose of Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries (LLGM)

LLGM was founded in 1990 when two San Francisco congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) decided to call and ordain a gay man and a lesbian couple to be their pastors in violation of a church policy that prohibiting gay, lesbian and bisexual (with a same gender partner) pastors from serving its congregations unless they agreed to life long celibacy. These congregations not only believed that this policy was unjust, but also that it was critical for their credibility, integrity and evangelism that their congregations be served by openly identified sexual minority pastors who fully lived or endorsed same sex relationships.

These pastors were fully qualified for ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) but for their refusal to comply with the ELCA’s requirement of life long celibacy. The congregations that called them – St. Francis Lutheran Church and First United Lutheran Church – are diverse congregations that include all sexual orientations, ages, races, and genders.

LLGM became a model ministry demonstrating the gifts and benefits ordained leadership by sexual minority pastors bring to a congregation and community. The establishment of LLGM spurred inspiration for those seeking full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) people and staunch adherence to policy from the institution. After a grueling trial the St. Francis and First United were expelled from the ELCA. In subsequent years an increasing number of pastors and seminarians were being forced from Lutheran ministry in the ELCA and turned to LLGM for help.

In 1993, LLGM’s sister organization, The Extraordinary Candidacy Project (ECP) was started to provide a structure for pastors, other rostered ministers, and seminarians to gain or retain their professional credentials. The ECP provides the same strict and rigorous certification and rostering process for ministry candidates as the ELCA, but also honors relationships. In 1995 LLGM realized that at the same time there was a growing roster of ministers to serve, there were congregations interested in calling them. Therefore LLGM formally partnered with the ECP to create, facilitate, and support ministry placements for its roster and expand its work nationwide.

In 1995 LLGM awarded its first ministry partnership support. In addition, LLGM has provided emergency assistance, technical assistance and legal support to pastors, seminarians, and congregations facing discipline of negative ramifications because of their support of GLBT pastors.

Brief History and Purpose of the Extraordinary Candidacy Project

Founding members of ECP
Founding members of ECP

Formed in 1993, The Extraordinary Candidacy Project (ECP) was created to credential openly gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender seminarians, candidates, ordained and commissioned ministers preparing for professional vocations in Lutheran ministry, primarily congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

The Extraordinary Candidacy Project (ECP) was opposed to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) policy of mandated celibacy for sexual minority persons who seek ordination to Word and Sacrament ministry. In part, the ECP was a project of resistance to this policy, to its lack of consistent enforcement of the policy, and to its practice of encouraging intentional deception to avoid the ramifications of the policy. ECP understood the policy to be a fundamental violation of the creation of all persons as sexual beings and of the sacredness of the primary relationships of all people.

The ECP was more than resistance. It was a new way of being church in the world. If “ordinary” had come to mean “discriminatory,” we chose the adjective “extraordinary” to deliberately emphasize the “out-of-the-ordinary” nature of our project.

The ECP candidacy process was modeled on the candidacy process of the ELCA.

 

Candidacy, Community and Grants

OVERVIEW of NEW DIRECTION

Our work has historically centered in three primary areas: candidacy, community and grants. These three areas remain our focus, with a new approach in some of these areas.

CANDIDACY: We will shift from our past work–providing an extraordinary candidacy process–to focus on candidacy support and accompaniment for publicly-identified LGBTQ person who are in Lutheran candidacy.  ELM is currently developing a volunteer-based network of accompaniment for LGBTQ people in Lutheran candidacy. ELM will provide resources, chaplain support, advocacy and referrals.

COMMUNITY: In the past, the ELM Roster has been ELM’s community of LGBTQ rostered leaders.  Now, we are launching a professional network of publicly-identified LGBTQ rostered leaders from multiple Lutheran rosters. These leaders are committed to changing the church and transforming society through their ministry as publicly-identified LGBTQ rostered leaders. ELM will hold an annual conference/retreat open to all, provide year-round online networking, and professional development opportunities, chaplain support, and visibility.

GRANTS: We will continue to provide mission partner grants and scholarships for publicly-identified LGBTQ people called to and serving as rostered leaders in the Lutheran church.