Welcome Beloved!

We are the Liberation Methodist Connexion

About the

We are a grassroots connexion of former, current, and non-Methodist faith leaders working on the unfolding of the kin-dom of God, inviting the full-inclusion of individuals regardless of:

gender expressions and sexual identity

religious or non-religious backgrounds

heritage/nationality/ citizenship/immigration status

races and ethnicities

size

physical and/or mental age

incarceration status

living with HIV and any other chronic medical conditions

socio-economic/housing status

monogamous and non-monogamous

hair color or styles, tattoos/piercings/body art

mental/physical ability or disability

use of drugs

education level

Statement of Values and Vision

We are a people of faith committed to living into and out of the wisdom and compassion of the historical Jesus – a brown man of undetermined sexual orientation who arose from a people bowed down under Empire. His prophetic witness calls us to a risky engagement with powers and principalities and compels us to overturn tables of systemic oppression. Believing the Bible to be a story of liberation, we are inspired to free one another – and indeed the Gospels themselves – from abuse and misuse.

We celebrate the sacred interrelatedness of humanity and creation and vow to care for both. Together we engage in the justice-urgencies of the present, that we might help fashion a more equitable, loving, and sustainable future.

We are a movement of spirit-filled people, dancing in the freedom of holy creativity and divine imagination.

Mission

Our faith invites us to create a network of spiritual communities. Our vision is founded on the prophetic leadership and active participation of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual + (LGBTQIA+) people, and people with disabilities. These collectives live at the intersection of direct social action and theological reflection.

We are ever mindful of the ways in which the needs of one sometimes infringe upon the needs of another. We lovingly hold space for mistakes, uncertainty, and discomfort. We are called to be brave, not perfect.

We commit to accountability while holding identity and religious multiplicity gently. We commit to creating non-hierarchical, collaborative leadership. We commit to being ever more invitational. In our quest for justice, we consciously avoid theological litmus tests and external creeds. We are a people led by God’s Spirit in a way that welcomes a dynamic evolution of our beliefs, our practices, and our systems.

Version 1.1 – September 13, 2021

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth... And the one who was seated on the throne said, 'See, I am making all things new.'"

Revelation 21:1,5

"No one educates anyone else nor do we educate ourselves, we educate one another in communion in the context of living in this world."

Paulo Freire, JD, PhD

"If your anti-racist work does not embrace an intentionally intersectional approach to liberation and justice then you just as well call it anti-human. Racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, ableism - all life-threatening, all disastrous for Black people."

Rev. Dr. Pamela R. Lightsey

"There can be no salvation without liberation."

Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, PhD

"The Bible presents liberation—salvation—in Christ as the total gift, which… gives the whole process of liberation its deepest meaning and its complete and unforeseeable fulfillment. Liberation can thus be approached as a single salvific process."

Fr. Gustavo Gutiérrez, A Theology of Liberation

"If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. If you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together."

Aboriginal Activists Group Queensland, 1970s

"Whatever else the true preaching of the word would need to include... It would need to be a word of solidarity, healing and love in situations of brokenness and despair and a disturbing and troubling word of justice to those who wish to protect their privilege by exclusion. "

Letty M. Russell, ThD

CURRENT LMX Collaborate

What’s a collaborate? It’s the collaborative, consensus building group working to build-up the connexion.

Adam Marshall (he/him)
Adrian Hill (he/him)
Rev. Amy DeLong (she/her)
Colleen McRoberts (she/her)

Erika Panzarino (she/her)
Elisa Gatz (she/her)
Dr. Rev. H. Ward Greer (he/him)
Rev. Janet G. McKeithen (she/her)
Rev. Limina Grace (she/her)

Marla Marcum, M.T.S. (she/her)
Rev. Martha E. Vink (she/her)
Ravi Roelfs (he/him/his)
Rev. Sean McRoberts (they/them)
Rev. Sue Laurie (she/her)

Rev. Terri Jane Stewart (they/them)
Rev. Vicki Woods (she/her)
Rev. Vivian Ruth Waltz (she/her)
Rev. Wesley White (he/him)
Rev. Wil Ranney (he/him)