Called and Calling

Why I seek Ordination in the Church Within A Church Movement

DeLyn Celecby DeLyn Celec

I had thought for approximately two years about my calling to a type of ministry that is more ordered, following the United Methodist Church’s discontinuation of my candidacy. I am blessed to work among many who are supportive of me as I try to serve with utmost integrity.

I had thought about a Deaconess/Home Missioner track as a lay-minister in the United Methodist Church, but that does not feel quite right for me. Not that we should act completely on gut feelings, but I had an experience when I was with the deaconesses at Women’s Assembly 2010. Although I was deeply moved by the work engaged by Deaconesses and Home Missioners, it simply did not feel like I was among "my people."

I had also thought about changing denominations, but that isn't the right path for me, either. Even before I was discontinued in the ordination process, I have felt as though I am called to remain true to the Wesleyan heritage that literally saved my Christian faith. I continue to discern how to hold the United Methodist Church accountable on an ongoing basis.

I remember a dear friend and pastoral mentor sharing with me when I was in seminary and her words echo in my head. She was faced with discrimination as a woman and was tempted for a moment to abandon her elder's orders. Then she said, "I'm not gonna let 'em have my Church." The "'em" is the institution that has settled into a doctrine of exclusion, rather than a vital movement that ministers broadly with all of God's children.

For these reasons, God has called me to Extraordinary Ordination with the Church Within a Church Movement. Its distinctively Welseyan heritage, and commitment to ending oppressions of all types, makes it feel like my Church. In addition, the movement honors the road that led me to it, bumps and turns and all, which somehow feels like redemption.

Of course, I could not do this without the support and assistance of my United Methodist sisters and brothers as colleagues, mentors and friends. God’s incessant grace, visible within each of us, is the fuel that energizes this Body of Christ within which we work, argue, grow, and move forward.