Adam Edward Marshall

Adam Marshall, a gay man in the California area wrestling with the harm and rejection of the UMC, offers,

Within the mainline Protestant institutional ordination process, I endured microaggressions and harm as an out gay man. I found I was unable to show up as my authentic self. The validity and morality of my non-marital relationships were openly called into question due to my gender and sexuality. I was privately instructed to acquiesce in answering and behaving the way the ordination board expected, until I was completely through the ordination process. I decided that the harm I endured, and could expect to endure, was not worth the advantages of ordination within the institutional church.

I opened myself to non-hierarchical, non-traditional ordaining bodies and found CWACM.

Although it is not clear how ordination will affect my immediate ministry, I expect it will grease the wheels of my interactions in the world. Showing up as a queer clergy person will be a powerful statement of inclusiveness and belonging.

In spaces where queer and BIPOC persons have been silenced or ignored, the voices of spiritual authorities must call us to social wholeness. This is the task at hand, regardless of the shape my future ministry takes, and it will be more powerful and more effective with ordination credentials from the Movement.