October 15, 2024
At the Virginia Annual Conference 2024 in Hampton, Va. a motion was made and approved by the body of the Annual Conference for a Commission of Truth Telling and Reconciliation to be formed during 2024-2025 in order to listen to stories of harm and move in creative modes of reconciliation toward LGBTQ+ persons.
Watch video from Annual Conference 2024 to view the full motion.
In response to this Annual Conference action, Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson has designated the Rev. Mark Ogren, VAUMC retired elder, to lead this effort.
Ogren will lead a team of 10 individuals (five clergy and five laity) who will seek input from both traditionalist and progressive viewpoints in order to recommend next steps to what will now be known as “Journey to Understanding.” This work will include a report to Annual Conference 2025.
The Rev. Dr. Gary Mason will act as consultant to this effort.
Mason is a Methodist minister and the Executive Director of Rethinking Conflict, a conflict transformation organization in Belfast. Formerly, he spent 27 years as a Methodist clergy person in parish ministry in Belfast and has played an integral role in the Northern Irish peace process.
Learn more about Mason with his detailed biography.
“The Rev. Dr. Gary Mason is an internationally renowned conflict resolution consultant,” Ogren said. “We are very fortunate to have Gary as our consultant as the Virginia Conference embarks on our work.”
Bishop Sue shared her gratefulness to both leaders as this effort begins.
“I am delighted that Rev. Mark Ogren has agreed to shepherd this process and to attend to all the details required for it,” she said. “ I am also very grateful to have Rev. Dr. Gary Mason guiding us in this process. Gary has long been working toward peace and justice in highly conflicted situations on the world stage.”