More about us

We celebrate God’s gift of diversity and value the wholeness made possible in community equally shared and shepherded by all. We welcome and affirm people of every gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation, who are also of every age, race, ethnicity, physical and mental ability, level of education, and family structure, and of every economic, immigration, marital, and social status, and so much more. We acknowledge that we live in a world of profound social, economic, and political inequities.

As followers of Jesus, we commit ourselves to the pursuit of justice and pledge to stand in solidarity with all who are marginalized and oppressed. That means that we use our voices to advocate on behalf of all who are marginalized and oppressed, especially members of the LGBTQ+ community.

As United Methodists of the Río Texas Annual Conference, we also commit ourselves to engaging with other members of the Río Texas AC in pursuit of these values. And, as people of faith we commit to welcome people of all faiths and from all geographic areas who share these values and pledge to work together toward justice.

We pledge to speak publicly about the importance of welcoming all, especially those who have been marginalized and oppressed, with a focus on members of the LGBTQ+ community.  We seek to develop programs of support and encouragement, to develop resources for the annual conference leaders, congregations and individuals, and to center LGBTQ+ voices. 

We came together in the spring of 2021 with a call to action from Reconciling Ministries Network. The call was to talk about the need to provide spiritual nourishment and encouragement to LGBTQ+ individuals who have too often been harmed by the church. We began as a small group, meeting monthly on Zoom.

We continue to meet monthly, we communicate via email providing information about our team meetings and details about the work we are doing. Much of our work centers around the Annual Conference meetings in June at which we create an exhibit space which is visible as a LGBTQ+ friendly space and we offer a program during Annual Conference for LGBTQ+ members and allies to gather for worship, nurture and community building. We also provide training, resources and encouragement to small groups and congregations who are seeking to become safe and affirming spaces for members of the LGBTQ+ community.

All of our work is done on a volunteer basis. There is no paid staff.

Active Team Members include, but are not limited to:

The Rev. Nancy Mossman, an ally who has been serving as a coordinator for the team

Shelley Walters, an ally who is the Director of Faith Development at Saint John’s UMC in Austin

Cindy Andrade Johnson, a member of the LGBTQ+ community who is a deaconess serving immigrants in the Rio Grande Valley

Bill DeFries, an ally who is a journalist and member of FUMC in Corpus Christi

Rev. Richard Bates, a member of the LGBTQ+ community who has been doing this work since the early 1980s

Paul and Gloria Shinkawa, two allies and lay members of FUMC in Pflugerville

Dr. Rachel Jennings, an ally and lay member of Travis Park Church in San Antonio who is also an advocate for incarcerated persons on death row

The Rev. Mark Doty, a member of the LGBTQ+ community who worships at Laurel Heights UMC and was forced to resign his pastorate in the 1990s when he as outed as a non-practicing gay man

Diana Woods, an ally who is a Deaconness at FUMC in Buda and the chair person of the Rio Texas Conference Transforming Communities Vision Team

If you would like to join or team or be on our email list, please click here.