2005
John R. Cope
Fifteen Years in a Missional Journey of Welcome And Reconciliation Foundry United Methodist Church 1990-2005
This congregational thesis covers an important and historic fifteen-year period in the ministry and missional journey of an influential corporate size congregation, Foundry United Methodist Church (Foundry) in Washington, DC. This thesis contains a detailed description, chronicle, and study of a more than five year congregational debate and decisional process (1990-1995) as the deeply divided congregation (which was attended during much of this period by President and Mrs. William Jefferson Clinton and also by Senator and Mrs. Robert Dole), considered whether or not to publicly welcome all persons, including all homosexual persons, by joining the Reconciling Congregation Program (RCP). Ultimately the October 1995 vote of the Foundry Administrative Board to become a Reconciling Congregation was extremely close, with fifty-two in favor and forty-five opposed, a difference of only seven votes. Foundry was one of the largest and most influential congregations in its denomination ever to have made the decision to become a reconciling congregation. Also considered in this thesis is the subsequent ten-year period (1995-2005) of Foundry’s ministry and missional journey and the congregational changes, challenges, and opportunities as a result of Foundry’s decision to offer unconditional welcome and reconciliation to all, including all homosexuals.