Mission Statement
"Affirming the Gift of Sexuality:
Toward Whole Persons, Growing Relationships, Inclusive Community"
The mission of Ministry in Human Sexuality, Inc., was:
- to acknowledge, proclaim, and celebrate the gift of human sexuality;
- to bring good news about the gift of sexuality to the human pain, brokenness, and estrangement surrounding many areas of human sexuality;
- to enable and encourage persons to increase their understandings and skills in expressing and embodying love and compassion.
This mission was one of witness, service, and support. M.H.S. witnessed to all the gift of sexuality. M.H.S. served those who want help in understanding, appreciating, and growing in their sexuality as a gift, an important and valuable part of personhood and wholeness as individuals, in relationships with others, and in spirituality. M.H.S. sought to support those who are in "exile" because of misunderstandings about sexuality.
In the United Methodist Church, ministry in some settings other than local churches requires a statement of rationale. I put together a small booklet of this rationale for appointment in the United Methodist Church. Scanned images of the pages are here: cover, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10.
One of the projects of MHS included facilitating the formation of a "Joint Strategy and Action Team" of Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska on Ministry with Homosexual Persons and their Families. These IMN teams were always ecumenical, and this one had several denominations participating, including United Methodist. The JSAT hosted two conferences on Ministry with Homosexual Persons. One conference, held in Lincoln, Nebraska, at the Unitarian Church, on February 28-March 1, 1986, featured Bishop Melvin Wheatley, an outspoken and a lone voice on the United Methodist Council of Bishops in the 1970s and 1980s. A recording of his speech is here in 40kbps (21MB) and 80kbps (42MB) quality. Transcript (1.3mB), with copy of program at which it was delivered.
Ministry in Human Sexuality was an agency in Lincoln, Nebraska, from 1981 to 1988.