on June 22, 2009, after 21 months of community discernment, Skyline Church officially adopted a Mission Statement that makes explicit our welcome to all people, regardless of age, racial, ethnic or national origin, physical or mental ability, marital status, religious experience, affectional orientation, gender identity, or socioeconomic status. See the FAQs.

At our September 11, 2007 Council meeting, the Church Council discerned God's leading us to explore adopting a more inclusive and public welcome statement. Making this statement would send a message to our community that no one will be turned away at our doors, including LGBT persons, who have traditionally been ostracized by the Christian Church. Having adopted such a welcome statement, Skyline Church may now choose to officially affiliate our church with United Methodists who are part of the Reconciling Ministries Network.

Judie Riley, our Outreach Pathway Minister, had asked our Lay Leader, Ivan Turner, to ask the Council to consider this process for Skyline Church after reading an August 12, 2007, Sunday News-Journal front page article about Epworth UMC in Rehoboth affiliating with RMN. The article, entitled "These pews open for all who want to worship: Rehoboth church accepts gay, lesbian congregants," by Gary Soulsman, reported that Epworth's RMN affiliation made it "the only [Methodist] church among 460 in Delaware and Maryland's Eastern Shore to officially welcome gays and lesbians".

The Council entered into dialogue about this process at our August and September meetings, and included the Pathway Ministers in that leadership conversation. A dozen of our leaders took an RMN survey, scoring an average 79 (out of 125), indicating that Skyline engage in a moderate curriculum.

After at 21 months of formal and informal community dialogue, we discerned by a vote of all members whether God is calling us to make explicit in our Mission Statement that we will welcome and fully include LGBT persons at Skyline. You can review a sampling of RMN-affiliated churches' mission statements here. The RMN Mission statement is:

Reconciling Ministries Network is a national grassroots organization that exists to enable full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of the United Methodist Church, both in policy and practice.

What this process meant for Skyline Church involved praying, studying God's Word together and dialoguing with each other in a way that moved beyond a tacit, "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The process was not a foregone conclusion, but a dialogue about who God is calling us to be. Our leaders studied the processes other churches, including Epworth, have used, as we tailored a process suited to our community of faith. Our process involved a series of Bible Studies and Small Group offerings focused on topics of inclusion and theological understanding of sexual orientation and gender identity, Biblical interpretation, dialogue, and membership.

Our co-pastors are members of the Reconciling Ministries Clergy network. They have received into full membership persons who have committed their lives to Jesus Christ as Lord and who are also gay or lesbian. Leadership positions at Skyline Church and ministry functions, including preaching and teaching, are based on spiritual gifting and the needs of the community and not sexual orientation.

The Mission of Skyline United Methodist Church is to:

reach out to all people seeking a deeper relationship with God, regardless of age, racial, ethnic or national origin, physical or mental ability, marital status, religious experience, affectional orientation, gender identity, or socioeconomic status,
welcome them into a community of followers of Jesus who freely choose to worship, serve, and live together prayerfully and in peace following a Methodist understanding of God’s gift of grace,
equip them to live as the Holy Spirit gifts and guides, and
send them to serve and reach out to all people in Christ's name.