Some members of the Albright United Methodist Church have worked to establish a reconciling group in Ponca City. The group formed in the spring of 2019 following a local long time church member being prohibited from being married at the church or having the ceremony blessed by the pastor due to the United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline.

There is a wider debate within the denomination concerning the inclusion of LGBTQ persons.

The Albright Reconciling Group (ARC) was formed after the group reached out to the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) for direction. RMN was founded in 1984 to seek the inclusion of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, welcoming them to full participation in church life. The group was named in reference to the discussion for reconciliation between gay people and the church. There are currently 43,600 individual people who are members of RMN as well as 1,367 group affiliates, including 28 such groups in Oklahoma. ARC was officially recognized in May 2019 and had the support of 21 members of their church family.

ARC has no criticism towards their own church and merely wanted to make a statement and publicly go on record of what their beliefs are.

The Albright United Methodist Church itself, according to their website, recognizes the right of Christians to disagree on matters such as forms of worship, baptisms or theological explorations. The church is also one that is welcoming to many people.

“Our church is a really welcoming church,” said Albright Pastor Tracey Ivy. “We’re about sharing Christ’s love for all of his creation.”

In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, ARC has been able to provided several service projects in the community such as providing water for an LGBTQ picnic in Ponca City and sorting food items that had been collected for local distribution. They also hosted a guest speaker who pastored a reconciling church.

ARC’s goal is to let others know that there is a group in Ponca City that is supportive of full inclusion of the LGBTQ community in the life of the United Methodist Church. The group is open to anyone that would like to join. For information and questions, the group can be reached by email at albright.reconciling@yahoo.com.