Church of the changing heart

The Rev. Alan Jones' studies and ministry have taken him across the globe—from his hometown of Halifax, England, to Africa and on to Sacramento where he's served as the senior pastor at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church (2391 St. Mark's Way) since 2011. Jones, whose degrees include a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the University of Wales and a Doctor of Ministry from Claremont School of Theology, also has extensive training in marriage and family counseling. Jones, who says he believes in church as a place of inclusion and growth, recently chatted with SN&R about the politics of poverty, the doctrines of faith and his odd association with James Earl Ray.

You had a whole career before you ended up here at St. Mark’s, but it took a different route than most ministers.

[In college] I was really interested in international politics … and in economic justice and poverty as international issues. So that was where I was heading and then found myself suddenly hijacked into ministry and into the life of the church.

Then you went on to Africa.

I've lived in Africa twice, both in former British colonies and [have seen] the good side, but mainly the disadvantages of the colonial system and what that does to people and how it leaves countries when you suddenly have independence and you're trying to get things organized.

After seminary you ended up at Holman United Methodist Church, an African-American church in downtown Los Angeles.

Right, [it was] a very rich experience and really wonderful to be in an African-American world and discover the beauty and the dignity of the African-American experience, the sort of refining that came out of the experience of slavery and oppression. But also, I spent a lot of time in court with kids and saw the way the justice system, white justice, was really abusing black people. It was horrendous. And what made it even worse was that if I was there with a kid from the youth group, the judge would review them very differently, if they had this white guy standing there. It was just hideous.

I heard the most bizarre story of Jim Lawson, a colleague of Martin Luther King Jr.’s, performing a marriage ceremony for—

James Earl Ray's wedding? That was strange for me because then I [did press for the church at that time in 1978]. And so here's this wise Englishman talking about this African-American guy who is doing this wedding ceremony for King's assassin. But it was entirely consistent. Jim Lawson believes in a God of grace and a God of justice, and every person is a child of God and needs to be treated equally.

One of the big issues, of course, with the United Methodist denomination was gay marriage. The church started performing ceremonies, and one of them was conducted by the “Sacramento 68” in 1999.

I've done a lot a lot of weddings throughout my clergy career, and I tell you, it's an odd business. Some of them are really wonderful, and it's an opportunity to enter into the intimacy of people's relationships. I've said repeatedly, I do think the gay community at St. Mark's or in the church generally is a real gift to the church and our generation because what they have done is pushed the rest of us to be much more open about who we are and about sexuality and just about life.

In 1999, the official United Methodist position was that being gay was a sin. You couldn’t be in the Christian faith and be gay. What were the words the church used?

“The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching” is the language.

This was in the late ’90s.

And [the language is] still there.

And nonetheless, 68 people, primarily ministers, all came together to marry a gay couple here in Sacramento.

Right, and there were 68 of us who … felt that it was important to say that we trust gay people to make good decisions about their lives and relationships.

When people talk about all of these issues, they act like they’ve been the same for centuries. Yet, clearly in our own lifetimes we’ve seen them changing.

Anybody who believes that they have the definitive answer to whatever, I believe they are fooling themselves. It's a constant process of reviewing, experiencing and entering into people's experience of life to discover the new revelation.

You said a changing church is a more vibrant one? Or?

What other kind of church could there be?

One that sounds like they don’t change.

Anything that is not changing is dying. If you are to be alive, you have to be constantly reviewing and doing things in different ways.