Saša Gunjević, Pastor in Hanseatic Conference Who Came Out as Bisexual, Ends Church Employment
28 April 2024 |
On the first Sabbath of 2023, Saša Gunjević titled his sermon to his Hamburg-Grindelberg Adventist congregation in Northern Germany’s Hanseatic Conference, “You Are a God Who Sees Me.” In his sermon (translated here into English), Gunjević told the story of Hagar and her struggle as she is spurned from society and flees as a minority, only to have God stop her and ask her deep questions about her journey and her identity. God asks her to go back to an uncomfortable and untenable social environment, but promises her blessings and His support. She replies by saying, “I have seen the One who sees me!”
Gunjević continued,
Hagar needed a safe place. Without this Advocate….without the God who sees her, she probably wouldn’t have returned. I also need a safe place and don’t know if I have one. “You are a God who sees me.” I could always be open with Him. Now I want to entrust you with something very important to me. I’m bisexual. That means I can fall in love with both women and men. I have known this since I was 14 years old. I knew this when I was 16 years old and was baptized…. It was clear to me from the start that if I wanted to become or remain a pastor, I couldn’t talk about it. That that would be impossible. So I studied theology without being able to talk about it with other Christians. I became a pastor and kept it to myself for 13 years.
Opposition
Though Pastor Gunjević had considerable support in his congregation, his conference, and from his conference president, Dennis Meier, his announcement immediately raised opposition around the world. The Inter-European Division (EUD) expressed its intention to convince the Hanseatic Conference to disqualify Gunjević from pastoral ministry.
Having listened to the affirmations of Pastor Saša Gunjević in his coming-out address, as well as his various public statements, we regret that he openly promotes views that undermine and contradict the position of the church. We consider that his open rejection of the official position of the worldwide church disqualifies him for pastoral ministry. The administration of the EUD will work with the Hanseatic Conference, in close consultation with the North German Union, to address this issue and reconsider the status of his credentials.
The General Conference joined the conversation soon thereafter with a statement titled “Reaffirmation of the Biblical Criteria for Pastoral Ministry and the Biblical Teachings on Human Sexuality.” It concluded that while the Hanseatic Conference had originally approved the continuation of his credentials,
The current situation of having a pastor holding ministerial credentials issued by the Adventist Church who identifies as bisexual presents a great challenge to the biblical principles and fundamental beliefs we uphold. Further, it lessens the integrity of the ministerial credential policies as voted by the world church representatives at the Annual Council.
The statement implied that all of the officers of the General Conference, including all world division vice-presidents, had endorsed the statement.
Gunjević ends employment
Hanseatic Conference president Dennis Meier announced to the Hamburg-Grindelberg congregation on April 13 that
by mutual agreement between the Hanseatic Conference and Saša Gunjević, the employment relationship has been terminated.
Meier emphasized that this was “by mutual agreement.” Gunjević’s employment was
not a matter of termination, but rather the cancellation of an employment contract. There was no disagreement here in the assessment of revoking the service contract.
In an artfully worded letter, Meier made clear that he had to be cautious about what he said.
Not everything belongs in every ear or in public. In difficult conflicts, the means of protecting people is secrecy. Sometimes it is not just a virtue but a commandment. And in this case it is even a legal requirement, because details regarding the termination of an employment relationship are subject to the legally required confidentiality, at least for the employer.
He insisted he had not bowed to pressure from above:
Please note: the employment relationship was not terminated because pressure was built up from above as part of the conflicts within the church surrounding the issue of LGBTQ+. There is no causal connection between Saša’s coming out in January 2023 or his advocacy for the rights of queer people, and current developments.
Still, it seems likely that the constant criticism had had an effect on the conference leaders and Pastor Gunjević. Writes Meier,
And of course there are reasons. Saša has become dear to all of us as a person who is as impulsive and passionate as he is honest and transparent. It cannot be said that he piously preached one thing and lived the other. Rather, he was criticized for depicting too much honest life in his sermons. A core part of his preaching was always the deep conviction: Be honest and take responsibility for your life. God wants to be by your side. The understanding I’m talking about here refers to the fact that he’s at a point in his life where the best way to do just that is to no longer have the additional responsibilities of being a pastor. This formulation regarding the background was agreed upon with him, and Saša was there on April 13th, present in the community.
In his letter, Meier praises the
great gifts [Saša] brought here as pastor: his lively proclamation, his passionate commitment to minorities, his tenacity for change, his missionary vision, and his cheerful nature.
There is no word as to what Pastor Gunjević will do next. He maintains a personal web page here.
