Posted on: Saturday, October 4, 2003

Rev. Beckman loses Makiki church job

Advertiser staff

The Rev. Vaughn Beckman, the only openly gay minister of a mainline Christian denomination in Hawai'i, was asked to step down from his job as senior pastor at First Christian Church in Makiki. The chairwoman of the church board, moderator Tamra VonBlankenberg, said either party can terminate the pastor's contract with 60 days' notice.

This comes on the heels of a difficult time for the church, which was the target of arson Aug. 27.

"It was nothing about him being gay, nothing to do with the fire," she said.

According to VonBlankenberg, the decision came at a Sept. 14 meeting of the church board, which she said includes a five-member executive board as well as elders and deacons.

Beckman will be paid for the duration of his contract, which ends Dec. 15, but he expects Oct. 12 to be his last day of preaching.

Beckman, who for two years has been pastor at First Christian, part of the Disciples of Christ denomination, said that he was limited in what he could discuss but that the issue was whether he could accept a new kind of performance report in which anyone in the church could evaluate him anonymously.

Beckman kept a high profile during his two years in Hawai'i, working on interfaith and gay issues. He started the local chapter of the Friends of Sabeel, a group primarily focused on Jewish-Christian-Muslim dialogue; is president of the Hawai'i Interfaith Alliance; is a member of the Interfaith Open Table; and was among those who filed a lawsuit in state Circuit Court, saying the Family Day at Kapi'olani Park on July 5 was essentially a Christian religious service paid for with public money.