LGBTQIA+ Affirming

Well, we are a very happy church, but we are not all gay. We are not all one thing. What unites us is that we all believe that worship should be open and welcoming to everyone.

The Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) is a non-profit organization seeking the inclusion of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in both the policy and practices of The United Methodist Church. Churches, pastors, and lay leaders may affiliate themselves with RMN to communicate their support. Reconciling Churches support this statement: “We celebrate God’s gift of diversity and value the wholeness made possible in community equally shared and shepherded by all. We welcome and affirm people of every gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation, who are also of every age, race, ethnicity, physical and mental ability, level of education, and family structure, and of every economic, immigration, marital, and social status, and so much more. We acknowledge that we live in a world of profound social, economic, and political inequities. As followers of Jesus, we commit ourselves to the pursuit of justice and pledge to stand in solidarity with all who are marginalized and oppressed.”

No we don’t. There are numerous available scholarly resources that address the “Clobber Passages” and why they are not relevant to today’s conversations and LGBTQIA relationships. We encourage everyone to do a little research and to prayerfully challenge one’s own assumptions in order to arrive at a place of peace, acceptance and love as the Apostle Peter did in Acts 10:28 when he says, “You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew (that is, a faithful and ritually clean person) to associate with or to visit a Gentile (that is, a non-Jew who were considered to be unrepentant sinners), but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.”

We highly recommend that if you find a church that seems to welcome you and your loved ones to ask the pastor if she or he will perform LGBTQIA weddings or if the church will allow LGBTQIA weddings in its sanctuary. This seems to be a quick way to discern between those that are truly affirming and those that are happy to take your money while treating you as less than fully human. It’s not a perfect question as there are pastors who want to be supportive and loving, but are supervised by unsupportive leaders; but this question should open up a deeper conversation to help you make a good decision.