For more information about the Open & Affirming Ministry Program contact AllianceQ at alliance@disciplesallianceq.org.
The Mission of the Open & Affirming Ministry Program is to build a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) that welcomes persons of all gender expressions and sexual orientations to the table of Christ’s communion and to the full life and leadership of the Christian Church.
To be listed as an Open & Affirming Ministry by the Alliance, congregations and other ministries are asked to make a public witness to the Mission of the Open & Affirming Ministry Program.
Prior to declaring themselves Open & Affirming, we encourage congregations to engage in a process of study and reflection in order to educate the members of the church. The goal is to build a consensus where the members of the congregation can commit to welcoming (though we realize it is not always possible for every member to commit to this) and to discern the ministry’s unique witness as it claims its welcome.
Becoming and being an Open & Affirming Ministry is a journey of ever-expanding welcome. Every congregation can travel this journey and there are resources for every step along the way, from the congregation that hasn’t thought about the welcome of LGBT persons to the congregation that named itself Open & Affirming decades ago.
Find suggestions for your congregation’s welcoming journey here.
If you are interested in working with your congregation towards becoming Open & Affirming:
If you are interested in working with your non-congregational ministry towards becoming Open & Affirming:
These resources are highly recommended to all who are entering a journey towards naming a ministry Open & Affirming:
The Open & Affirming Ministry Team has many resources available and the Team’s Executive Director is ready to help you find the resources that are right for your congregation or ministry.
We are also aware that many congregations and ministries have come to a place, through a process formal or informal, or intentionally from the start, where they proclaim a welcome to persons of all gender expressions and sexual orientations but are not yet listed by Alliance Q as an Open & Affirming Ministry.
Below is a list of attributes that we expect of a congregation or ministry in order to list it as an Open & Affirming Ministry. For a ministry about to engage a process towards becoming Open & Affirming, these are explicit goals of the process. For a ministry that considers itself Open & Affirming already, these attributes are the concrete signs that the ministry has committed itself to being Open & Affirming.
We understand that each ministry is unique, and that there may be variations from this list. Alliance Q and the Open & Affirming Ministry Team reserve the right to determine whether a congregation or ministry is listed on the Alliance’s website as an Open & Affirming Ministry.
An Open & Affirming Ministry is committed to the Mission of the Open & Affirming Ministry Program. Its commitment is manifest in these ways:
Once a ministry has committed to being an Open & Affirming Ministry and Alliance Q has confirmed its status as an Open & Affirming Ministry, it proclaims, maintains, and widens its commitment in these ways:
The Open & Affirming Ministry Team has many resources available and the Team’s Executive Director is ready to help you find the resources that are right for your congregation or ministry.
We are also aware that many congregations and ministries have come to a place, through a process formal or informal, or intentionally from the start, where they proclaim a welcome to persons of all gender expressions and sexual orientations but are not yet listed by Alliance Q as an Open & Affirming Ministry.
Below is a list of attributes that we expect of a congregation or ministry in order to list it as an Open & Affirming Ministry. For a ministry about to engage a process towards becoming Open & Affirming, these are explicit goals of the process. For a ministry that considers itself Open & Affirming already, these attributes are the concrete signs that the ministry has committed itself to being Open & Affirming.
We understand that each ministry is unique, and that there may be variations from this list. Alliance Q and the Open & Affirming Ministry Team reserve the right to determine whether a congregation or ministry is listed on the Alliance’s website as an Open & Affirming Ministry.
An Open & Affirming Ministry is committed to the Mission of the Open & Affirming Ministry Program. Its commitment is manifest in these ways:
Once a ministry has committed to being an Open & Affirming Ministry and Alliance Q has confirmed its status as an Open & Affirming Ministry, it proclaims, maintains, and widens its commitment in these ways:
When we WELCOME persons of all gender expressions and sexual orientations, we commit to including persons regardless of their gender expression or sexual orientation, welcoming all as Christ welcomes us. We do not use these attributes as a barrier to communion, membership, service, leadership, or employment in our ministry, nor as a barrier among those served.
A ministry is OPEN when it commits to communicating its welcome publicly. This may come in many forms, and most ministries do this in several ways: communicating their O&A status to Regional and General Church leadership, placing signage on their church building, publishing their O&A statement on their website, in their Sunday bulletin and in their newsletter, and wherever possible naming itself ‘an Open & Affirming Congregation [or ‘Ministry’] of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).’
A ministry is AFFIRMING when it commits to preaching and teaching a gospel which understands that God does not reject or condemn people solely for their gender expression or sexual orientation (nor any of the other attributes listed in their Open & Affirming statement).
No. We are Disciples, after all, and we don’t expect every member of our congregations to agree about much of anything! Open & Affirming is an attribute of the congregation or ministry as a whole: what it teaches and preaches, how its members treat one another, how its members welcome newcomers, whom it serves, and what policies it adheres to when hiring, evaluating, and compensating staff. But if a large number of members in a congregation or ministry don’t hold an affirming stance, it would be best to continue educating the members rather than proclaiming a welcome that much of the congregation or ministry disagrees with.
An Open & Affirming statement includes a list of attributes that the ministry is committed to accepting without judgment. For instance, General Assembly Resolution GA-1327 “Becoming a People of Grace and Welcome to All” states that the General Assembly “calls upon the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to recognize itself as striving to become a people of grace and welcome to all God’s children though differing in race, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality, ethnicity, marital status, physical or mental ability, political stance or theological perspective.”
Open & Affirming statements vary greatly, reflecting the personality, commitments, and missions of our varied ministries.
You can find several O&A statements here – Inspiration: Open & Affirming Statements.
We understand that the employment policies of various Open & Affirming Ministries will vary according to their situation. A small congregation may pass a simple resolution to insert language similar to this into its bylaws:
The First Christian Church is committed to treating all staff fairly without discriminating on the basis of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality, ethnicity and marital status, encouraging all to apply for employment, evaluating applicants and staff equally, and providing equal compensation and benefits.
Larger congregations and other organizations may change their employment policies or employee handbooks. It would of course be wise to consult a lawyer before making a legal commitment to your staff and clergy.
The Open + Affirming Ministry Team is committed to ensuring that the ministries listed on our website are welcoming and safe places for LGBTQ+ persons. Therefore, we ask you to submit this Google Form to document your Open + Affirming process. The form will ask you to document the following: