Disciples Show Their Pride Across the Country
Congregations around the country have participated in LGBT Pride celebrations recently. Here’s a rundown of some of those events.
From the Twin Cities in Minnesota: Three Churches – One Spirit at PRIDE
For the 2014 Twin Cities PRIDE festival, three Disciples churches – First Christian
Church of Minneapolis, Spirit of Joy Christian Church (Lakeville) and First Christian Church St. Paul partnered together to staff a booth. This is only the second time in the festival’s history that Disciples of Christ congregations have been involved, and the booth was well received by the wider community.
Why the PRIDE festival? As Open & Affirming congregations, we wanted to extend an intentional Christian welcome to anyone who’s ever been shut out or shut up. We wanted everyone to know the liberating love of God that says, “There’s a place for you at Jesus’ Table.” As Disciples of Christ we always set an open table. Everyone is welcome: the baptized and the unbeliever alike, gay and straight, rich and poor, women and men, children and adults. Finally, because the Disciples of Christ are relatively unknown in this part of the country, we let the community know who we are. We wanted everyone to know there are Christian churches nearby where “all means all.”
From First Christian Church Portland Oregon
First Christian Church Portland participated in Portland’s Pride parade for the first time this year. It was a joyous, fun and holy event. Our theme was “Free to be at FCC.” We had children in costumes, adults dancing and people going out of their way to thank us for being a loving presence. It was the most fun we’ve had as a congregation in a long time.
The second picture below includes Mattias on the right holding a sign that says “It’s ok to be gay. Respect all people.” He is son of the pastor Amy Piatt. She describes him as “my little social justice activist.”
From Park Avenue Christian Church New York City
The Park showed their PRIDE as they marched in the Pride Parade. This has been a long standing tradition of The Park as we march because it is Who We Are, What We Believe and Because We Are All Children of God.
Puget Sound Area Disciples at Seattle Pride Fest
Kara Markell, Pastor of Lake Washington Christian Church in Kirkland WA shared with us:
On Sunday, June 29th, Seven Open & Affirming Disciples congregations in the Puget Sound area joined together for the first time to sponsor a booth at Seattle Pride Fest. The goal was to be a loving and welcoming presence in our city, to live more fully into our O&A commitments and to embody our regional mission to be a ‘community of communities’. Informational materials from each church and from GLAD were given out along with a colorful tote bag to hundreds of individuals. Clergy and lay people shared conversation and hugs with everyone who came by the booth. The seven churches hope to continue to attend this event in years to come and grow the number of churches participating. Participant churches included: Lake City Christian Church, Lake Washington Christian Church, Open Gathering Christian Church, Queen Anne Christian Church, Northwest Christian Church, United Christian Church, and Welcome Table Christian Church.
J.C. Mitchell, Pastor of Open Gathering in Bellevue, WA, added “We had a great time celebrating at Seattle Center and sharing information about the churches. Besides celebrating Pride, it was also wonderful to see churches in our denomination work together, and to met people from different congregations.”
Edmond Trinity Christian Church at Oklahoma City Pride
Led by Revs. Don and Mary Heath, Edmond Trinity Christian Church had a great time at the Oklahoma City Pride festival this year. It was a wonderful time to offer hopeful messages to the community and show that welcoming places exist where ALL can worship.
