You Can Help Us Bring More Welcome to the Christian Church

This is a General Assembly year, and GLAD has been working to ensure that our presence at this year’s General Assembly will provide the information, the tools, and the inspiration to bring more welcome and justice to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Rev. Mark Johnston, Ph.D., Executive Director of GLAD’s Open & Affirming Ministry Program, tells us that “I have come to see that many of our churches  are welcoming LGBTQ people into their lives, but many of these churches do not yet understand how important the Open is in Open & Affirming. These churches do not understand that for LGBTQ people it is life-saving to find a church that welcomes all openly.”

We have many resources on our website that help us understand what Dr. Johnston is saying. Perhaps you remember reading this article in Crossbeams? or perhaps you’ve browsed the Inspirations section of our website and read this article by Christian Piatt at First Christian Church, Portland, OR, or perhaps you’ve read this article by Erin Wathen at Saint Andrew Christian Church, Olathe, KS?

We have big plans for bringing more welcome to the Christian Church Perhaps you read about those plans and how you can help here.

The Alliance Council is working to make it clear at this General Assembly that welcome comes with justice. We know that LGBTQ people come in all ethnicities, speak all languages, and share a rainbow of skin colors. And we know that none of as are welcome until all of us are welcome.

That is why this year you will find the GLAD Alliance sharing a booth with Disciples Justice Action Network, Disciples Peace Fellowship, and Reconciliation.

And to further this work, providing all our congregations the provisions needed to continue moving towards ever increasing welcome, we need your help.

Dr. Johnston has noted that “many of our churches are not moving towards becoming Open & Affirming because their leadership doesn’t believe their congregation is ready.

That is why Dr. Johnston has planned a workshop titled My Church isn’t Ready to Become Open & Affirming and Other Myths.

Further, there will be a full day training on the Building an Inclusive Church Toolkit, the ecumenically developed material that provides congregations with the tools and process needed to develop a grace-filled Open & Affirming process unique to the congregation’s needs.

You can read about these and all our General Assembly activites here.

But none of these trainings and workshops will matter if the people don’t show up, and that’s where your help comes in.

Are you attending a church that should be Open & Affirming but isn’t yet? It’s time that you attend the Building an Inclusive Church Pre-Assembly Event and bring one or two other leaders from your congregation.

Are you attending a church that doesn’t think it’s ready to be Open & Affirming? It’s time that you attend the workshop on Open & Affirming and Other Myths, and again, bring one or two other leaders from your congregation.

Are you attending a church that is already Open & Affirming? Fabulous! You can help in a couple of ways: You can attend the Building an Inclusive Church Pre-Assembly Event and prepare yourself to work in the future, assisting congregations in your region to become Open & Affirming. And you can encourage your friends from other congregations to attend our events and learn how they can work in their congregations to increase the welcome. Again, more information on all our events here.

So: Will you help us find the people who will lead their congregations to become Open & Affirming? Will you become a person who is available to congregations in the process?

You can download this flier and see that it is distributed it at your church and given it to your congregation’s General Assembly attendees.

You can send members of your congregation to GLAD’s Pre-Assembly events discussing conversion therapy and the intersections of racial and LGBTQ justice (again, more about all our General Assembly activities here).

With your continued help, together we will build a church where all people are welcome, where all means all.

You can find the Building an Inclusive Church Toolkit here, and you can find more information about GLAD’s Open & Affirming Ministry Program here.