From Grace’s Council, Fall 2022
Grace Church has held a long-standing vision to be a healthy, urban, intentionally multi-ethnic, and diverse (in many ways) expression of God’s new family in Christ Jesus. Our name, Grace, reflects our calling to welcome people of all kinds on the basis of God’s undeserved gift of grace. We cling to our proud history of promoting racial justice and reconciliation, women in church office, and inclusion of people of all abilities. We hear echoes of words of grace once spoken by a Black founding elder when White families first began to join our church:
If they are not welcome, I am not welcome.
We as a church have been extensively discussing appropriate inclusion of our LGBTQ+ siblings for some time, both as a congregation and denomination. As Grace stated in our 2017 statement, we have sought “to be a welcoming community where all are accepted as sinners saved by grace” yet at that time we chose not to articulate “an official position statement” regarding same-sex marriage.
Some of our members strongly disagree with each other on the issue of LGBTQ+ marriage. The council of Grace Church respects the fact that faithful, loving, and Christlike members of our congregation have come to different conclusions. We must now discern a way forward together, embracing our diversity “in many ways.” Therefore, longing for God’s Shalom for all people in the New Creation, being swept up in the Spirit’s campaign of radical inclusion, and in the humble power of Jesus’ self-giving love, the council of Grace Church adopted the following policy:
Grace Church celebrates LGBTQ+ people as image bearers, loved by God, and welcomes them whether single, in a dating relationship, or married. Those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord shall enjoy full participation in the life of the church, including ordination to the roles of elder and deacon, preaching, being married, having their children baptized, and filling all leadership roles as their gifts allow.
Grace’s council has discussed and revised this language, welcomed feedback on it from the congregation, held detailed educational classes on the biblical and scientific foundations on the topic, offered various listening circles about its impact, and recently polled the congregation for their sense of it.
This policy proposes a way we choose to behave as a community, even while we don’t all agree on some of the underlying principles or even the full wisdom of the policy. We all do seek, however, to be the body of Christ, known not just in name, but in action, by grace.
This is an important season for Grace Church. As we emerge from the pandemic and call a new pastor, we begin a new chapter in ministry, and we seek to do so as a single body. We don’t all have to agree, and there’s room for dissent. Paul’s words from Ephesians 4 can both challenge and comfort us. May we bear with one another in love, making every effort to keep our unity in the Spirit through the bond of peace. Whatever our position on becoming an inclusive church, let this scripture be our model for how we care for one another.
Grace is a church deeply rooted in our denomination and remains committed to Reformed theology and tradition, with deep love for the Word of God. Many members have spent their whole lives intertwined in the wider church: pastoring, writing, organizing, teaching, praying, and worshiping together. Speaking truth and love and challenging religious authorities is not new to our faith. We are after all in the “Reformed” tradition. Jesus himself was no stranger to conflict with religious leaders. Yet our focus remains in our neighborhood. Continue to pray for us, that God’s will be known, for the Holy Counselor to dwell between us, and for all those who have been and are being hurt by the church to know God’s healing love despite our many human failings. We worship God together with the words of this Lenten hymn:
We are people on a journey
Rising up in life reborn
We are people on a journey
Speaking peace accepting scorn
We are walking toward a homeland
To a mystery yet unknown
To a kingdom coming quickly
To the light of God’s own throne
We pray that as brothers and sisters, the Spirit will bind us together and fill us afresh to be the voice and hands of Christ, welcoming our neighbors and building each other up.
Let us honor our Lord by our love and care for one another.
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