O&A Journey
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. Heart of the Rockies Christian seeks to live out our calling to Loving God. Serving others. Changing lives. And yet, our world is still fragmented. People are still hurting. God’s love and the welcome of the Lord’s Table have not yet reached everyone who is yearning for healing and belonging. Many LGBTQ+ people have difficulty finding a church where they feel included and affirmed. These feelings can affect their ability to seek a positive relationship with Christ.
Following a two year process, our Discernment Team team presented to our congregation a new welcome statement, which was adopted by a unanimous yes vote at a called congregational meeting on Sunday, June 27, 2021, which declares our church an Open & Affirming (ONA) congregation, as outlined by the Disciples’ LGBTQ+ Alliance.
Heart of the Rockies Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) welcomes into membership, full participation, and leadership, all persons regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, economic status, physical or mental ability, familial status, and faith history.
As an Open and Affirming congregation, we reach out to those who have known the pain of exclusion and discrimination by the church and society.
The Holy Spirit moves among us to create a sense of belonging to encourage love and acceptance of one another. We share the joys and challenges of what it means to grow in our love for God and our service to others. Our community is shaped by God’s life-giving, life-changing unconditional grace. In turn, we strive to become a living expression of God’s love.
What does it mean to be Open & Affirming?
The identity statement of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) includes: “As part of the one body of Christ we welcome all to the Lord’s Table as God has welcomed us.”
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 church, nor as a barrier among those served.
A congregation is OPEN when it commits to communicating its welcome publicly and by naming itself an Open & Affirming Congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
A congregation 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.
What does LGBTQ+ stand for?
Lesbian, a woman who identifies as being sexually and/or romantically attracted to other women.
Gay, a man who identifies as being sexually and/or romantically attracted to other men.
Bisexual, a person who identifies as being sexually an/or romantically attracted to both men and women.
Transgender, a person who has crossed from the gender assigned to them at birth to a different gender identity.
Queer, a term used by some people instead of or in addition to the others because their identify is not fully represented by L, G, B, or T.
+, an inclusive and intentional way of representing all additional identities and experiences.
Resources
For the Bible Tells Me So – This DVD can be checked out in the office with Sarah. Through the experiences of five families, including former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, we discover how people of faith handle the realization of having a gay child or family member. It offers healing, clarity and understanding to anyone caught in the crosshairs of scripture and sexual identity.
Fish Out of Water – This excellent film seizes the issue of homosexuality and the Bible, dissecting the impact it has had on American culture, politics, the LGBTQ+ community and the Christian church as a whole. With animated historical clips and quirky interviews taken from barbershops to truck stops, the film will inspire, inform, and with hope, transform.
Transgender and Christian – A theological understanding celebrating transgender identity woven with the personal faith testimony of Dr. H Adam Ackely who is both an ordained minister and a theologian. Dr. Ackely shares his experiences from youth to adulthood and his goes a long way in helping heterosexuals see and begin to understand a different perspective.
Does Christianity have good news for the transgendered? – Transgender issues are gaining increasing cultural traction but what does the Christian world-view have to say about them? In this talk, RZIM (Ravi Zacharias International Ministries) Itinerant Speaker Sam Allberry contends there are three aspects where Christians offer unique insight – brokenness, identity and hope.
The Bible and Transgender Christians – Austen Hartke presents on the Bible and transgender Christians at The Reformation Project in Chicago.
More than a Woman: The Intersections of Gender, Race, and Sexual Orientation – In the words of the late essayist, Audre Lorde: “There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”
Invisibilized in conversations on cis-gender issues, women identified people of color face unique challenges, living in a world where they experience both racism, sexism and transphobia all while working to achieve and perform at their highest level.