 We believe in a loving God, who through Jesus Christ has
called us to love and affirm all God’s children. We welcome
to full life and ministry all persons regardless of mental
and physical ability, sexual identity, race, religious
background, or economic status. By the power of the Holy
Spirit we commit ourselves to respect and support gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, who have often
been excluded from the life of the church. We stand together
seeking justice, healing, and wholeness of life for all,
thus becoming an open and affirming congregation.
On any
given Sunday gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered
worshippers account for up to one quarter of our
congregation and sometimes more, especially when families
with GLBT members are included. South Church offers a
safe, nurturing environment where the work of promoting
understanding and caring among all of its members, straight
and gay, can happen. All GLBT persons are invited to
learn more about us by coming to a Sunday worship service at
10 a.m. or by speaking with our Pastor,
Rev. Peter Heinrichs.
New! Recently a small group of GLBT members
of South Church met to discuss forming a group that would
focus on the needs of the GLBT community
of this church while building a stronger alliance with our
straight members. “Alliance” was a word that came out
of that meeting, mainly to distinguish it from a traditional
committee with members who serve for a specified term.
Anyone can come to a monthly meeting and not feel obliged to
“sign-on” to anything. Part of the recent meeting was spent
discussing events that would be relevant to everyone
at the church, gay or straight, but that would also be
geared toward helping us understand each other better and
build a stronger community. Examples included a Bible Study
series, an all-church fun night, an outreach program for
younger members of the LGBT community, support events for
families with same-sex parents, or other issues that might
present themselves. Sometimes these issues overlap with
those being addressed by other groups in the church, like
Christian Education, and in those cases the alliance would
be there to offer help and support.
 We
found at this first “exploratory” gathering that we also
spent a lot of time talking to each other about what it
means to be an LGBT member of a Christian Church. Sometimes
the discussion was emotional and the energy was high for the
entire evening. The next meeting, which is open to anyone
and will happen at the home of Victor Olivas and Fernando
Cruz, 32 Eddywood Street in Springfield, on Tuesday, July 20
at 7 p.m. If you have any other questions please contact
Larry Picard at
lpicard@sococh.org
or 413-732-0117.
Learn more about Open & Affirming
in the United Church of Christ
here.
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