You are welcome and celebrated here. Full stop. 

 

Pastor Lana is transgender, and both she and our communications manager are queer. FPC is proud to be a More Light Presbyterian church. MLP is a coalition of open and affirming churches that "[works] toward the full participation of LGBTQIA+ people in the life, ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA) – and in society."

 

Like the More Light Presbyterians, we believe that all people are image-bearers of God and that there is nothing that can separate us from God's love, regardless of what many churches proclaim. The PC(USA) as a denomination agrees with this and has "apologized for the [PC(USA)]'s previous unwelcoming stance on LGBTQ parishioners, [dedicated themselves to] celebrat[ing] LGBTQ church pioneers, and stated the church will welcome, lift up, and fight for the human rights of all people created in the eyes of God."

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Here are some resources for folks who are curious about how people can have diverse sexual orientations and/or gender identities and be Christian at the same time, or how Christians can affirm these kinds of diversity. Know that there are many other ways of exploring these topics, too!

• For people coming from a more evangelical background with a very high view of Scripture, this is a great place to start exploring sexual orientation: Matthew Vines, author of "God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships", shares about misconceptions of the six "clobber passages" that are used to condemn homosexuality and offers a new vision of God's ordaining humankind to love and be loved.

• This writing by Episcopalian Bishop Gene Robinson is a deep dive into what it means to provide a welcome to transgender Christians. The Human Rights Campaign has a much shorter piece about what the Bible says about transgender people.

• Q Christian Fellowship is not only a place for queer Christians to connect with one another in authentic and affirming ways, but also an excellent source of theological and practical resources about sexuality and gender for LGBTQIA+ people and allies seeking to support their loved ones. There are even resources for queer Christians who are interested in going to seminary! 

• Trans Missionary Collective is another place to find fellowship and helpful information for gender-diverse Christians and allies.

• The diverse set of theologians behind Queer Theology go beyond apologetics and the six clobber passages, instead focusing on how Scripture itself is "queer" in its own ways - and some of the stories are explicitly so.