Church Council, based on a recommendation from a task force of interested members of the congregation, has adopted a welcome statement that will be published in our Sunday worship bulletins and on the congregation’s web site.
We Welcome You
We welcome all who visit us. Our faith calls us to be an inclusive community and to embrace all people, including those of all cultures, races, and sexual orientations.
This welcome statement was adopted for the following reasons
(1) All people who visit us should receive a formal as well as an informal welcome, especially those who are members of groups that have a history of being marginalized in our society.(2) Even still today, people of sexual orientations other than heterosexual are one of the most marginalized and ostracized groups in our society, even by many Christian churches. We must reach out to those groups at this particular time or risk that our silence could contribute to their feelings of isolation. Thus, a statement mentioning that group in particular is appropriate and timely.
(3) We want to be explicit in our statement of our convictions and not rely on coded or vague language. We want for those who visit us to know we are open about what we believe.
(4) We want to make it clear that we are inclusive because of our faith, not in spite of our faith, and not because of a superficial desire to be politically correct.
We all pray for and expect the day to come when our statement of welcome will no longer need to identify those who have suffered and still suffer marginalization in our society. Therefore, we plan to review our statement periodically for appropriateness and timeliness.