First Church of the Brethren
Open and Affirming
As an Open and Affirming congregation we welcome everyone to
participate fully in the life and worship of our church, while we
continue the Work of Jesus: Peacefully, Simply, Together.
We believe that everyone- all genders, sexual orientation, gender
identity, age, nationality, ethnicity, race, spiritual journey,
marital status, economic means, physical or mental ability- is created in
the image of God.
John 13: 34-35 states,
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."
-Officially adopted in April, 2025
Practically, this means that we:
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welcome people who identify as LGBTQ+ to serve at all levels of leadership.
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sanction (allow) our pastor to perform LGBTQ+ weddings.
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allow people who identify as LGBTQ+ to use our building for weddings and other gatherings.
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publicly communicate that our church is an open and affirming congregation.
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continue to educate ourselves and find ways to appropriately use our
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programs, building, and resources to welcome all people into this community of faith
Our Journey
For many years, people in our congregation would have said that we were welcoming to all people, including people who are LGTBQ+. However, through conversations with LGBTQ+ people that we know and love in our real lives, it became clear that our church not having taken an official and public stance actually made our church unsafe for many people. Over the course of about a year and a half we spent significant time learning, listening to queer people, and analyzing out church structure. This culminated in the congregation officially adopting the statement and practical implications that are above in April of 2025. We are very aware that we have a long way to go in our journey but we are committed to continuing to grow and learn how to love people well.
A note on our wider denomination
We're part of the Church of the Brethren, a denomination that does not have a single official position on LGBTQ+ inclusion — individual congregations and districts hold a range of views. First Church of the Brethren has made our own discernment as a congregation, and we're honest that we're one expression of a wider, more varied denominational family. If you have questions about how that works, we're glad to talk about it.