Why the Church Needs to Focus on Inclusion

 

Photo by Alex Jackman on Unsplash

Why does the church need to focus on inclusion?

This is a question that I have struggled to answer well. Today it seems more clear to me.

Aren’t we supposed to focus on Jesus?  Well, sort of.  I think it’s more accurate to say that we’re supposed to focus on following Jesus.  That’s the invitation Jesus makes to the disciples.  “Come follow me.”  

In the gospel of John, the direction Jesus gives in the upper room on his last meal with the disciples is to “go and do likewise.”  Not to focus on him but on doing like he has done.  If we interpret that too narrowly, we’d have to be setting up foot-washing stations all over town.

It is often hard to know what to focus on because there’s so much to be done.  People are hungry.  Injustice is easy to find.  Hopelessness and despair are always hanging around somewhere.

Jesus gives us marching orders at the end of Matthew’s gospel.  “Go and make disciples, baptizing them…teaching them…”  Some churches have made this into a mission/vision statement: Reach the lost, make disciples, send them out.  To fully live that out, we have to be inclusive. 

We often pray for God to give us a vision for being the church in this time and place.  Why are we here in Sterling, Kansas (or wherever you are) in 2025 (or whatever year it is when you read this).  I wonder if we truly expect a clear answer?

To me it’s clear that the most excluded demographic is the one that needs to know the most clearly that we want them to be included.  Churches have been telling LGBTQ that they’re welcome, but only if they’re willing to change. Studies show that one in three people has experienced religious trauma, and the incidence is dramatically higher for people who are LGBTQ. They also have higher rates of suicide.  (Read more here.) These much higher rates shouldn’t be surprising considering how many churches are still telling them that they’re going to hell for being who they are. If we aren’t being explicit about inclusion, people will expect to be excluded because of the church’s history.  

In a more populated area, it’s not too hard to find truly LGBTQ-inclusive churches now, thankfully.  But in rural central Kansas where I live, there are none.  It’s a ministry gap that exists because people in rural areas tend to assume that there aren’t any LGBTQ people here.  It’s hard to know who exactly is hiding here, but for sure they’re hiding.

In 2 Corinthians 5, the Apostle Paul says we are called to the ministry of reconciliation - restoring broken relationships with God and with one another.  In regards to LGBTQ people, the church has a lot of reconciling work to do…not only with those who are LGBTQ, but also their family and friends.  This is work that we are called to do, and especially in this time and this place.

I know that this is difficult.  Our culture has raised us to be anti-LGBTQ, even to the point of anger and revulsion.  We have been trained to react negatively to non-heterosexual behavior.  It takes time to unlearn what has been ingrained in us so deeply.

I hope we’ll keep on moving forward.  It’s the least we can do.

Thanks for reading.

Loveliness

Photo by Jiroe (Matia Rengel) on Unsplash

 They 

This person I know 

Wants to be called they. 

It could bring us much closer 

To see them that way. 

It’s a strange thing to think 

And harder to say, 

But they are so happy 

When the effort is made. 

For all the theys and thems 

It is this that I pray, 

We be kind and accepting 

And just let them be they. 

(Written by Theo Nicole Lorenz’s Aunt)

I found this lovely poem on the PC(USA) website in a guide for supporting children in LGBTQIA+ families which is one of the resources available on the page about one of our newer Matthew 25 priorities: Gender Justice & Heteropatriarchy.

I'm thankful for these resources because I want to learn more about how to love one another, and especially those who tend to get cast out as unloveable.  

I do find that the more I want to love people, the easier it gets, and I think this is because God pours divine love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).  It's not always easy, partly because some days I just want to stay in my reading chair and just be alone. I'm thankful for the space and grace to have days like that.

And I am thankful for you, and for God whose love is greater than our hearts.

Thanks, God.

Ally Position Statement

 

It's been said that people don't change, but it's not true.  Our experiences, successes and failures, help us learn and grow, and through it all God's Holy Spirit works on our hearts. People change. Groups change.  This change for me has been many years in the making.  I have been an ally for a while now, but today I have been set free to say so.  What follows explains my thinking a bit.

Melissa Krabbe Position Statement Regarding LGBTQIA+

What:

• We sing “All are welcome in this place” and we want that to be completely true
• For LGBTQIA+ to know they are welcome in this place, we need to be explicit about our welcome and inclusion because so many churches say they are welcoming but really aren’t
• Psalm 139:14 says that we are wonderfully made by God. I believe that means everyone.
• Romans 15:7 NIV tells us to “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”
• Galatians 3:28 says “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Why

• It’s not as simple as “God made them male and female.” Gender is complicated and variable. So I do not believe it is a sin. It’s just another way that we’re all different.
• I saw these variations in the testing being done at the endocrine lab (my employer in the 90’s and early 2000’s) when doctors needed extra specific testing to determine sex of a baby.  It’s not always straightforward or determinable.
• I wrestled with the medical ethics of these complications in a class on applied philosophy at Clemson University
• I read about the challenges to the translations of the words in the Bible that have been used against LGBTQIA+ and the similarities to the history of using the Bible to justify slavery and to keep women from voting, owning property, or holding positions of leadership.
• I heard testimonies from LGBTQIA+ individuals who have wrestled with themselves and the church trying to be “acceptable” and seen the deep scars this leaves in people’s lives.
• There are no churches in Rice County that are explicitly welcoming and inclusive of LGBTQIA+
• In having one-on-one conversations with church members over the past few years, I have heard hearts that are open to welcoming LGBTQIA+ but were hesitant to say so because they didn’t know how others would react
• The more we can have open, friendly, and honest conversations about issues that are important to us, the healthier we can be as a church and the healthier I can be as your pastor
• Being welcomed and included in a church can help heal scars people have from being made to feel ashamed of who they are, and help them know that God really does love them

How

• Session has been discussing this for several months and reading the book Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality by Jack Rogers.  Our denomination (PCUSA) has changed our polity to allow us to be allies, and adopted the statement below.
• Our small group discussions of the book The Flight of the Puffin gave us the opportunity to have some beginning conversations about being transgender.
• More reading and discussing can help us to better understand each other and be better welcomers of those who are LGBTQIA+
• From the beginning this has been the subject of lots of prayer, and will continue to be
• I have tried to be open to listening, and over the past several years have had the opportunity to hear people’s coming out stories

Thanks, God!

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If you want to talk about this, comment below or message me. I would love to talk with you!

PCUSA Statement Adopted in 2018

Standing in the conviction that all people are created in the image of God and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for all people, the 223rd General Assembly (2018) affirms its commitment to the full welcome, acceptance, and inclusion of transgender people, people who identify as gender non-binary, and people of all gender identities within the full life of the church and the world. The assembly affirms the full dignity and the full humanity of transgender people, their full inclusion in all human rights, and their giftedness for service. The assembly affirms the church’s obligation to stand for the right of people of all gender identities to live free from discrimination, violence, and every form of injustice.

Full statement here: https://www.pc-biz.org/#/search/3000312