• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • Sermons
  • About
  • Contact

So What Faith

Greg Smith

  • Books
  • Discipleship
  • Social Media
  • Leadership
  • Trends
  • Prayer

1,000 Open and Affirming Congregations (#0646)

2012/02/21 By Greg

The United Church of Christ is known for being first:

  • 1785 – first ordained African American pastor
  • 1853 – first woman pastor
  • 1972 – ordination of first openly gay minister

Today, the denomination celebrates another first as it welcomes its 1,000th Open and Affirming congregation.  Open and affirming congregations have

publicly and specifically declared that those of all “sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions” (or “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender” people) are welcome in its full life and ministry (e.g. membership, leadership, employment, etc.) It bespeaks a spirit of hospitality and a willingness to live out that welcome in meaningful ways.

So What?

I currently serve one of the one thousand open and affirming congregations in the United Church of Christ.  Even though this milestone is significant, it represents only a small percentage of the total congregations (5,000+)  in the denomination.

  • Would learning a congregation is open and affirming make it more or less attractive to you? Why?
  • It took 27 years in the UCC for about 20% of its congregations to become open and affirming.  How long do you think it will take before a majority of congregations receive this designation?  What factors do you think will contribute most significantly to movement in that direction?
  • The movement toward inclusiveness is far wider than the UCC.  Several mainline denominations have amended ordination standards in recent years to welcome openly gay and lesbian ministers (for an example, read this post on the recent changes in the PCUSA).  Do you think these changes will remain in mainline Protestantism or expand beyond it?

 

Primary Sidebar

Greg Smith

Greg is a follower of the Way of Jesus who strives to make the world a better place for all people. Currently, he serves as Chief Executive Officer of White Rock Center of Hope and as Interim Senior Pastor of Advent Lutheran Church. He has served ten congregations, taught religion to undergraduates for eight years, and helped three organizations provide quality healthcare to underserved populations. (Read More)

Categories

Recent Posts

  • Going Electric! (#2229)
  • Living by Faith (#2228)
  • Fewer Master of Divinity Students (#2227)
  • Welcoming Everyone (#2226)
  • The Increasingly Purple Mainline (#2225)

Tags

Advent Lutheran Church Bible blogging Catholic change Christian Christianity church COVID-19 Dallas decline Diana Butler Bass discipleship education ELCA Episcopal Evangelical facebook faith Jesus Leadership love mainline Mainline Protestant marcus borg membership Ministry Naples United Church of Christ ordination pastor PCUSA Pew Research Center Prayer preaching Presbyterian Protestant religion Scot McKnight social media technology theology twitter United Church of Christ United Methodist worship

Copyright © 2025 · So What Faith, a member of The Faith Growth Digital Ministry Network