A Central Alberta church has opened its doors a little wider by welcoming gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
St. Andrew’s United Church in Lacombe officially became an Affirming Ministry, one that supports and accepts all sexual orientations and performs same-gender weddings.
It is the first church in Central Alberta to take the step. The only other Affirming Ministries in Alberta are in Calgary, Edmonton and Lethbridge.
For Marg Linklater, a member of the St. Andrew’s congregation and of the church’s Pathways support group, which mostly consisted of people who had relatives who were lesbian, gay or bisexual, the decision to become an Affirming Ministry meant.
“The church I have always belonged to and have worshipped in is recognizing that we have to do what we’re called to do, which is to be inclusive,” said Linklater. “I’m really very proud of a church that will take a stand and say yes, we’re doing our very best to be inclusive of anyone who wants to come and worship with us and be a part of our organization.”
Linklater and her husband have two gay children and to be in a church community that accepts them has a positive impact for the couple.
Rev. Ross Smillie said the feeling from the congregation was there was a need to have a church that would stand up on the issue and be publicly affirming of sexual minorities.
“As a church, we’ve come to the conclusion that it is perfectly acceptable for gay and lesbian people to enter into partnerships and to be accepted and we should encourage and celebrate that,” said Smillie.
When it came time for the church to vote on becoming an Affirming Ministry, the congregation gave overwhelming support for the move with 85 per cent in favour.
“The consultation process we went through was pretty extensive and so we kind of knew that there was a very strong majority in favour of it,” said Smillie.
The process started after same sex marriage became legal in 2005 as a result of Bill C-38, the Civil Marriage Act. In 2006, St. Andrew’s initiated a consultation and study process discussing the biblical, ethical and pastoral questions involved and whether the church would perform same-sex marriages.
“At that time the whole idea was new, so there was some more hesitancy about that,” said Smillie. “Five years later, more people had come to a level of comfort with that. Waiting that four or five years was probably a good idea for us in terms of developing a stronger consensus around what we were able to do.”
The Pathways support group was created out of the initial talks as a place for members of the congregation to talk about their experiences.
“Some of them have had their kids have suicide tendencies and struggle with whether they will be accepted or not,” said Smillie.
Pathways grew to support other families in similar situations and members started attending conferences and learning more about Affirming Ministries in other contexts.
Then in 2010, a lesbian couple asked to be married at St. Andrew’s in a faith-based context. That sparked the consultation process and study that eventually led to the decision, which was voted on by the congregation, to become an Affirming Ministry in November 2011.
“I think the congregation sees this and made this decision as an important part of who we are as a progressive, inclusive congregation,” said Smillie. “They thought it was consistent with our understanding of who God is and what God is calling us to do and be.”
After congregational approval, the church had to create a plan of action, working in consultation with the national Affirm United organization, which administers the Affirming Ministry program. In the spring of 2012, the action plan was completed.
Then on Sunday, Sept. 23, the church celebrated becoming an Affirming Ministry. It was presented with a charter from the national Affirm United organization. Rev. Sally Boyle, the president of Alberta and Northwest Conference of the United Church was the guest speaker.
“This is not the end of process,” said Smillie. “This is a commitment to engaging minorities of various kinds, it’s not just sexual minorities, although that’s the focus of it at this point. It’s about recognizing that our understanding of God’s call is to be continually engaging with difference — those who may be excluded from our community in various ways at the moment.”
The lesbian couple that approached St. Andrew’s was married, but because they wanted to marry in a few months and the consultation process took a year, they were referred to Sunnybrook United Church in Red Deer.
Sunnybrook does have a Friends of Affirm group, but is not an official Affirming Ministry.
“It’s very much about our faith,” said Smillie. “It’s about communicating God’s unconditional love to the community and in particular to people who have felt excluded by churches and maybe misunderstood by churches.”
Smillie said he has heard from many other people in other congregations in Lacombe who are glad St. Andrew’s United is doing this.
“It seems to be the right thing,” said Linklater. “And it isn’t only the gay issue, we have to be inclusive of everyone. They have to have a safe place to go.”
mcrawford@www.reddeeradvocate.com