Christ the King Church welcomes LGBT community

Date: 10/30/2014

WILBRAHAM – Christ the King Lutheran Church celebrated its new status as a Reconciling in Christ (RIC) congregation at its worship service on Oct. 26, which was due to the congregation’s vote on June 1 to draft a “statement of welcome” for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual (LGBT).

The Rev. Nathaniel Anderson, pastor of the Christ the King Lutheran Church and priest in charge of the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany, said there was more than a 90 percent vote from the congregation in favor of the statement of welcome.

“The people who did vote no, I think the concern was, ‘Why are we making this statement, we’re already welcoming?’” he added. “Why are we going to single out this one group of people? And the answer to that is that most LGBT people have just historically been ostracized from the church.

“And you know, most LGBT people have themselves or have a friend or someone they know have had a negative experience with the church,” Anderson continued. “So kind of the default thought is ‘I don’t even want to go into that church, they don’t want me there.’”

Anderson, 29, said the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), to which Christ the Lutheran King belongs, voted in 2009 to allow openly gay pastors in committed relationships to lead a congregation. Before that time, gay pastors were required to be celibate.

“The hope at the national level was that ‘Hey, we disagree with [not allowing gay pastors to lead a congregation],’” he added. “There are faithful people on both sides on this question, can we live together despite our differences for the sake of the gospel.”

The RIC status is related to organization known as Reconciling Works, which has been advocating for the full inclusion of LGBT peoples within the Lutheran Church since the 1970s, he explained.

“Even if you have people who are out or not, there’s gay people in every church no matter how gay friendly or not gay friendly they are,” Anderson added. “Some people still have this sort of caricature in their mind of what a gay man or a lesbian looks like.

“And they think, ‘We don’t have any of those people here,’” he continued. “We do have gay people here and they’re just like you and me.”

There are about 185 ELCA congregations in the New England synod, Anderson said. After the 2009 decision, none of the congregations in New England left the national synod.

“We are unique and in some parts of the Midwest, there were many congregations that left; in the south as well,” he added. “But I think we’ve kind of weathered that storm at this point.”

Anderson said Christ the King has a congregation of about 150 people and is in partnership with the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany, which has a congregation roughly the same size.

The Episcopal Church of the Epiphany is not an RIC church, he added; however, he said he believes that the congregation at Church of the Epiphany would be open to the idea.

“There’s gay persons in leadership persons in the congregation,” Anderson said. “I think it would be a no brainer if we decided to do that.”

Anderson said he thinks the RIC status and the church’s official welcoming of all people is long over due.

“Many churches in our area are just as welcoming as we are,” he added. “I hope everyone realizes that we are making this statement. Many churches and many pastors in our area are as open and affirming as well.”