The Inclusivity Committee offers this booklet to all members and clergy of the ELCA. The stories presented in this booklet represent the faith journeys of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered (LGBT) folk, their parents, and non-gay persons, all of whom are members of the two Twin Cities synods that our committee serves. They represent a much larger collection of narratives that one can find in every congregation, many of which have never been told.

No synod funds were received for publication. If you receive value, we ask for a small donation to help us continue this effort:   Inclusivity Booklet c/o Carolyn Kienbaum 78 E. 10th Street, #1707 St. Paul, MN 55101

These stories portray the joy, the pain, the struggle of loving, committed individuals who love their church, but do not always feel welcomed or affirmed in who they are. We believe that God loves every person and that each person bears the image of God. Their stories are signs that the Spirit has been working in our midst, often undetected.

We encourage you to freely share this booklet with others. This work was published May 2009 and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License. Its contents may be freely shared with proper attribution to the author, Kari Aanestad, and the Joint Synod Committee for Inclusivity. License information is available here.  

Excerpts From

Listen to Their Hope: Hear Their Faith

“It is always of utmost importance for us to hear the stories of the Baptized that live among us and have also suffered among us.”

(from Foreword by Bishop Craig Johnson, Minneapolis Area Synod, ELCA)

“The church’s life doesn’t depend on the rightness of our judgments, but on our faith in a creating, loving, sustaining God — a God who simply calls us to first

love God, and then to love each other. People matter. All people.

In this book, you will be immersed in this invitation to step back from the hysteria and the debate and meet some people. Hear their stories. Understand their journey. Listen to their hopes and struggles and values — and, in the midst of it all, hear their faith.”

(from Preface by Bishop Peter Rogness, Saint Paul Area Synod, ELCA) 

“Christ is present here in our lives and in our ministry, and the only thing any of us has is the unconditional grace of God . If we think we’ve got something different or that some are bigger sinners than others, then we’ve got theological baloney.”

(from Glen’s story)

“I can’t believe that after spending all of my life in this church — being both baptized and confirmed here — that I’m asking you at this point to accept me as

a child of God.”

(from Cindy & Bev’s story)

“In the course of less than 10 years, my pastor went from the point of my being the first person he knew was gay to presiding at my union ceremony.”

(from Christopher & Karl’s story)

“I fear the church risks becoming dysfunctional or possibly irrelevant if it is unable to come to terms with accepting all of God’s children... It just breaks my heart to see someone so qualified and ready for a call but we can’t officially ordain her.”

(from Rob & Laura’s story)

“I got disillusioned by fighting the fight. Lauren has a drive that I’ve lost. She wishes I was sitting next to her on Sunday mornings, but I can’t fight for a change within a church in which I don’t feel safe and valued.”

(from Michelle’s story)

“I believe in God but I don’t believe in organized religions.’ That’s a very common thing among gay people because it’s not God that has rejected them — it’s the people.”

(from John & Keith’s story)

“Why aren’t we allowing [same-gender] blessings? We bless boats, we bless yards, we bless animals, but why don’t we bless people?  I can’t tell you how many people drive by our church and see our sign that says we’re an RIC congregation, and say they want to worship at our church.”

(from Tina’s story)

“I didn’t feel welcomed or respected. If the church that I loved so much didn’t respect who I was, how on earth could I respect the church?  It was really powerful to have people affirming who we are as a couple in a church setting, all singing hymns together. It really meant a lot to us.”

(from John, Kyle and Family story)

“Jesus called the woman ‘daughter’ . . . I realized right then that I was not simply a spectator of the Bible anymore — I am still God’s kid, and that maybe this sexuality stuff isn’t as important as that… While being married I’ve learned that I can screw up and still be loved; that is a model of God’s grace. We learn how to be more fully God’s children by loving each other.”

(from Jodi & Rochelle’s story)

“We’re busy helping with homework, driving to soccer games, and working. We hope that we set just a regular example for people. Randy and I consider sexual orientation to be a non-issue: we are who we are; we are a family… Even in spite of the fact that the ELCA at large wouldn’t allow us the same rights that the other members have, our church accepted us as part of the family.”

(from Randy & David’s story)