Affirmed believers: Gower Street United votes to be more welcoming of LGBTQ community

Gower Street United Church will be celebrating a major achievement in early June: its designation as an affirming ministry, with the goal of being more welcoming to people of different sexual orientations.

"Around 2007 we had a year of conversation, where we as a congregation reflected on the issues related to discrimination of LGBTQ individuals and families," said Gail Wideman, chair of the Gower Street United Church affirmation committee.

That culminated with a vote to approve same-sexmarriages around 2009.

"Butwe weren't necessarily affirming in the sense that we needed to really look more intentionally at the policies and practices that we were engaged in as a church community, to really think, and learn and listen about the things that we could do differently that would really make Gower Street United Church an affirming congregation," said Wideman.

Affirm United is a national organization of the United Church of Canada that grew out of a movement to recognize that their churches weren't being completelyinclusive of people with different sexual orientations and gender identities.

Now there are more than 100 affirmchurches across Canada, Pam Jones-Fitzgerald, Gower Street United reverend, told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show. Gower Street United is the second congregation in the province to join, and the first in Newfoundland.

Making a statement

Fitzgerald said while her church has always been welcoming, theywanted to make a statement by marking themselves as an affirmation congregation.

"We wanted to be intentional about being inclusive also," she said. "We're trying to make our washrooms non-gender washrooms, we fly the Pride flag in our sanctuary, we have a statement in our bulletin ... that says we're inclusive of all peoples.

"We really wanted to make it public."

Fitzgerald acknowledges people in the congregation have different levels ofunderstanding inclusion of the LGBTQ community, but noted thecongregation did still vote 98 per cent in favour of becoming an affirming ministry.

"The congregation has been really open about hearing their stories, and we've always said we need to have conversations about this publicly, so that people can move along with us."

Drawing new followers

Wideman said since the Gower Street United's shift toward being more inclusive, new faces have begun appearing at the church.

And there areways to be a part of the congregation other than the Sunday morning worship, she said.

"Younger people, while Sunday mornings might not be their thing, they are very spiritual. Issues of social justice are a huge part of the United Church of Canada," she said.

"We want you to be a part of our community of faith in the way that you can. So if that's coming to an event that we have on a Tuesday night, or if it's being part of the Gower community band,there's other things going on. Worship is very important, yes, but it's not the only way to be part of our community of faith."

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