By Brent Woodard
Windermere Valley Shared Ministry
In the United and Anglican Church, there is an opportunity for a local church to become an “Affirming Ministry.” For a church to become an Affirming Ministry means it publicly commits to inclusion and justice for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities specifically, and to a broader pursuit of justice and inclusion for all people and creation.
An Affirming Ministry recognizes there is diversity in being human. This is different from thinking in a binary way. Binary means “having two parts.” Diversity means humans live on many spectrums and there is a vast range of individual differences and experiences.
In order to become an Affirming Ministry, people of the church go through an intentional process, which includes Bible study, discernment and reflection, and which also includes learning that being an Affirming Ministry is not merely about welcoming gay, lesbian, and transgender people. Words like welcoming or inclusion suggest those on the inside have the power to choose to accept those on the outside. This makes it sound like it is an act of charity to welcome those who are different or marginalized. People in an Affirming Ministry see that it is not their place to welcome anyone because church is not a private club and they are not the gatekeepers. As soon as one new person comes through the doors, the community becomes a new community.
There is an acronym which helps direct an affirming church. It is P.I.E. – standing for public, intentional and explicit. An affirming church is public, intentional and explicit about accepting and honouring all people in the various ways in which they are diverse, and queer or 2SLGBTQIA+ people specifically. Why is this necessary and important? The answer may lie in the metaphor “coming out of the closet.” When someone is in a closet, they are silent, out of sight and out of mind. They don’t disturb or ask anything from those who “live in the house.” But why is someone “in the closet?” Because it is safer to be there. Because some people, who may never have to live in a closet themselves, are not asked to be expanded and leave their psychological comfort zone. The opposite of public, intentional and explicit is private, accidental and ambiguous – or, using one word, silent. Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel once wrote, “Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
Windermere Valley Shared Ministry has gone through a process and has decided to become an Affirming Ministry. We are celebrating this on Sunday, May 25 at 10:30 a.m. and invite anyone to come and celebrate with us.
