(815) 758-0691 | Worship every Sunday @ 10 a.m.
(815) 758-0691 | Worship every Sunday @ 10 a.m.
Learn a little about us here….
Well, nothing. We are a church that doesn’t limit your beliefs. We think every person can work out their beliefs on their own. No one here will tell you what you have to think.
It means that if you are lesbian, gay, bi, trans, gender fluid, gender queer, straight, non-binary, or anything else we remain fully open to and honor your entire self and we affirm your right to claim that identity before God – in whose image you are created.
Come as you are! We are just happy you are able and willing to spend some time here with us.
Want to learn more about our church? Here are some general frequently asked questions to get you started.
We believe that every member in every church is free to define their faith, and their relationship with God, any way they choose to. We do ask that you treat everyone with kindness, love, compassion, understanding, and dignity.
We do not seek a one size fits all faith. We have learned to express our differences, respect each others beliefs, and welcome everyone no matter who they are or where they are on life’s journey.
Our churches are filled with people who hold opposing political views, a variety of religious beliefs, and a tolerance and acceptance for those who disagree with them.
Our pastor preaches sermons based on their understandings of scripture. They work hard to relate them to our daily lives. The worshipers use that message as a guide on their faith journey, not as a directive telling them what they have to believe.
We open every worship service with these words: “No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”
We hold no doctrine or dogma that, once articulated, we force everyone to believe. Individuals may hold fast to certain dogmas or doctrines, based on how they have shaped their faith – but they hold them as individuals and not on behalf of anyone else.
There are a few ways you can do that. It begins with you declaring of your own volition that you want to join our church. This usually happens after you have had some time to come to know us. Once that decision is made, you can ask the pastor or our director of Worship and Spiritual Life how you would like that to take place. Typically, we will invite you to participate in a brief ceremony of welcome and recognition during our Sunday morning worship. If you have already been baptized, we accept that. We do not redo baptisms, as if our way is better than anyone else’s. If you are a member of another church, our office manager will write for a transfer of membership. And we will add your name to our roster of members. We try to make this simple, inviting, and welcoming so that you never doubt that you will be loved, received, and respected amongst us.
Come as you are. We have members in dresses and ties along with jeans and t-shirts. However you feel most comfortable, we encourage you to come wearing what makes you feel most like you.
That is our way of saying that your gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, physical abilities, economic status, race – or anything else you can imagine – will be welcome here. No one is turned away for any reason.
More than that – we say that you will be loved and accepted not in spite of who you are, but because of who you are. We are open to your whole self. We affirm your right to pursue your happiness, to express your whole self in the manner of your choosing. We support your legal right to marry whom you choose. We affirm your right to claim your identity and bring your whole self into worship to be seen and blessed by God, and loved and accepted by us.
We perform same gender weddings in our sanctuary. We ordain those who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer. We ordain those who clearly exhibit the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the call of God. We were the first denomination to ordain a freed black man, the first to ordain a woman, the first to ordain anyone who identified as LGBT, and Q.
This is what it means for us to be Open and Affirming.
There are two important aspects of that statement that we try to fully own and live out.
The first is the call to embody God’s love to all.
This means we not only love ALL – no exceptions – but that we, like Jesus, try to embody that love. We express that love with our whole being – or at least we try to. And if we fail, we will hold each other accountable to living that promise out more fully.
We believe simply that God is love. And we are at our best when – again, like Jesus – we embody that love to all whom God will send us.
The second part is to manifest that love in faithful action in service to others. It is a way of saying that you cannot fully embody love for another and watch them suffer unjustly. That love must lead to action. That action must be in service to the needs of those who suffer unjustly.
That is our mission: to embody God’s love and to manifest that love in action that serves the needs of others. We work hard to take that very seriously.
Can I ask if you have ever had a woman serve as the pastor of your church?
Of course.
Our current pastor is male.
But since the 90s, the church was serve by two teams of pastors which in both instances included a male and a female. The two women who served over these last few decades were the Rev. Jane Ann Moore and the Rev. Judith Harris.
It is hard to imagine a world in which the two did not mix.
For example – we have a ministry to care for homeless families. While there are many ways that we can work to ease the suffering of those who are currently without a home, organizing our political leaders to subsidize low income housing is a political pathway to reducing the suffering of those families.
Likewise, when racism was rampant, our church would have been active in the Civil Rights Movement. Long before that, we were a church that advocated fully for the abolition of slaves. Those were both movements that saw politics as one pathway to reducing the injustice and the suffering of people of color.
We are very careful not to be partisan. Indeed, we have members of our church who are active in many political parties. We believe that the church and its leaders should never, ever tell anyone how to vote or who to vote for. That is a sacred and personal choice that the church has no business interfering in. The church will, and should, never support any candidate for office or declare its allegiance with any political party.
And having said that, we cannot help but act in ways that are consistent with our faith, our mission, and our shared values. Sometimes those actions will include searching for political solutions to our common good.
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