First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) church, 650 McCallie Ave. in Chattanooga, reopened last Sunday with a "new commitment to expand its sense of what community can be."
Having completed a two year “Open and Affirming” process, First Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ) now fully welcomes members of the LGBTQ+ community into the life of the church, a
step church leaders say is a natural extension of the congregation’s personality.
“For many members, it was a no brainer,” says Jill Rafiee, vice-president of the congregation.
“Warmth and welcome are part of who First Christian is. This is really just a public expression of
those core values that make us who we are.”
“Since our days as a frontier movement, the Disciples of Christ have seen Christian Unity as our
guiding value,” says Senior Minister Rev. Brandon Gilvin. “And unity requires inclusion. We see
building an inclusive Christian Community as part of our call to ministry in Chattanooga.”
A team of church members led a multi-step discernment process, organizing community
conversations which included a Bible study of the so-called “clobber passages” often used to
marginalize LGBTQ+ Christians.
The process also included sessions in which church members heard first hand from members of
Chattanooga’s LGBTQ+ community about their often painful experiences with faith communities
who offered a welcome, but denied full participation.
“All churches say that all are welcome, but particularly for LGBTQ+ folks, it can feel like a ‘bait
and switch’ when you are told you’re welcome but then told that you can’t take communion, or
you can’t be married by your pastor, or that you can’t even be a member. It was important that we be clear,” said Brandon Hubbard-Heitz, FCC member and chair of the “Welcoming
Committee,” which led the process.
Members also heard from faith leaders whose churches have already committed to full
inclusion, and listened to each other share their own hopes, concerns and questions about what
it actually means to be "Open and Affirming."
“It is not only important for my family, but for all families to know that we are fully included,” Kate
Wallace, an FCC member who served on the Welcoming Committee. “As someone who grew
up in the Christian Faith and was embraced by my church when I came out as a young person, I
know what a difference that sort of welcome can make. I am so glad that we can be a place that
is clear in its welcome to all people, regardless of who they are.”
"The discernment process was well under way when Covid-19 restrictions and precautions
forced First Christian retreat to virtual platforms like Zoom to worship and share fellowship," officials said. "Undaunted, the committee took time to regroup, then used those platforms to continue the process, drawing on input from members to craft a “welcome statement” that publicly expressed the values of the church."
“It was important to us that whatever we wrote was representative of our full community and was
both transparent and precise,” said Mr. Hubbard-Heitz. Under Denominational polity, Churches of the Disciples of Christ are governed autonomouslyand locally, in covenant with the regional and national manifestations of the church. In 2013, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of the United States and Canada passed a resolution at its General Assembly that “calls upon the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to affirm the faith, baptism and spiritual gifts of all Christians regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” and affirms “that neither are grounds for exclusion from fellowship or service within the church, but are a part of God's good creation.”
After 14 months of following COVID-related protocols and worshipping online, First Christian
held its first post-COVID in-person worship service in its sanctuary this past Sunday, also its first
time worshipping in-person as an "Open and Affirming" congregation, and the first worship service
of its Sesquicentennial year.
“One hundred-fifty years covers a lot of history and a lot of change,” Rev. Gilvin said. “We’re a church with a good bit of theological diversity, a longstanding mission of serving vulnerable populations across Chattanooga and beyond, and above all, a commitment to being a place where all people know they are made in the image of God and are welcomed. We are often emphatic that all means all.”