What is Anchor Bay Church’s Posture toward LGBTQ Inclusion?
- Written by Pastor Brynn Harrington
We’ll share about our approach, using the terms “traditional” to describe a more conservative view that marriage is between a man and a woman, and “progressive” to describe a view that some might call “open and affirming.” But first, two caveats:
Language is totally imperfect when defining these views, and those words “traditional” and “progressive” have lots of baggage associated with them. We typically refer to people in the way they’ve asked to be called - so while progressive types may have an aversion to the word “traditional” and traditional types don’t always like the word “progressive”, it’s what folks in our church in both of those groups prefer to be called. So we defer to their preferences.
These terms often represent extremes, but everyone is on a spectrum of beliefs in between those views.
At our church, we hold to a centered-set theology, rather than a bounded set, which means that our views toward many non-salvific issues like sexuality are as varied as the people in our church. Like everyone, Anchor Bay members come into our community with a variety of different backgrounds, theologies, ethnicities, cultures, stories, wounds, relationships, and personalities. So you won’t find one singular view on this question represented in our community - you’ll find many views. We believe theology is best done in conversation, and that in cases where the Bible isn’t always crystal clear, our job is to lovingly, with grace and without judgment, learn together, grow together, challenge one another, and ultimately worship together - acknowledging everyone is on a journey in their understanding of many things (including sexuality).
We hold a high view of Scripture, which means that in asking this question, we believe we are asking a question of biblical interpretation, not a question of biblical authority. At Anchor Bay Church, you’ll generally meet people who share the belief that the Bible is authoritative, but who interpret it differently when it comes to sexuality.
You’ll meet people who hold a traditional view and people who hold a progressive view and everything in between - including among our pastoral staff and lay leadership. You’ll meet progressive folks who identify as straight, traditional folks who identify as LGBTQ, traditional folks who identify as straight, progressives who identify as LGBTQ, and everything in between.
Our denomination (the Covenant Church) officially holds a traditional view, which essentially means our clergy are not able to officiate same-sex weddings, but like many denominations, you’ll find clergy who hold a variety of views on this as well. The short answer is: it’s complicated!
We see our role as pointing people towards Jesus. Part of that, for us, means helping people engage with difficult topics (politics, sexuality, social issues, etc.) lovingly and hospitably toward those who currently hold different views. That means you won’t find anything on our website or hear sermons that state one particular view on this particular topic that we expect everyone to hold. Sexuality is so deeply intimate and personal for all of us that we hope instead to facilitate loving dialogue and two-way conversation about it in a safe space. In fact, we have held group workshops to talk about sexuality - with the requirement that all who participate must first attend a mandatory 3-hour workshop on reflective listening!
Mandy O’Donnell, ABC Partner “Better Together”
So you’ll see, our views on same sex relationships aren’t uniform. The Bible isn’t always clear on questions like these ones, and we’ve discovered that it’s possible to hold a high view of Scripture and disagree (passionately sometimes!) on what it says.
But here’s what is clear to us, and what all those who call themselves Anchor Bay members would agree on:
We are committed to seeing one another as beloved children of God no matter what.
That means that we don’t see sexuality and identity as the same thing. We believe every person is made in the image of God, so we will never reduce a person to one aspect of their story. We believe that sexuality informs our stories, in the same way our hometowns, relationships, interests, ethnicities, cultures, and unique personalities do. But no matter what, our identities are as whole people, made in the image of God, and deeply loved as God’s children. Full stop. There’s nothing we can do to earn that love, and nothing we can do to change it.
If every person is made in the image of God, then every person is radically welcome in our church.
While members of our community may not all agree about what the Bible says about same sex marriage, we are unified in the belief that everyone is welcome at our church, and we are committed to helping everyone feel safe, seen, and loved. And while any kind of sexuality can be used in harmful and unhealthy ways, we also believe that expressions of sexuality essentially come out of the God-given desire to know and be known - so in that light, no matter your sexuality or theological views about sexuality, you are welcome in the full life of our church - including partnership and receiving the sacraments.
We approach one another with grace, truth, curiosity, and generosity.
Our culture and sometimes those in the Church want to pit one view against another. Our belief is that we are all doing the best we can with the tools, resources, and experiences we have, and that we are all on a journey toward understanding a Bible that isn’t always clear in a world that isn’t always black and white. So we have to approach one another with the generous assumption that we’re all doing our best.
Doing church this way is hard.
But so much of the New Testament is about a community of Christians who disagreed on all kinds of things and yet still loved one another because of Christ. It would be SO much easier if we could point to one doctrinal statement and find “like-minded people” who agree on everything we do, from sexuality to politics to public policy! Our hope is that we would speak with the kind of truth that helps one another grow in Christlikeness, and with the kind of grace that says: “I might be wrong on this.” And no matter what, even when we disagree, we still choose each other because Christ has chosen us.
We hope that helps fill out our view - or maybe we should say - views!
