Invitation
These next few weeks, we will be diving into the work our church’s visioning team has been doing to proclaim our mission to the world, our vision of the future, and the shared values we have that guide our work together. In the coming weeks, I specifically want to expand on the values we believe guide us and that we share as a congregation. We have divided these values into three categories: Invitation, Inspiration, and Involvement.
This week, I want to share our values of Invitation:
Inviting: Sowing Hospitality and Creating a Home in Lakewood
We believe that Christ’s love is unconditional and so is our welcome.
We believe that there is a place in our community for anyone, no matter their ability, sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, or belief.
Our church is a place for the entire neighborhood, no matter where you might be in your spiritual journey.
We are a Home in Lakewood…
for seekers looking for a faith home.
for doubters in search of a judgment-free place to explore their faith.
for spiritual refugees searching for a safe haven to live out their faith.
for anyone seeking a place where God is engaged in the life of a church.
One primary aspect of our value of invitation is stating definitively that we believe Christ’s love for us is unconditional. In the United Methodist Church there has been a slow-motion train wreck of a debate since 1972 around what we believe regarding gay marriage and the ordination of queer individuals as clergy. Later this month, the church will be having its first full global meeting called a General Conference since 2016. This issue will be front and center.
Let me state something I believe to be unequivocally true about Lakewood United Methodist Church: we are a congregation that seeks to follow Christ’s example of unconditional love. In light of that, we believe that gay marriage is not a “sin” any more than traditional marriage. We also believe that queer* people can be just as called into a vocation of ministry with the church as anyone else.
It’s as simple as that.
But we also believe we are called to a deeper commitment of invitation than simply stopping with the culture war raging in our denomination. We are a church with a place for anyone, housed or homeless, native Coloradan or transplant, rich or poor, documented or undocumented, believer or nonbeliever.
Our church is becoming quite the hub for our community, and we believe it is a place that welcomes the arts, the work of non-profits fighting hunger and poverty, and people who are looking for a place to worship God and find a spiritual home for their families. We want to provide a landing place for spiritual refugees to recover from church-inflicted wounds. We want to be a place where “nones”** can encounter a different faith community than the ones who have disenchanted and uninspired them. We want to be a safe place for faith to be lived out and doubts to be explored.
These are our values and aspirations to be a welcoming and inviting place to encounter the body of Christ in Lakewood, CO!
*: There has been quite a bit of discussion and debate about the word “queer” as shorthand for the LGBTIQIA2S community. Click here for an explanation as to why we choose to use this word.
**: “Nones” is a word thrown around in a lot of church-centric conversations and refers to a demographic of people best summed up by the common phrase: “spiritual but not religious.” Click here for a more throrough exploration of the use of this term.
