Post by Lisa-WB on Nov 24, 2016 3:09:09 GMT 8
I'm a life long Christian. Born, baptized and confirmed Roman Catholic. Attended a Catholic grade school, high school and a Jesuit college. In my adult life, I've gotten away from the church. While I still consider myself Christian, I've come to reject much of the interpretations of convenience and what I consider social pandering that has become a part of most organized churches. Of course many also have their conservative, evangelical populations which make them even harder to stomach. As a result, I have become a privately practicing Christian. Attempting to live by the beliefs I hold dear while not subscribing directly to the teachings of any singular synod, creed, etc.
As I've recently come to understand my gender identity and seek to build out a new support system that I can rely on as I explore and transition, one of the things I've considered was finding an church that would be accepting of a trans person such as myself. Sure there are non-denominational/multi-denomination churches that typically are accepting of all people, but so far I haven't found one that really appealed to me. I know the Episcopal church has shown a great deal of progressiveness and it's very similar to the Catholic church, but the services I've attended at local churches still have that stuffy, overly structured and dated feel. While the people were welcoming the services just didn't feel genuine to me.
So doing more research I came across the United Church of Christ and their Open and Affirming designation. There are 3 churches within a reasonable distance of my home that are designated as Open and Affirming. Two of them very proudly boast on their websites about their acceptance of all people, particularly the LGBT community. They seem to be more progressive in their worship style and their overall ministry seems to be a good balance of traditional bible guided living and progressive interaction with the modern world. So I'm thinking about attending a service, but was wondering if anyone else has been to or is a member of a UCC church, particularly one that has been designated Open and Affirming. I'm curious as to your experiences both good and bad.
As I've recently come to understand my gender identity and seek to build out a new support system that I can rely on as I explore and transition, one of the things I've considered was finding an church that would be accepting of a trans person such as myself. Sure there are non-denominational/multi-denomination churches that typically are accepting of all people, but so far I haven't found one that really appealed to me. I know the Episcopal church has shown a great deal of progressiveness and it's very similar to the Catholic church, but the services I've attended at local churches still have that stuffy, overly structured and dated feel. While the people were welcoming the services just didn't feel genuine to me.
So doing more research I came across the United Church of Christ and their Open and Affirming designation. There are 3 churches within a reasonable distance of my home that are designated as Open and Affirming. Two of them very proudly boast on their websites about their acceptance of all people, particularly the LGBT community. They seem to be more progressive in their worship style and their overall ministry seems to be a good balance of traditional bible guided living and progressive interaction with the modern world. So I'm thinking about attending a service, but was wondering if anyone else has been to or is a member of a UCC church, particularly one that has been designated Open and Affirming. I'm curious as to your experiences both good and bad.
