Jonathan Ji: A Church for the People

flyer with cross on rainbow heart

“Hate the Sin, Love the Sinner.” This token statement is used by Christianity to create the illusion that queerness (I will be using this term as an umbrella for the ever-growing LGBTQ+ community) is accepted by the institution. Yet, at the core of the statement, queers are embraced by the religion, “love the sinner,” at the cost of them being forced to reject their sexual identity, “hate the sin.” This creates violent consequence since “hate the sin, love the sinner” forces queers out of congregations, enforces institutionalized misinterpretation of biblical texts, and creates the stigmatization of homosexuality. Yet within this homophobic institution, there are pockets of queer spaces that are building the “opening and affirming” theology that not only embrace sexuality but celebrates it. With the purpose of finding these “alternative” churches, I spent the past two weeks in San Francisco and visited four different churches, Glide Memorial Church (Methodist), Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco (Queer), Grace Cathedral (Episcopal), and Mission Bay Community Church (Presbyterian). At these churches, I investigated how queers built community within a religion that traditionally does not want them. By engaging with each church through the worship sessions and interviews with the pastors, I discovered a new type of church based on diversity, affirmation, and unity: a church for the people.

Pride Team Announcement at Glide Memorial Church 

Growing up as a pastor’s kid in a conservative Korean Presbyterian Church, I was shocked at how these four congregations’ Sunday services were so radically different from what I had experienced. Although each church was very different in size, location, people, personality, and leadership styles, what united the four congregations was their definition of “church.” Church to these four spaces is one that interprets the Biblical passages and Christian traditions to cater the needs of the people within it. For example, Glide Memorial Church is aware of its diverse membership. The church is located in the tenderloins of San Francisco but also 5 minutes from Union Square. In an interview with Pastor Theon Johnson, he told me how Glide’s inclusive theology emerged from its history of supporting people right outside their doorstep:  the homeless, sex workers, trans*, as well as young individuals from the tech industry. At Metropolitan Community Church, Pastor Michael Cronin’s explains how his church uses gender-inclusive language to cater to the needs of its queer congregation. Mission Bay Church does the same for “The Lord’s Prayer” by allowing members to replace “Our Father” with “Abba, mother, spirit, God.”

AIDS Quilt found inside Grace Cathedral

Diana Bell, an interim pastor for Mission Bay, explained to me that scholars have been writing about the evolution of Christianity for hundreds of years. She states that many parts of modern day Christianity are grappling with ways to become more inclusive of all identities, including sexual and gender expressions. Grace Cathedral has been attempting to do this through their Beyonce Mass. Glide Memorial through their Pride team. At MCCSF on Pentecost Sunday, Elder Tony Freeman recounted a story of the service hosted by the MCC church in Orlando held outside of Pulse Nightclub one year after the horrific act of violence against the LGBTQ community. Starting off as a small group of people, the prayer circle was joined by people from different religious faith, sexual orientation, race, and identity until the circle became so large that the pastor looked down and saw they were on the street. Freeman then declared “take the door off the church and take the church to the streets.” The four queer churches literally did this by opening their doors to those rejected creating a church for all people.

Flyer found at Mission Bay Community Church. On the back, it reads: “We are a progressive church proclaiming Christ’s love to the world.”

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