CityChurch is a place where anyone can belong. We fight hard to protect our culture where everyone is welcome; no matter who you are, where you’ve been or what you believe. But it doesn’t just magically happen. It requires people like us to protect this culture.
It feels like the concept of identity and how we define ourselves has become fraught with anxiety and worry. Pronouns, sexual identity, family of origin and even our political affiliations can help us define where we belong and in the same breath be leveraged to divide, injure and harm. At CityChurch, the vast majority of people I talk to seek to love all people… but still get a little uneasy about wading into relationship and conversation with someone truly different. A person they genuinely don’t understand or a person they disagree with. Not because of the person themselves, but out of fear of offending, hurting or alienating the individual. It’s safer to not engage.
But… to be a church for ALL PEOPLE we can’t be afraid to connect and build authentic relationships with all kinds of people. While you may not “get it”, we can all care for someone created in the image of God. That was a major reminder after my conversation with Sandy. They would use multiple labels for their identity: Korean-American, Queer, Transgender, Christian, and many more. In the course of our conversation and subsequent communication, I used the wrong pronouns for Sandy several times and may have offended them. But Sandy was always kind in their correction and very understanding. We had a wonderful conversation and they taught me a lot about what it would mean to create a culture where someone like Sandy would feel truly welcome at CityChurch. I was surprised by how simple it may just be. So, I wanted to pass it on.
Find Sandy at the Glean Network, a place for faith and innovation.
Check out the Korean Queer & Transgender National Network
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