Welcoming Congregation Refresher Course
Being recognized as a Welcoming Congregation is just the beginning, and is a commitment to the ever-ongoing work of being welcoming.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Ministries (LGBT Ministries) recommends that congregations go through a Welcoming Congregation Program or a refresher course every five years. An awful lot of turnover and changes to congregational life can happen over the years, and the wider culture has also changed enormously with respect to sexual orientation and gender identity in a very short period of time.
Renew your welcome, perhaps on the fifth or tenth anniversary of your original recognition (find out your anniversary by searching for yourself using our Find a Congregation feature and checking the Welcoming Congregations box).
Think Creatively! Launch a Refresher Course
Revisit the Welcoming Congregation Guidelines and Action Steps and use them to create new goals. Each refresher course is different; there is no blueprint.
Strengthen relationships with LGBT groups and organizations. Ask how you can help their work and brainstorm ways to bring their message to your congregation.
Celebrate the progress you’ve made and identify areas where your congregation has room to grow. Congregations recognized more than a decade ago benefit from refresher courses that focus on transgender issues, bisexual issues, and race/ethnicity and sexuality. Make sure your programming addresses these issues.
Create diverse opportunities for engagement through education, congregational life, and community outreach. Here are just a few possibilities:
- Ideas for Education
- Worship services on LGBT issues, perhaps with guest preachers
- Panel or round-table discussion on an LGBT issue
- LGBT film series with discussions
- Congregation-wide common read and book discussion
- A workshop series. Possible sources for workshops and curricula include:
- The Welcoming Congregation Handbook
- The Living the Welcoming Congregation curriculum
- Interweave’s bisexuality curriculum
- The Institute for Welcoming Resources resources pages
- LGBT Minsitries’ Identity 101 pages
- Ideas for Congregational Life
- Revisit the affirmative language clauses used in your bylaws, worship, orders of service, website, brochure, etc. Do you explicitly welcome people of all sexual orientations and gender identities?
- Include news and information of LGBT concern in your newsletter, website, Facebook page, etc.
- If you don't already, start providing inclusive language guidelines to worship coordinators and speakers as well as congregational leaders
- Make LGBT issues and history a regular part of your liturgical calendar and congregational year
- Ideas for Community Outreach
- Host a public forum on an LGBT issue
- Hold an LGBT film series open to the public
- Strengthen relationships with local LGBT groups or organizations. Attend their events. Ask how you can help.
- Take action on a local, state, or national issue of LGBT concern
- Brainstorm how your congregation can be of direct service to local LGBT communities and individuals. A support group for LGBT youth? A meals-on-wheels program for homebound LGBT folks? Think big!
Apply for Official Renewal of Welcoming Congregation Status
To apply for renewal of your Welcoming Congregation status, follow the directions for submitting an application for initial recognition, and specify what work your congregation has done since you were initially recognized and how you’ve deepened your welcome and inclusion of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.
Note: If you were first recognized prior to the year 2000, you must indicate how your congregation has taken intentional steps around transgender issues and issues of bisexuality, since those topics were not covered as much in the earlier days of the program.
Upon renewal, you will receive a formal letter of renewal and two new Welcoming Congregation posters.
Take the Next Step Toward Welcoming All
Think about which LGBT individuals would feel most welcome in your congregation, and which might feel less welcome. Would a working class lesbian single mom feel welcome? Would an elderly Latino transgender man? How about a blind genderqueer person? How might you extend your welcome, little by little, step by step?
The Welcoming Congregation Program is simply one entry point. Incorporate other entry points into your Welcoming Congregation refresher course, or tackle them as your next step toward welcoming all into Beloved Community regardless of identity. Here are some ideas:
- Welcome people of all races and ethnicities
- Welcome people of all abilities
- Welcome youth, welcome young adults, become a multigenerational congregation
- Welcome people of all economic classes: start with this brief curriculum/discussion guide (PDF, 20 pages)
- Get more ideas on how to deepen your welcome
Please reach out for help or more ideas by emailing lgbt @ uua.org—we would love to hear from you!
For more information contact lgbt @ uua.org.
This work is made possible by the generosity of individual donors. Please consider making a donation today.
Last updated on Monday, December 19, 2011.
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