Jesus draws all to himself ...

All are invited to the table, treasured as God’s own.

Currently, Episcopalians are reassessing our own Church’s role in the perpetuation of American racism. As a colonial offshoot of the Church of England, we cannot deny the power dynamics that sustain systemic racism to this day. We are actively involved in learning our own history, striving to overcome the conflation of white dominance with normative Episcopal traditions. We should expect and welcome all who become Episcopalians to challenge and change us as we listen for God’s voice together and become more multiculturally competent.

Many Christian denominations hold rigid assumptions about gender and sexuality. In the past half-century, the Episcopal Church has gained a socially progressive reputation. We began ordaining women to the priesthood in 1974 and no longer maintain assumptions about specific roles for men and women in the church. We recognize the existence and God-belovedness of non-binary and transgender people, and we are coming to understand that it’s often more helpful to ask for a person’s pronouns than for a person’s gender.

The trauma inflicted on LGBTQ+ people by Christians is horrific and unjustifiable, no matter what people may believe about God. The Episcopal Church wants not only to make amends, but also to spread the word that we’ve been welcoming you for a very long time, striving for the kind of welcome we believe God is always offering to everyone.

Good Shepherd and the wider Episcopal Church fully affirm the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the life of the church. This means more than “we won’t turn you away.” It means that LGBTQ+ people are children of God. There is no bait-and-switch. No one can be excluded from the church’s worship and sacraments on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, nor can these be barriers to leadership roles. At Good Shepherd, you are welcome as you are, received and invited to the table as a vital part of humanity loved and redeemed in Christ.

We do not arrive at these convictions by ignoring the Bible, but by actively engaging with it. We believe that Christianity transcends many cultural assumptions, some of which are embedded in the Bible. For centuries, Episcopalians have held Scripture alongside longstanding church tradition and human reason and experience, balancing all these sources to guide the development of our understanding of how God works in the world. It’s not a matter of bowing to culture, but of acknowledging that the Holy Spirit moves and acts in the whole world, not just in the church. Sometimes we in the church need to catch up and repent for our past abuses.