Room for All began with a trial. Or better, with a marriage—one that set the Reformed Church in America on a trajectory toward becoming, with God’s help, what we will surely be one day: a Welcoming Space. This is the story of Room for All’s journey from a handful of people who believed in 2005 that God’s love embraces people of all sexual identities and gender expressions, to a flourishing network in ministry for LGBTQ inclusion in the RCA.
The impetus for creating this film was, first of all, the tenth anniversary of Room for All. That milestone felt like an appropriate time to recall our beginnings, and celebrate how far we have come. But on a deeper level, we wanted to listen to the voices calling the Body of Christ to “become our best selves,” as one person in the film puts it.
We made this film because we’re not there yet. There are voices for full LGBTQ affirmation resounding within the church, to be sure. “A Welcoming Space” features some of them, along with the witness of Christ-followers whom the church has sought to exclude. In doing so, the film also represents the silent voices, those countless LGBTQ people in the RCA who, throughout their lifetimes, never dared to publicly claim their belovedness as children of God.
Above all, we believe that the voice of the Advocate, the “Spirit of Truth,” continues to testify within, without, and sometimes, in spite of the church. It is our hope and prayer that the Spirit might speak and be heard through this film.
