GROUNDED, GATHERED, and GRATEFUL:
A STATEMENT TO THE BODY OF CHRIST IN THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA
May 23, 2018
Delegates to the 2018 General Synod of the Reformed Church in America will be called upon to weigh and vote on matters that will signal and affect the future of this denominational communion, together or apart. These matters are implicit in overtures and recommendations which, at their core, reject and seek to nullify the vision that compels Room for All’s mission and ministry: “Compelled by the inclusive love of God revealed in Jesus Christ, Room for All envisions the day when people of all sexual identities and gender expressions are fully affirmed in the life and ministry of the Reformed Church in America.”
In this time of uncertainty and challenge, the Room for All Board of Directors continues to be guided by these principles:
Grounded in core biblical and theological indicatives, Room for All affirms:
- Our mission is rooted in God. God is the loving Creator of all people – including LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) people – and all bear the image of God. Sexual orientation and gender identity are biological diversities that exist in God’s created order.
- Our mission is rooted in Jesus Christ. God’s design for all people – including LGBTQ people – is beloved community that mirrors God’s unconditional love as fully revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.
- Our mission is rooted in the Holy Spirit. Beginning at Pentecost, through the Acts accounts of the early church and continuing to this day, the Spirit’s indwelling manifestation of God’s love is an ever-widening trajectory of inclusion of all people – including LGBTQ people – who have been marginalized or excluded from the Body of Christ.
Gathered at pulpit, font and table, the church is called to proclaim and share the gospel of God’s inclusive love:
- All people – including LGBTQ people – who confess Jesus as Lord and seek to follow him are to be welcomed to full participation in the life and Sacraments of the Reformed Church in America.
- All people – including LGBTQ people – who are gifted and called by Christ’s church and therefore by God, are to be eligible to use their gifts to serve in the Reformed Church in America, including ordained office.
- All people – including LGBTQ people – who seek to consecrate a relationship of mutual love, honor and respect through the sacred covenant of Christian marriage are fully eligible to be married in the Reformed Church in America.
Grateful for the communion of the Reformed Church in America,
- We celebrate that the inclusive love of God revealed in Jesus Christ has been visible in countless ways in the ministry and mission of the Reformed Church in America since 1628 until this day.
- We lament that at times, the Reformed Church in America has participated in intentional and unintentional exclusion and rejection of our siblings in Christ, including people of color, women, and LGBTQ people.
- We confess that at times we have allowed, and participated in, the polarization that has led to the current disorder in the Reformed Church in America.
- While we grieve the possible dissolution of the RCA as we have known and loved it, Room for All commits to our overarching mission for the protection, inclusion, and flourishing of LGBTQ people in the RCA, as long as this denomination continues to exist. To that end, we pledge to prioritize and elevate the voices, experiences, and God-given rights of LGBTQ siblings in Christ.
- We pray that the fruits of the Spirit will characterize the deliberations and decisions of the General Synod and the leaders of the Reformed Church in America on this day and the days to come.
(Click on image for printable statement)