The ELCA’s Working Group for Ministry to and with Same Gender Couples and their Families needs your input. As part of the Working Group’s mission to encourage conversations and resource sharing throughout the church about ministering to and with LGBT couples and their families, the Working Group has developed a questionnaire to discover what conversations may be happening in your faith community and what resources might be needed to aid in ministry and pastoral care.
The questionnaire provides an opportunity for open-ended responses. In addition to the survey’s questions, here are some additional things to consider as you take the survey:
· Would it be helpful for your faith community to have a wedding liturgy provided by the ELCA that is appropriate for all couples, including LGBT couples?
· What kinds of resources would be most effective in helping your congregation respond to the needs of LGBT couples and their families?
· How can the ELCA equip your congregation to advocate for equal protection under the law and non-discrimination for same-gender couples and their families?
We know there is a great need for LGBT couples and families to feel welcome in the church and be accepted as they are. Policy changes in the ELCA allowing for the greater inclusion of all God’s people have encouraged many to return to their churches where once they had felt shunned, to re-engage where once they had felt left out—and, perhaps, to join a faith community for the first time. With marriage for same-gender couples becoming recognized by more and more state governments, many LGBT couples are approaching their pastors and congregations, asking to be married in the church.
Please share your thoughts with the Working Group here: https://surveys.elca.org/scripts/rws5.pl?FORM=samegen and then share the questionnaire link with as many other members of the ELCA as you can—with your congregation, your synod newsletter, your Facebook page, etc. . . . Please respond before November 30, 2014.
To learn more about the working group, please click here (http://www.elca.org/News-and-Events/blogs/NewsBlog/56).
